State Superintendent of Education, Jim Rex, says student scores improved this year on South Carolina's high school end-of-course exams, with various demographic groups showing better performance and achievement gaps narrowing in most areas.
In a news release Tuesday, Rex said more students posted grades of A, B or C, and fewer students posted failing grades. The biggest improvement was in Algebra 1, where A-C grades increased from 55.3 percent in 2009 to 61.3 percent in 2010.
Below is the rest of the news release in its entirety:
"We're not where we want to be by any stretch of the imagination, particularly with history and science scores," Rex said. "But it's encouraging for our high schools to see this kind of across-the-board improvement. The key will be sustaining that improvement over the long haul. We have to keep pushing."
Although high school students have long taken traditional final exams in many courses, South Carolina's introduction of statewide end-of-course testing six years ago marked the first time that a standards-based test was administered to all students in the same courses.
Algebra 1 testing began in the 2003-2004 school year, and English 1 and Physical Science were added a year later. A fourth end-of-course exam - U.S. History and the Constitution - was added to the state's school accountability system two years ago. Results count for 20 percent of each student's final grades in these courses.
Highlights of the 2010 results included:
- ● Algebra 1 - The average scale score increased to 80.0 from 79.1 the previous year. A greater percentage of high school students had scores in the A, B or C range, and a smaller percentage recorded D's or F's. The percentage of students scoring A-C increased from 55.3 percent in 2009 to 61.3 percent in 2010. The percentage of F scores dropped from 22.8 percent to 19.8 percent.
- ● English 1 - The average scale score increased 1.4 points, from 75.5 to 76.9. More students had scores in the A-C range, 53.4 percent compared to 48.9 percent the previous year. The percentage of F scores dropped from 31.6 percent to 26.3 percent.
- ● Physical Science - The average scale score increased 1.5 points, from 72.5 to 74. More students had scores in the A-C range, 42.6 percent compared to 37.2 percent the previous year. F scores decreased by 3.6 percentage points.
- ● U.S. History and the Constitution - The average scale score for the newest end-of-course exam increased from 69.4 to 69.8. More students had scores in the A-C range, 24.1 percent compared to 21.7 percent the previous year. F scores decreased by 3.9 percentage points, from 57.6 percent to 53.7 percent.
Measured by average scale scores, African-American students narrowed achievement gaps with white students in Algebra 1, English 1 and U.S. History and the Constitution. Hispanic students narrowed achievement gaps in all four subjects. Students from low-income families narrowed achievement gaps with their more affluent peers in Algebra 1, English 1 and U.S. History and the Constitution.
Under South Carolina's uniform grading scale, an A is 93-100; a B is 85-92; a C is 77-84; and a D is 70-76. Anything 69 or below is an F.
For 2009-10, grade distribution for English was 8.4 percent A, 17.8 percent B, 27.2 percent C, 20.3 percent D and 26.3 percent F. Grade distribution for Algebra 1 was 15.3 percent A, 19.3 percent B, 26.7 percent C, 18.8 percent D and 19.8 percent F. (Students enrolled in an Algebra I and Mathematics for the Technologies II course take the Algebra I end-of-course exam; content standards are the same.)
Grade distribution for physical science was 14.4 percent A, 10.3 percent B, 17.9 percent C, 16.6 percent D and 40.9 percent F. The U.S. History and Constitution grade distribution was 2.1 percent A, 5.4 percent B, 16.6 percent C, 22.2 percent D and 53.7 percent F.
"History and science are the newest tests, and they have the lowest scores," Rex said. "You would expect those scores to go up as teachers get acquainted with what the new tests are like, and that's happening. The Education Department has intensified its teacher training efforts across the state, and in districts where those efforts have been made, kids have improved their scores. Teachers also are getting more mileage out of new curriculum guides that provide stronger links among academic standards, classroom teaching and student performance on the tests."
The curriculum guides are a key part of the state's Standards Support System - known as S3 - that fulfills Rex's vision of a "default curriculum" that includes model lesson plans, suggested teaching strategies and testing tips to see if students are learning effectively. The guides were introduced last year and are posted on the Education Department's web site.
Rex also said a review of social studies content standards is under way, offering an opportunity to look at course structure, pacing and organization
