Superintendents Mostly Pleased with State Report Cards

Greg Wilson/Anderson Observer

Anderson County school districts have evaluated the South Carolina Department of Education annual report card for schools, and mostly are finding scores above state averages.

The report card, which is both confusing and difficult to use as a measure of comparison, still offers glimpses of which schools are performing at or above expected levels, which are showing improvement, and which have work to do. Search by school here.

Here is an overview of the county’s five school districts.

All schools in Anderson School Dist. 1 meet or exceed state standards to ensure that all students meet the profile of a South Carolina graduate.

“We are blessed to live in a community that supports our District and values the education of our students,” said Superintendent Robbie Binnicker. “Even though the district is one of the lowest funded districts in the state, our academic achievement places us near the top in most categories.”

In Anderson School Dist. 2, overall student achievement increased in academic achievement for the third consecutive year.  The district ranked seventh in academic achievement out of 77 public school districts. “This is due to the incredible hard work of our fine teachers,” said Superintendent Jason Johns.

“Collectively our schools performed better than 90.9% of all other South Carolina districts.”

“Each year every South Carolina public school district receives a School Climate Ranking based on teacher and student surveys,” said Johns. “The surveys gather teacher and student satisfaction concerning five areas:  learning environment, social and physical safety, working environment, instructional focus, and overall school climate. Our district ranked in the top five in all five categories. Overall, Anderson School District Two had the highest ranking of any traditional public school district in the state”

In School Dist. 3, Starr Elementary School had one of the highest scores in the county, with an excellent overall rating as well as an Excellent rating in each category. Superintendent Kathy Hipp said it is the first time a school in the district has rated as excellent in all categories. Crescent High School's rating for Excellent for Graduation rate is the fourth consecutive year, meaning a graduation rate of 90 percent or above. Four out of five schools in Anderson 3 achieved either Good or Excellent overall ratings.

School Dist. 4 Superintendent Dee Christopher said his district posted significant increases in student achievement that were well above the state average.

“We also had a very positive climate survey result from parents, students, and teachers,” said Christopher, “with an over 90 percent approval in satisfaction with learning/social/physical environment, home/home school relations, teacher working conditions and safety, and student safety.” The top improvement rating for an individual school in the district was Riverside Middle School moving from average to excellent. .

In School Dist. 5, the most dramatic improvement was at Varennes Elementary School, which moved up two rating levels for a good rating. Meanwhile Whitehall moved from good to excellent and Robert Anderson Middle School earned a good rating.

While the district includes some of the top performing schools in the county, it also includes the only high school with a below average rating, Westside High School. The district has already put a plan in place to work on the challenging areas and expects improvement before next year’s report card, said Assistant Superintendent Kyle Newton.

South Carolina schools are measured in several areas, called performance indicators: Academic Achievement, Student Progress, Preparing for Success. College and Career Ready

English Language Learners’ Progress, Graduation Rate, School Climate, Classroom Environment, Student Safety, and Financial Information. Federal and state law require that states measure certain indicators; others were approved by the State Superintendent of Education and the SC Education Oversight Committee for use in the school accountability system.