Narrative of Greer

Buena Vista Elementary school is located in the town of Greer, South Carolina. Aside

from Buena Vista there are four other elementary schools: Woodland Elementary, Skyland

Elementary, Chandler Creek Elementary, and Crestview Elementary. There are three middle

schools: Riverside Middle (where Buena Vista feeds into), Blue Ridge Middle, and Greer

Middle. There are three high schools that these middle schools feed into: Riverside High, Blue

Ridge High, and Greer High. There is also a career center that students can go to located in

Greer. According to Area Vibes, Buena Vista is rated the highest elementary school in this area.

The student to teacher ratio for this area is 20:1. The average for test scores is 62% compared to

the State of South Carolina which is 46%. This tells me that the elementary school I am in has

great support from the district, the community and the area. It also leads me to believe the

administrators are doing their jobs very well

In Greer the income per capita is $25,455 which is roughly $70 less than the average in

South Carolina. The median household income is $47,933 which is roughly $1,000 more than the

rest of South Carolina.This shows that the employment opportunities are a little higher than the

average in South Carolina. The unemployment rate for Greer is 3.5% which is lower than the

average of South Carolina at 5.0% meaning that as a whole, more people are employed as

compared to the rest of the state. Lastly, I found the poverty level to be 16.7% which is lower

than South Carolina as a whole at 17.2%. This shows that there probably aren’t a lot of students

on free and reduced lunch, leading me to believe that there aren’t a multitude of Title 1 schools

in this area.
 The cost of living is about 4 points lower than the national average and it is also 1 point

less than the average of South Carolina. Goods and Services are higher than the national average

by 3 but lower than the state average by 3. Grocery pricing is 1 point lower than the national

average and 4 points lower than the rest of the state. The health care index is 6 points higher than

the national average and 5 points higher than the state average. The housing index is significantly

lower than the national average by 18 points but higher than the state average by 2 points. The

transportation index is 8 points lower than the national average and the same as the rest of South

Carolina. This shows that the cost of living is less, so it is somewhat affordable. The health care

offered in Greer is more expensive and the goods and services are also more than the national

average. Lastly the utilities are more in Greer than the average of the US. Other than that Greer

has a lower cost in groceries, housing and transportation in comparison to the rest of the country.

This may affect my students by their parents maybe not being able to afford health care, a lot of

goods and services or the utilities.

In conclusion, Greer isn’t known for poverty or wealth, but there is a good mix of both

along with a steady middle class. The cost of living is pretty affordable, so it makes sense why

many families would move here. There are also two large corporations, BMW and Michelin in

the Greer area which employ a lot of people. Sometimes they employ people from different

countries resulting in their kids being put in the schools in Greer. These statistics cause me to

think harder about differentiating instruction. Not every student has their parents working with

them at home, so those opportunities for small group instruction are crucial. It causes me to think

about they types of parents I will be coming in contact with too. These are helpful statististics to

aid in providing a well-rounded learning environment.