South Carolina School Leaders Await News of Statewide Testing This Spring

YORK COUNTY, S.C. (CN2 NEWS) The South Carolina Education Oversight Committee, released a report showing how student achievement has been impacted by COVID-19.

The Committee used information from South Carolina students in grades 3-8 who were given Measure of Academic Progress growth assessments in 2019 and 2020.

TheĀ  SCEOC study found that statewide nearly 7 of 10 students in grades 3 through 8 who completed formative MAP testing will not meet grade level standards in English and Math this spring. In York County district leaders are continuing to push student achievement.

“We put a lot of stock in our formative assessment thatā€™s our MAP testing. Thatā€™s where we see where a child is and then we develop a learning progression for that child and what that child needs,” says York School District Superintendent, Kelly Coxe. “Weā€™ve administered those in the fall of this year and we just completed our winter administration and Iā€™m anxiously waiting to see if weā€™ve been able to help accelerate those students who did start behind at the beginning of the school year, because of last yearā€™s closing.”

While all York County school districts did not participate in that MAP testing, specifically, school district leaders say that they continue to have a focus on student achievement taking into account the impacts of the pandemic.

Joe Burke with Fort Mill schools says, “We did not see any major things where we saw a large drop of more than 50% of a group not being ready at the level theyā€™re supposed to be….We are again starting to see those percentages climb back up.”

State leaders believe teachers should not be shifting from academics to test prep at this point in the year.

South Carolina Senator Mike Fanning, says, “We cannot afford to take an entire month out of the school year, that last month of school where we know May 1 everybody checks out for test at the end of the year. We cannot afford to do that this year when teachers need those days in the classroom.”

Last year the U.S. Department of Education waived end of year testing in the state. Now, state leaders believe a final decision on end of year testing will come from the federal government within a month.

State Representative Raye Felder, who sits on our state’s education subcommittee, says, “Well I think one thing it has taught us more than anything is education is an investment. Itā€™s not just an expense it is an investment not only in money but in time and energy.”

In the video above, CN2’s Rachel Richardson is speaking with school district leaders about the pandemics impact on achievement.

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