I live in SC, I am a parent, and I am concerned about the current state of public education. If you live in SC, whether you have school age children or not, you should be concerned as well. According to the SC Education Oversight Committee website, where school and district report cards may be found, www.sceoc.org , for the first time in 5 years our school district received an Unsatisfactory Improvement rating. Arguably one of the best school districts in the state, we have a fine superintendent, a committed school board, and an active parent community.
However, only 42.7% of 8th grade students scored proficient or advanced in math, only 54.1% in science, and a dismal 37.7% in social studies. Meaning only about 50% of rising freshman are well prepared for high school math and science, and only a little over a third are well prepared for high school social studies. Contrary to what the SDE would have us believe, scoring Basic does not a well-prepared student make. The very defintion of Basic is “minimally prepared”.
School districts like to focus on the upper end of scores but don’t explain why 9-15% of students score BELOW BASIC, yet the retention rate is only 1.8%. Our district touts a best-in-state 84% on time graduation rate, yet only 71% of African American students graduate on time. How do we accept that almost 30% of African American students do not graduate on time? How do we accept that only 17.5% of African American students score proficient, while over 50% of white students score proficient?
Out of 562 high school students participating in HSAP, only 75.5% scored a grade of 70 or above in science. How did one of the top high schools in the state FAIL to teach science to over 128 students???
I know what some of you may be thinking, “Quit your whining, you should see MY childs school report card!”
Exactly my point. If one of the best districts in the state, with average per pupil spending in excess of $10,000, an average annual teacher salary of over $46,000, and average annual administrator salary of almost $84,000, can not post better results than these, the system is in serious trouble and the losers are the children. Our children.
Overall, SC public school scores are dismal and embarrasing: 8th grade PACT Scores for 2008 show more than 30% of students score BELOW BASIC in Math. Percentages are numbers – let’s talk students, children, our children. That 30% translates into 15,348 8th grade students who were failed by the state public education system. It gets even worse in science – they only test HALF as many students and 36.6% tested below grade level! What would happen if they tested all students in science and social studies? I shudder to think.
Remember, only “proficient” and “advanced” mean testing at or above grade level, and only 20% of 8th graders scored at or above grade level in MATH. It’s no wonder South Carolina’s on time graduation rate hovers around 49th or 50th in the NATION. SDE disputes the figures, saying the rate is 70.9%, but third party analysts and education experts claim the rate is closer to 50%. (Education Week and Dr. Long from Clemson University)
When it comes to SAT and ACT scores, SC ranks 49th nationally, according to “The High School Crisis in the United States and South Carolina; The Problems Related to Dropouts and Recommended Solutions”, Richard Young, University of South Carolina, 2005. (http://www.ipspr.sc.edu/publication/The%20High%20School%20Crisis%20in%20the%20US%20and%20SC.pdf)
The data is overwhelming that SC public education is not serving our children well. It takes years of unsatisfactory improvement ratings for any kind of choice to be made available. Currently, “choice” usually means moving to another similarly performing school within the district, at your own travel expense.
Over 60,000 children, approximately one-tenth the student population, are attending private schools and thousands more are educated at home. The average private school tuition in SC is $4,400, and THEY manage an on time graduation rate of between 85 – 90% . SC home school students score nearly 200 points higher on the SAT than their public school counterparts (according to the South Carolina Association of Independent Home Schools, a state mandated department). Average cost to home school ranges from $1000 to $2500, not counting the lost wages of the full-time, home-bound parent. Why can thousands of SC children be well-educated at a fraction of the cost? Can you say bureaucratic overhead, fancy-sounding committees, and well-intentioned, but failing million-dollar-programs?
Families choosing private and home school options tighten their belts and pay out of their own pockets, all the while subsidizing failing public education with their property tax or sales tax dollars. (Despite property tax reform, rental property owners pay luxury tax rates and continue to see “school tax” on their annual bills.)
Disgusted? Shocked? Contact your legislator or candidate and tell them to finally DO something about the dismal state of South Carolina Public Education. Get involved, ask questions, attend school board meetings, and support real school choice. The children of South Carolina can’t afford to wait another year.
