Our View: Kudos to schools for top marks on S.C. report cards

When your children improve their grades on their report cards, you praise them. When our schools’ report card grades improve, they deserve our praise, too.
So, we’re here to say congratulations to the record number of Lancaster County schools that were rated excellent in one or both categories of their state report cards, released last month.
Five schools received an excellent grade in one or both categories – Discovery School and Indian Land Middle School in both categories and Indian Land Elementary, Indian Land High and McDonald Green Elementary in their absolute ratings. ILHS also improved its growth rating from average to good, while ILES and McDonald Green maintained their growth ratings at good.
“I was excited to see those five excellent ratings,” said Lydia Quinn, director of planning and accountability for Lancaster County School District. “In the past, we’ve had maybe one or two schools at a time with excellent. I think that was a great improvement, especially to see all the Indian Land area schools improve.”
The report cards give schools and districts two ratings – an absolute rating and a growth rating. Absolute ratings measure overall student performance on standardized tests, the school’s graduation rate and other factors. Growth ratings are based on individual student test scores from one year to the next and the number of students who show improvement. Schools and districts are graded excellent, good, average, below average or at risk, depending on their progress toward state goals.
We also congratulate the other five schools that showed improvement in one of their ratings – Buford Elementary, Clinton Elementary, Heath Springs Elementary, Andrew Jackson Middle and Lancaster High.
Six district schools maintained both their ratings the same as last year – North Elementary, Erwin Elementary, Kershaw Elementary, Buford Middle, South Middle and Brooklyn Springs Elementary.
Three county schools saw their ratings fall – A.R. Rucker Middle in one area and Andrew Jackson High and Buford High in both areas.
Out of the total 38 ratings received by Lancaster County School District’s 19 schools, 11 ratings rose, 22 stayed the same and five fell.
Lancaster County School District itself maintained its average absolute rating, but its growth rating dropped from good to below average.
All things considered, Quinn said she is proud of the district’s performance on this year’s report cards.
“When you have five schools with excellent ratings, 17 out of the 19 with average or better growth and several schools that improved over last year, that’s moving in the right direction,” she said. “Of course, we still have places to grow, but I think that’s substantial.”
Educational progress doesn’t happen overnight. It takes years of collaborative work by students, parents, teachers and administrators. But having 20 percent of our schools reach the top mark shows it is possible.
We commend everyone involved in helping our schools improve their report card ratings. And we encourage our students, parents and schools’ faculties and staffs to continue striving for that excellent rating.