Anderson School Districts Get Mostly Good S.C. Report Cards

Greg Wilson/Anderson Observer

Anderson County school districts are evaluating the South Carolina Department of Education annual report card for schools, and mostly are finding scores above state averages.  

But while some local districts did well, others reflected a statewide dip in performance, something which, despite the challenges of the pandemic, worries State Superintendent of Education Molly Spearman. 

“I am very very concerned with the results,” said State Superintendent of Education Molly Spearman. “As you can see if you look deeply, our students, particularly our younger students who this was their first time taking a summative assessment, our third graders, they did not show as much growth as we had hoped and had been shown in previous years.”

The state report card, which can be difficult to navigate and understand, offers an overview of state testing scores from the districts. Full report card for the state can be found here. 

Anderson School District One boasted the top graduation rate (93.3 percent) followed closely by School District Three (90.3 percent. District Four was third with 87.3 percent, District Two fourth with 87.1 percent. District Five’s 85.2 percent rate was the lowest in the county. 

On the SCPASS Science test, School District Four was tops in the county with 62.2 percent meeting or exceeding requirements, followed by School District Three with 53.8 percent.  

District Three’s 58.9 percent score on End of Course Assessments in Biology and U.S. History and the Constitution were the best in the county, followed by District Four with 52.9 percent meeting or exceeding expectations. 

On the S.C. Ready English Language Arts (Reading and Writing) testing, District Four had the highest score with 56.7 percent of students meeting or exceeding expectations, while District One finished second with 56.2 percent. 

Students in three districts - one, three and four - scored above 70 percent in English End-Of-Course Assements.

Student in District Three were tops in Algebra, with 68.3 percent performing well.

“We’re excited that as a district we scored well above state average in all tested areas,” said Dist. 3 Superintendent Kathy Hipp, who is the current S.C. Superintendent of the Year. “We’re especially proud that our on time graduation rate is over 90 percent.  We will carefully analyze our data to bridge identified learning gaps due to the COVID-19 pandemic.” 

A number of schools in Anderson County were rated as excellent in the state report card. These were identified as schools where “performance substantially exceeded the criteria set by the state to ensure all students meet the Profile of a SC Graduate.” 

Four schools in Dist. 3 were listed among the state’s “Excellent” list, Crescent High, Flat Rock Elementary, Starr Elementary and Starr-Iva Middle.

Dist. 1 was also pleased with the state report card results. 

“We are super excited to see our system graduation rate being in the top three in that state among public schools,” said Dist. 1 Assistant Superintendent Jeff Wilson.  “We also are proud of all of our schools’ performances, particularly our 9 schools (out of the 13 eligible schools) who have an “Excellent” rating on this years’ school report card.” This is a testament to the hard work of all of our teachers, staff, administrators and students.” Is that any better.”

In Dist. 1, Cedar Grove Elementary, Palmetto Middle, Powdersville Elementary, Powdersville Middle, West Pelzer Elementary, Wren Elementary, Wren Middle and Wren High were all listed as “Excellent” in the report card. 

Dist. 5 attributed their lower scores this year to the 4,000 students who did not do well in the district’s virtual school. 

“Our virtual students did not do very well on testing,” said Assistant Superintendent for Instructional Services Tripp Dukes.
“We recognize we have work to do and are identifying students who need help and targeting those students to get the extra help they need. Those who did well face-to-face and then went virtual tended well. But others did not do well, and once they got behind, they stayed behind.” 

“A lot of good things happening in our schools, but there are pockets out there we need to address,” Dukes said. 

Seven Dist. 5 schools were listed as “Excellent,” Concord Elementary, Glenview Middle McCants Middle, McLees Elementary, North Pointe Elementary, Southwood Academy of the Arts, and T.L. Hanna High.

A spokesman for the district added that keeping kids attending in-person school for instruction is a key element of improving scores. 

In Dist. 2, where Belton-Honea Path received and “Excellent” rating, Superintendent Jason Johns was pleased with some of the results. 

“Dist. 2 performed above state averages in both ELA and Math on SCReady and above our 18-19 ELA average,” Johns said. “We credit these gains to the efforts of our teachers and staff, whose diligence toward keeping our students safe last year allowed our students to stay in school for face-to-face instruction all year.” 

Johns also sited progress win the district’s 87.1 percent graduation rate, well above the state average of 83.3 percent, and the district’s 80.1 percent of graduating students earning college/career ready certification.  

Dist. 4 had four schools on the “Excellent” list, LaFrance Elementary, Pendleton High, Riverside Middle and Townville Elementary.

"Anderson 4 is pleased with the work our students and teachers did during the 20-21 school year academically," said Superintendent Dee Christopher. "We know we have areas to improve, but the work to have school and have students learning during a pandemic was a Herculean effort.  Health and safety concerns, loss of learning time during the day and year, and the emotional toil on our students and staff were (and still are) enormous.  Our staff went above and beyond every day for our students."