COLUMBIA, S.C. — The End of Course Examination and the ready-to-work programs for high school students are showing failing scores for students from the 2022 school year.
The End of Course tests are taken at the end of each school year. High school students are evaluated in Algebra 1, English 1 and 2, Biology 1, and U.S. History.
The scores that were released by the State Department of Education show improved but still failing scores in Biology, Algebra, and History.
The tests are scored on a 100-point scale. This year, students scored an average of 68 in Algebra, 66 in Biology, 76 in English 2, and 65 in U.S. History.
These scores make up 20% of a student's final grade in that subject's class. So if a student has a passing score of an 80% in their algebra class but scores a 50% on their End of Course Test, it will drop their final grade in the class to 74%.
Patrick Kelly, a high school U.S. History teacher who also serves with the Palmetto State Teachers Association, says with he sees students day-to-day. He believes these tests are not always the best way to see how students are performing in a certain subject.
"While we get a numeric score for a student, we don't get any disaggregation of that data. For example, if a student scores a 90% on the U.S. History exam, as the teacher I don't know where that 10% came from," Kelly explained.
Kelly says the failing scores for this year are disappointing but eye-opening, as they provide greater insight into pandemic learning loss. He says to see true improvement the state does not need to adjust the test but the classroom environment.
"Moving forward if we want student achievement to improve we've got to give students access to high-quality instruction," Kelly said. "That can look in the form of solving our educator shortage in this state... It can look at extended learning opportunities, extending the school day, extending the school year, summer enrichment programs, and high dosage tutoring which districts have the financial resources to deploy right now because of federal dollars."
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David Mathis, the Deputy Superintendent of College and Career Readiness at the South Carolina Department of Education, says the state is looking at how they can improve student assessment moving forward.
"When done well, I think teacher-made assessments can be some of the best... they know what they are targeting with their students so then they are able to get some very good information," Mathis stated.
Next month, reading and math numbers will be released. This will be reported on a state level so South Carolina can see how they are performing compared to other state education systems.