Deer Park Middle School earned a "Good" rating on the 2026 South Carolina State Report Card, a first for a neighborhood middle school in North Charleston.

The school moved up from "Average," according to the Charleston County School District. It was one of 25 CCSD schools that climbed at least one rating category on the report cards released Oct. 12 by the South Carolina Department of Education.

Principal Brendan Glaze has led Deer Park since 2022. CCSD featured Glaze in a video profile during National Principal Appreciation Month in October, calling his leadership journey "a powerful story of perseverance, family and a commitment to students."

According to the district, Glaze and his wife faced a life-changing challenge shortly after he started at Deer Park when their son was born severely premature. The district said Glaze received support from a school community he barely knew at the time, and that the experience shaped his approach as a principal.

Deer Park also appeared on a district list of 18 schools that improved by more than 10 percentage points on SC READY Science assessments, according to results CCSD released in August.

District-wide gains

Across CCSD, 57 of 90 rated school report cards earned Good or Excellent. The number of Excellent ratings jumped from 34 in 2025 to 43 in 2026. More than 92 percent of rated schools earned Average or higher, up from 84 percent the prior year.

CCSD Superintendent Anita Huggins said in a district statement that "growth doesn't happen by accident." She called the results a product of "years of hard work, a shared commitment to excellence, and a belief in what is possible for our students."

Other North Charleston-area milestones: Military Magnet Academy earned its first Excellent rating, completing a three-year climb from Average to Good to Excellent. Burke High School jumped two categories, from Below Average to Good, also a first.

Over the past three years, the number of CCSD schools receiving the two lowest ratings, Below Average or Unsatisfactory, has declined by more than half among schools with comparable ratings, the district said.

CCSD has not specified which North Charleston middle schools fall outside the "neighborhood" category for the purposes of Deer Park's distinction. The district's comparison appears to exclude magnet and charter schools, but CCSD has not published the full list.

The 2026 report cards are available at screportcards.com.