Busting Jim Rex’s Myth
Despite all evidence to the contrary, S.C. Superintendent of Education Jim Rex continues to claim that our state is making progress in education.
In fact a month ago, Rex took credit for a minimal gain in South Carolina’s SAT scores only to find out later that this modest gain was due entirely to private schools improving their performance. Public schools actually dropped five points – despite the billion dollars in new money that we’ve poured into the system over the previous four years.
Rex’s assertion of “progress” – predictably built around pleas for more money – ignores the fact the our state still ranks dead last in the nation in graduating its children. It also ignores a growing achievement gap between black and white students, which Rex glosses over by talking about how “tough” are standards are and citing improvements among our best and brightest public schools.
Well, based on a front-page report in today’s Greenville Journal, it looks like Rex once again has some explaining to do:
An in-depth Greenville Journal analysis of all test scores nationwide, broken down by coursework, income, parent education, and ethnicity of students showed South Carolina SAT scores this year were near the bottom among all groups and subgroups.
This runs counter to factors commonly cited as working against South Carolina — its disproportionately high percentage of test-takers, its high minority and low-income population, and counselors’ inability to regulate who takes the test, regardless of whether the students have taken the courses necessary to answer SAT questions.
In other words, white students, well-to-do students, students taking calculus and students whose parents have graduate degrees all scored among the lowest in their subcategories compared to their counterparts in other states.
Lorin Anderson, professor emeritus at the University of South Carolina who has been studying the state’s education system for more than 30 years, said it has always been so.
“‘Even if you go with the numbers of courses taken — high level courses — generally that category of completion gets you the best and brightest from every state. Even at that level, our scores are lowest,” he said.
First of all, thanks to the Greenville Journal for doing a job the rest of South Carolina’s mainstream media seems utterly incapable of doing.
Second, file this article away the next time you hear Rex and his army of establishment apologists bragging about how “tough” our standards are, or complaining in politically-correct terms about how it’s all those poor, black kids who are dragging down our SAT scores.
As it turns out, lily white South Carolina ain’t doing so hot either …
Comments
By Don Johnson on October 3rd, 2008 at 11:35 am
Oh well, guess my kids are going to boarding school.
By Jim Vining on October 3rd, 2008 at 11:46 am
Yes, and unfortunately, the same is true for SC private school students. It must be in the water down here.
By nope on October 3rd, 2008 at 1:02 pm
And private school vouchers are the answer.
Except what if our independent schools ALSO scored among the lowest in the nation on the SAT? What if they weren’t just near the bottom but 50th out of 51?
Guess what — they are. Thank God for Alaska, the only state with independent schools that score lower than ours.
By BIN News Editorial Staff on October 5th, 2008 at 9:52 am
The attempted rape of public education in SC continues with every politically motivated attack bought and paid for by SCRG and Howie’s other carpetbuggers.
These attacks ignore the real issues facing education in SC. They ignore the “minimally adequate” standard; by that pathetic standard SC schools are doing great. They ignore poverty and related social problems that carpetbugggers can’t imagine. They ignore funding problems. They ignore the latent racism that still haunts society. Worst of all they ignore the fact the voucher scam will leave behind the children who need help the most.
And they defiantly ignore the fact that vouchers are dead in SC. The voters and the Legislature have seen through the voucher scam. Enjoy the baggies of money from the carpetbuggers while it lasts, sic(k) willie.
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