A Community United for Students: Celebrating Progress + Renewing Our Commitment
This week, as we celebrate American Education Week, we honor the educators, families, and partners whose dedication shapes the future of Spartanburg County. Their tireless work fuels Movement 2030 - our community’s collective effort to ensure every child graduates ready for college, career, and life.
Across classrooms and neighborhoods, Spartanburg continues to rally around one shared vision: improving student outcomes through alignment, data, and continuous improvement. Our focus on continuous improvement - learning from what works, adapting strategies, and scaling proven approaches - is what sustains progress. It allows us to look honestly at the data, celebrate the wins, and stay committed to the work ahead.
Alongside this celebration, we share new data offering a comprehensive look back at key indicators of student success. These numbers tell a story of progress - and of the challenges we must still address together.
he Early Development Instrument (EDI), which measures school readiness across five domains—physical health, social competence, emotional maturity, language and cognitive development, and communication skills - shows that between 2017 and 2025, 46% to 49% of Spartanburg’s children entered kindergarten meeting early development benchmarks. This stability, even through the disruptions of COVID-19, reflects investments like Hello Family, which provide families with critical supports during the earliest years.
“Every dollar spent on early education is a dollar invested in Spartanburg’s furture workforce and community well-being.”
Why does this matter? Because children who start strong are far more likely to succeed later. Every dollar spent on early childhood is a dollar invested in Spartanburg’s future workforce and community well-being. Graduation rates also give reason for optimism. Spartanburg County reached a record 89% in 2024–25, but the story is complex. The gap between students in poverty and their peers widened during the pandemic, and while overall rates have improved, we have yet to fully recover to pre-pandemic levels. Students not in poverty graduate at 97%, while students in poverty graduate at 84%. That 13-point gap is a call to action. Closing it is not just an educational goal - it’s an economic imperative.
“Just as Spartanburg has built a culture of literacy, we must now come together to build a culture of numeracy - one that makes math mastery a shared community priority.”
Reading proficiency tells an even more hopeful story. Third-grade reading scores have climbed from 42% in 2016 to 61% in 2025 - a transformative gain that predicts higher graduation rates and lifelong success. Leading this surge is remarkable progress among students experiencing poverty, whose proficiency has risen from 31% to 55% over this period - clear evidence of a narrowing academic gap. Literacy interventions and community partnerships have made a measurable difference, proving what’s possible when we unite around a shared vision for children. Math, however, remains a challenge. Eighth-grade proficiency has barely moved, from 33% to 36%, and has not returned to pre-pandemic levels. Middle school math is the gateway to STEM careers and college readiness.
Just as Spartanburg has built a culture of literacy, we must now come together to build a culture of numeracy - one that makes math mastery a shared community priority.
South Carolina’s 2025 school report cards add another layer of insight: 98% of Spartanburg schools are rated “Average” or better. That’s not just a statistic - it’s evidence that nearly every school is making progress toward the state’s 2030 proficiency vision. It reflects the hard work of educators and the power of community partnerships while underscoring where continued focus is needed to ensure every child reads and computes on grade level. Behind these gains is a truth we must embrace: education is a community responsibility.
Spartanburg is fortunate to be a place where partners align resources to make that vision real. Through Movement 2030, we are investing in early care and education so every child enters school ready to learn, in postsecondary degree attainment so graduates have pathways to meaningful careers, and in neighborhood-level supports so families can remove barriers to learning. These investments accelerate progress toward Spartanburg’s 2030 goals and reflect a shared commitment to both educational excellence and economic vitality. The data tell us something powerful: progress is possible when we work together. But they also remind us where urgency is needed - middle school math, closing persistent gaps, and expanding early childhood programs. Spartanburg has proven that alignment works. Now we must double down.
Because in the end, this isn’t just about numbers—it’s about children, families, and a community that believes Everyone Can Thrive Here.