14 District 5 Schools Receive an "Excellent" Rating on School Report Card

Fourteen schools in Lexington-Richland 5 and the district itself received an Excellent Absolute rating on the 2011 School Report Card, according to data release by the S.C. Department of Education Thursday.

Those schools are Ballentine, Chapin, Irmo, Lake Murray, Nursery Road, Oak Pointe and River Springs elementary schools; Chapin, CrossRoads, Dutch Fork and Irmo middle schools; and Chapin, Dutch Fork and Irmo high schools.

The school's Growth ratings vary from Excellent to Average. The district's 2011 Growth rating was Good compared to its 2010 rating of Excellent. In 2010, the district received an Excellent rating for both Absolute and Growth.

Of the 14 schools, Ballentine Elementary has received an Excellent rating for both its Absolute and Growth ratings for the last five years.

Lake Murray Elementary also has received an Excellent Absolute rating for the last five years. Lake Murray's Growth rating was rated Excellent for the last four years.

The annual School Report Card grades each of the state’s schools and districts based on standardized test scores, graduation rates (both on-time and 5-year), the Palmetto Assessment of State Standards or PASS test, and other educational data.

Absolute ratings are based on a set of test scores and cover the most recently completed school year. For high schools, those tests include End-of-Course exams, the High School Assessment Program (HSAP) exams and graduation rates.

Growth ratings (formerly called Improvement ratings) make a comparison of test scores from the recent school year to previous years. This rating shows a “trend” through the years and is a secondary measurement for schools and districts.

Both rankings are grades of Excellent, Good, Average, Below Average or At-Risk.

The Education Oversight Committee, which was created by the General Assembly to lead the implementation of the state’s Education Accountability Act of 1998, set the ratings formulas based on student achievement.

Here's a breakdown of Lexington-Richland 5's schools:

Statewide School Report Card

The number of school districts and schools receiving an “Excellent” Absolute rating in the state has increased since 2010, according to the data.

Eleven out of 86 school districts received an Excellent Absolute rating compared to six districts in 2010.

Abbeville, Darlington, Florence 5, Spartanburg 1 and Spartanburg 6 join York 4, Lexington 5, Anderson 1, Lexington 1, Greenwood 52, and York 2 in the list of districts who received an Excellent rating. The latter six districts received an Excellent rating in 2010 and 2011.

The number of districts receiving an Excellent or Good increased from 18 to 33 from 2010 to 2011, according to the state department. Twenty-two districts earned a Good rating compared to 12 in 2010.

At the same time, the number of districts rated At-Risk also increased by three from the six reported in 2010.

As for schools, 76 schools have been rated as Excellent in 2011 bringing the total number of schools to 318 or 27 percent of the state’s schools compared to 242 schools or 21 percent.

The number of elementary, middle and high schools receiving an Excellent rating increased from 2010 to 2011.

Elementary schools increased from 134 to 166; middle schools increased from 36 to 53; and high schools increased from 40 to 72.

At the other end of the ratings, the number of schools receiving an At-risk rating stayed the same at 69 schools. No primary schools received the rating.

Twenty-nine middle schools, an increase of two from 2010, are rated as At-risk, while 17 high schools and 23 elementary schools in the state also receive the rating. There was one less high and middle school in 2011.

For 2011, 251 schools compared to 263 in 2010 received an Excellent Growth rating. The number of schools that received an At-risk Growth rating has declined from 116 to 75.

There are more high schools and middle schools showing an Excellent Growth rating in 2011 at 42 schools and 54 schools, respectively, compared to 25 and 42 in 2010. There are less primary and elementary schools in 2011. Primary schools are at 3 in 2011 compared to 13 and elementary schools are at 152 schools compared to 183 in 2010.

Out of 86 school districts, Lexington 5 is ranked number 2 for its Absolute index of 3.92.

The top spot belongs to York 4 with an Absolute index of 4.30.

High School Graduation Rate

In addition to Absolute and Growth ratings, the School Report Card provides information on high school graduation rates.

Below is a chart of the district's high school graduation rates. Chapin High the biggest increase in its graduation rate from 2010 with 94.50 percent of its students graduating in 2011.

Across the state, the score was 73.6 percent compared to 2010’s score of 72.1 percent. The state’s graduation rate was at it’s highest in 2003 at 78 percent, according to the state department.

State Superintendent of Education Mick Zais said on Wednesday during a news media conference call that the high school graduation rate was well below where the state’s rate should be.

 “What this current rate means is that slightly more than 1 out of every 4 students will not graduate on time in South Carolina,” Zais said to media across the state on Wednesday. “We shouldn’t be satisfied with this graduation rate. I certainly am not and no one else should be.”

 Zais suggested three areas to focus on to improve the graduation rate.

The first being “an intense focus on reading in elementary school.”

 “We need to make sure every student is reading on grade level by the time they enter fourth grade,” Zais said.

 The second area would be for high schools to tailor its curriculum so that “each student gets a personalized and customized education that matches the student’s ability, aspirations and needs not a one-size-fits-all curriculum.”

 Zais also said providing more options for parents would help increase the on-time graduation rate in the state.

 “We need to provide more options to parents so that they can pick, either kindergarten or through high school, the educational environment that best fit the need of their student and that will put them on the path to graduation,” Zais said. “That’s why I’ve been pushing for a full menu of options for traditional schools, our public charter schools, our public magnet schools and many other kinds.”

Zais said allowing students to take, for example, a business writing course instead of British literature to fulfill credit requirements and not just as an elective would help schools tailor curriculum to individual students.

To view the full Report Card for the district and schools, visit the State Department of Education web site.