Pickens County School District Report Card: 'Good'

The Pickens County School District was given a "Good" absolute rating and growth rating by the S.C. Department of Education for the 2012 report card.

The rating is an improvement over the 2011 Absolute rating of “Average.”

Every SDPC school scored “Average” or better on both Absolute and Growth ratings. 12 schools were rated “Excellent,” nine were rated “Good,” and four were rated “Average.” No schools rated “Below Average” or “At-Risk” in any category.

“We are very proud of the hard work of our students and teachers and feel that our success is a direct result of their commitment to our schools,” said Dr. Kelly Pew, Superintendent. “We recognize that we must continue to provide support to our students and teachers as we implement new standards and assessments in our school district.”

Every school maintained or improved its Absolute rating from 2011 with Crosswell Elementary, Liberty High and Pickens High improving. Nine schools—Crosswell Elementary, East End Elementary, McKissick Elementary, West End Elementary, Dacusville Middle, Liberty Middle, Gettys Middle, Liberty High and Pickens High—improved their growth ratings over 2011. However, the Growth ratings regressed for A.R. Lewis Elementary, Central Elementary, Daniel High and Easley High. All four schools still earned a “Good” or “Excellent” Absolute rating.

A school-by-school breakdown of the 2012 report card results is provided in the table above: 

South Carolina had 42 school districts with an absolute rating of Excellent or Good in 2012, up from 33 in 2011, according to a press release from the SCDE. The state had 629 schools with an absolute rating of Excellent or Good in 2012, up from 529 in 2011, for a 19 percent increase.   

Neil C. Robinson, Jr., Chairman of the Education Oversight Committee, said “teachers, students, principals, school board members, parents, legislators and community leaders should be commended for the results on the 2012 state report cards.”  

Robinson said there are still challenges to be battled and improvements to be made. Among them:

1. Seven in 10 children attending public schools in SC are eligible for the free/reduced price lunch and/or Medicaid programs. Of the 61 school districts with a poverty index above 70 percent, 21 had an absolute rating of Excellent or Good. "This performance is evidence that high academic standards, quality teaching, parental involvement, and community support can mitigate  the negative impact of poverty on students and their successes."

2. There are eight school districts rated At Risk, down from nine in 2011. Thirty schools with an absolute rating of At Risk in 2009 are still rated At Risk in 2012. Nine percent of students in South Carolina attended a school with a rating of at-risk or below average. “We must put our energy into putting an end to persistent underperformance in these schools. The percentage has to come down," Robinson said.

3. Businesses need better-qualified and -educated students, Robinson said. One in four children still do not graduate from high school. And one in five children is not reading on grade level in 3rd grade.

See above or click here to see how Pickens County schools did in 2012.