The recently released SC READY data from students in grades 3-8 show that English Language Arts (ELA) scores have rebounded to pre-pandemic (2019) levels. Scores in mathematics improved from 2021 levels but remain alarming, especially for students from vulnerable subgroups.
The following chart shows the percentage of 3rd grade students who scored Meets or Exceeds Expectations in English Language Arts by subgroup:
Demographic Group
Number Tested
Percentage Meets or Exceeds Expectations in ELA 3rd Grade
All Students
55,905
48%
Hispanic or Latino
6,756
37%
Black or African American
17,453
30%
White
27,004
62%
Pupils in Poverty (PIP)
35,313
37%
Non-Pupils in Poverty (PIP)
20,512
68%
We celebrate the growth and improvement in student achievement as compared to 2021; the last three years have been challenging for students and families.
The EOC has already identified several schools where more than half of students are demonstrating growth that places them on the path to college and career readiness, and plan to publicly recognize such schools for these improvements. We also recognize that there is much work to be done; six in ten students in math and more than half of students in English Language Arts are not meeting grade level standards. It is ultimately up to each community to prepare their students to be college- and career-ready, and there is a role that each of us must play in making certain that all children achieve success.
Dr. Matthew Lavery, EOC’s Director of Research, has published a series of short videos explaining the new 2023 Accountability Manual, which impacts school year 2022-23. Current published videos address the five-year student success, on-track to graduate measures, and the Added-Value Growth measure.
Over the next couple of years, South Carolina’s educational accountability system will be transitioning to a new value-added model for the Student Progress Indicator on its School Report Cards. We developed this new model, called the Added-Value Growth Model, to measure student achievement growth from year to year for the purposes of accountability.
Members of the EOC decided that the Added-Value Growth Model was a better fit than the current growth model and would better support the goals of educational accountability in South Carolina. This video is designed for educators and will give a high-level overview of the Added-Value Growth Model, how we developed it, and how it can help school and district educators to support students’ growth toward proficiency.
The Added-Value Growth Model is a criterion-referenced value-added model that provides individualized growth targets for each student in grades four through eight that, if met, would move them toward proficiency on the grade-level standard and challenge them to continue to excel.
The video that looks at the model on the EOC YouTube channel is designed primarily for educators and will give a high-level overview of the Added-Value Growth Model, how we developed it, and how it can help school and district educators to support students’ growth toward proficiency.EOC YouTube channel, click here.
The global COVID-19 pandemic forced South Carolina public schools to abruptly close for the last nine weeks of the 2019-2020 school year. The entire education system, including teachers and administrators at every level, quickly pivoted over a weekend towards remote learning.
Necessary changes were implemented to ensure that children would continue to receive instruction even without the benefit of face-to-face instruction and brick and mortar classrooms. As a result of the rapid pace of disruption and school closures, all end of year, statewide student assessments were understandably canceled for the 2019-2020 school year.
Because end of year assessments were canceled, we do not yet know the impact that the COVID-19 remote learning experience had on student learning. Researchers predict students could enter this new school year missing 30% to 50% of what they otherwise would have learned. This is a loss that our children can little afford. Too many were already struggling: in 2019, only 1 out of 2 children (49.7%) were meeting or exceeding state standards in third grade ELA; less than 1 out of 2 children (44.6%) of children were meeting or exceeding state standards in grade 8 ELA.
Additionally, even before the pandemic, research indicated that long summer breaks were detrimental to economically disadvantaged students, and that summer slides were especially troublesome because the effects were cumulative. By the time a student reaches middle school, they’ve lost an average of two years to summer slide. They’ve been forced to constantly play catch up. When many students return to school this fall, they will have experienced nearly a six-month absence from the classroom. Though it is predicted that all students will suffer, the poorest, most at-risk students will likely suffer the most.
It was hoped that the actions taken this spring in response to COVID-19, though necessary, would be temporary measures to curb the spread of the virus. Unfortunately, the effects of COVID-19 are still being felt by public school districts reopening for the 2020-2021 school year. State and local education and public health leaders are working diligently to return to learning while keeping the health and safety of students and staff first and foremost.
A review of the plans currently approved by the South Carolina Department of Education reveals only a quarter of public-school districts in South Carolina plan to provide parents a restart to school on a traditional schedule. Most districts are instead offering a hybrid schedule with students reporting to the school building only twice a week. A small, but growing number of school districts are selecting to reopen exclusively online.
Additionally, almost all public-school districts in South Carolina are offering parents the option of some form of virtual only instruction for their children, though the particulars of these programs vary widely by school district across the state. A summary of South Carolina public school reopening plans can be found here. To find the specifics of your school district’s approved plan, click here.
The Education Oversight Committee plans to monitor this continually developing situation as well as follow lessons learned from across the country. In this time of instructional disruption, the importance of understanding student mastery of state standards has never been more critical, and at this point in the school year, the approval of a waiver to federal assessments would be premature. The vast majority of federal required assessments will not be administered until late Spring of 2021, nine months from now. For an overview of assessment in South Carolina public schools, see this infographic.
More importantly, two years of no summative testing will mean that educators, at the school and district level, and policymakers will lack the information to be able to make data-informed decisions on behalf of students. While we recognize that there are challenges and limitations, we need useful information on student achievement in order to adjust instruction and the system. We have a responsibility to know so we can continue to do better.
Many challenges are ahead. There is also much potential for discovery, if only we resist the urge to blame the messenger and commit to collect the data. It is true that no one has ever taught under the requirements that will be necessary during this new normal. Adjustments will be necessary. Grace will be needed.
But we also have the opportunity to work collaboratively to reimagine what is possible for all students in South Carolina. While forging this new frontier, we could discover lessons of innovation that raise the expectations for what all children in our state can achieve, or we can stick our heads in the sand while hoping for the best.
Data collection is a key element to unlocking this potential and learning the lessons from these obstacles and new ways of operation. We have a responsibility to the children to move forward purposefully, founded on fact, not good intentions and spin.
