Final PACT scores improve slightly

The state considers meeting grade-level standards as scoring basic, proficient or advanced on the exam. A score of basic is passing but minimally prepared for the next grade. PACT scores are key components used in school report card ratings.

These results will be the last ones for this test. The Palmetto Assessment of State Standards, or PASS, will be the state's new standardized exam, and officials say it will give educators more detailed information about what their students know in a more timely manner.

State Superintendent of Education Jim Rex said an all-out effort will be made to enable comparisons between this and next year's results, but it likely will not be an exact comparison. The new test will continue to measure what students have learned in English, math, social studies and science, and it also will ensure that the state maintains its reputation for high expectations and standards, Rex said.

Some local educators were relieved that this was the last time they will have to deal with the PACT tests and its resulting scores. Dorchester District 2 Superintendent Joe Pye said he expected his district's scores to be higher, given the interventions that were put in place after last year's results and the mid-year tests that showed students making progress. But the PACT tests don't give educators diagnostic information to help them redirect instruction, so the district might have made changes that weren't needed, he said.  "This test is so faulty," Pye said. "Every year we battle these same things. It's just frustrating."

Dorchester 2 students fared the worst of the local school districts in comparison with last year. Its percentage of students meeting state standards fell in 14 of 24 areas, but the district still has higher scores than the state average and every other local district in every subject and in every grade. Pye said the school district also still ranks among the top 15 districts in the state for its achievement.

In Charleston, perhaps the biggest surprise was the significant drop in test scores at Sanders-Clyde Elementary School after officials instituted a monitoring system there during testing. The district has asked SLED to do an investigation.  Overall, the school district's percentage of students scoring at the highest levels — proficient and advanced — has never been higher. Those scores beat state averages in every grade and in every subject. The school district's percentage of students meeting the state standard improved in 13 of 24 areas.

The biggest gains were in science, and the areas where the district worsened varied by grade and subject. Schools Superintendent Nancy McGinley said this progress is significant because it happened in spite of the district's inability, because of funding, to add resources for children who need it most, such as extending the school year.

In Berkeley County, the percentage of students meeting the state standard worsened in 13 of 24 areas from last year, but the district still scored above the state average in 14 of 24 areas.  "We are not where we want to be in terms of student performance at these levels," Archie Franchini, Berkeley County schools deputy superintendent for learning services, said in an e-mail. "An area of concern is the performance in the middle grades particularly, in grades seven and eight. As we address this, our efforts and focus will center on improving student learning."

Rural Dorchester 4 saw a greater percentage of students meeting the state standard in 13 of 24 areas.

Reach Diette Courrégé at 937-5546 or dcourrege@ postandcourier.com.
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