West Of
West Ashley's Independent Community Newspaper
Nov 21, 2006
West Ashley schools celebrate ‘average’ rating
By Warren Cobb, Community Editor
The Charleston County School District’s annual
report card rating plummeted from “Good” to “Below
Average” this year. West Ashley schools, however, fared a little
better with an overall average of “Average.”
“The scores are not good,”
Superintendent Dr. Maria Goodloe-Johnson said about the scores last
week. Sixty-five percent of Charleston’s schools declined. By
contrast, about 27 percent of West Ashley’s schools received
lower ratings, 63 percent stayed the same, and one school—Oakland
Elementary—saw an increase in its rating from Average to Good.
Unfortunately, one of the schools that saw a
dramatic decline was West Ashley High, which dropped from a Good rating
to Below Average. Principal Bob Olson says the drop wasn’t as
dramatic as it seemed, and that the school held its previous rating of
Good by only a few tenths of a point, and scored Below Average by
another few tenths of a point. Olson said the school suffered
primarily because of its on-time graduation rate, which makes up about
30 percent of the overall rating. If a student starts as a freshman at
WAHS and does not graduate within four years, it counts against the
school.
According to Olson, students who counted as
non-graduates included special needs students completing their
individual education plans (IEP), students who completed their
requirements in adult education (about 100 students per year), and
students who took more than four years to complete their graduation
requirements. He pointed out that WAHS has the highest population
of special needs students in the district, which number about 345 out
of the 2,000-member student body.
“We do an excellent job with these
students, however they don’t earn a diploma,” Olsen says.
“We also offer adult education, and many student who are behind
choose to finish in that program. We were please that our exit exam
scores improved over last year. The number of students who passed the
exit exam increased seven percentage points over last year.”
Olson stands by his school, its teachers, and its
programs. He suggests that if parents have any questions or concerns,
he would encourage them to look a little deeper into how the scores
were calculated, and invites them to call the school with any concerns.
“We have a good school here with a wide variety of children, and
we do a good job with them,” he says.
2006
Report Cards for all D10 Schools are available from the State Department of
Education.
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