SC Ranks Dead Last In Rural Graduation Rate
They don’t call it the “Corridor of Shame” for nothing … and all the taxpayer money in the world hasn’t done a damn thing to change it.
Despite dozens of new programs and billions of dollars in funding increases over the last decade, South Carolina’s rural school districts are continuing to fail students at a record clip – the latest atrocious indicator in what is shaping up to be one of the worst years on record for public schools in the Palmetto State.
Indeed, South Carolina has the highest rural dropout rate in the entire nation according to a new report from a national non-profit organization that’s focused on raising academic achievement in rural areas.
The report, entitled “Why Rural Matters,” was published last week by the Rural School and Community Trust. Predictably, not a single mainstream media outlet in South Carolina picked up on the report’s findings – which is almost as pathetic as the academic results the report uncovered.
“Just over half of the state’s rural students graduate from high school, a lower rate than all other states,” the report concludes. “NAEP and NCLB scores are equally alarming, near the bottom on all four indicators.”
The report also found that “spending on instruction in rural districts is very low,” reinforcing previous data showing that less than half of every dollar spent on “education” in South Carolina actually makes it into the classroom
The results mark the latest in a string of setbacks for South Carolina’s education establishment this year.
Last month, educrats were busted trying to dumb down South Carolina’s academic standards – which it’s obvious at this point would have to be considered quite a feat.
Next up, South Carolina’s so-called “budget cuts” – which had been blamed by Superintendent Jim Rex and others for poor academic performance – were revealed to be utter and complete fiction based on data published by the S.C. Office of Research and Statistics.
Those numbers showed that in the midst of the worst economic year since the Great Depression, South Carolina public schools spent more than $12,000 per pupil – a record amount.
Finally, prior to the rural graduation data being released, a report published two weeks ago showed that South Carolina’s overall graduation rate remains among the worst in the nation – which is consistent with our state’s declining SAT and ACT scores.
WEB EXTRA
“Why Rural Matters 2009″ Report – South Carolina fact sheet
Comments
By Cheraw Citizen on November 9th, 2009 at 9:32 pm
If the money isn’t spent on instruction, where is it going?
Even if that question is answered, why are South Carolinians allowing it to happen?
Whether one is talking about our state or nation, things are the way they are because, one, someone likes it that way, and, two, it’s benefitting someone.
But that’s the history, past & present, of the world, isn’t it? A handful of people called “government”, who insist their presence is needed & that they can run things so much better than anyone else, so much to the point that they demand the populations pay them. Aside from having more (of the population’s) money, larger houses, the best of everything, really, are they any different than the populations they rule? They eat, sleep, everything else the people whose lives’ they insist upon dictating do. They make the same mistakes. They break more rules because they can.
What do the people do? Pay them & follow them, lest the people end up jailed or worse.
I’ll stop typing now, lest I be accused of being a socialist, communist, or some other -ist no one can truly define the meaning of.
By Todd on November 9th, 2009 at 9:47 pm
This is just pitiful. Check out http://www.WISTV.com tonight (Monday, November 9, 2009) and look at the Fairfield School Board debacle story. That may give one an indication of why this story may be true.
By Jim on November 10th, 2009 at 9:59 am
If you had looked a little closer at the other info on the same page of the Report, the rural instructional per pupil expenditure is $4,682, rather than the $12,000 falsely provided in your lathered-up remarks.
By Another Cheraw Citizen on November 10th, 2009 at 10:05 am
Cheraw Citizen,
You sound more like a libertarian than a socialist. Socialists want the government to control everything. Libertarians want the governmnet to get out of the way so people can be free to live their lives as they see fit.
By fitsnews on November 10th, 2009 at 10:21 am
Jim,
You are a moron …
http://www.voiceforschoolchoice.com/2009/07/08/south-carolina-public-school-funding-2009-2010/
-FITS
By leavinonajetplane on November 10th, 2009 at 10:28 am
Well, what can we expect?
Our superintendent uses poor grammar when quoted in the newspaper (shameful “role model”), our principals are being investigated for erasing test scores on poor black kids’ tests (fraud), and our wealthy whites put their kids in private schools and drive PAST public schools. These very same rich people send their kids out of state for college, because they know from being in the work force with SC college “grads” just how lousy the “education” in SC really is…they don’t want their kids to be a similar statistic. For goodness sake, don’t anyone tell me how you went to xxx university in SC and got a great education…if you have never been to school out of SC, you really don’t know whether your education was good or not. You simply do not have the data. Fact is, people from out of state often say that we are blind to our plight…we don’t know better to ask for better. So, here is a solution: Let’s get tough (not just pretend, but REALLY DO SOMETHING) about our standards and stop whining about the way things are, so we can make things the way they ought to be. We must accept the FACT that you are not educated with only a college degree, and that the college degree of today is the high school diploma of 10 years ago (if you think a college degree is “education”, you are part of the problem in SC). We must also want more to have more and you must have your eyes opened to the FACT that other states do not settle for what we routinely accept as our fate. We must stop social promotion because this teaches students that they don’t have to master anything…they can just sit around long enough and someone will promote/pass/hire them. We must stop accepting mediocrity and speak out against bad teachers, bad administrators, and more taxes to fund more of the same bad results. Seems that only when we feel enough pain will we change anything.
By nastydr0 on November 10th, 2009 at 10:37 am
Clyburn’s district
By Brandon on November 10th, 2009 at 10:49 am
Folks, it’s not the schools in these districs. It’s the students. Think about it.
By EdResearch on November 10th, 2009 at 11:28 am
“PPE” is a total sum and is, in part, highest in the poorest, most rural areas because of per capita transportion expenditures. And for anyone who still thinks NCLB or some other form of public school choice is an answer for our worst schools, consider the increase in transportation-related PPE if we not only have to collect and transport these students to a central location, but then also have to spin them out to the school of their “choice.”
It is POVERTY…and Brandon is right. When the poorest students show up to begin their formal education, there is generally a significant achivement gap in place. It results from impacts on brain development from poor nutrition, poor parental and community support in early development, and a host of other environmental factors.
By Teach Me on November 10th, 2009 at 11:46 am
Those that can – DO. Those that can do better, TEACH.
I always look at statistics like this report not knowing what to believe. Education across the board could and needs to be improved. But the fault is with the parents. Not the teachers or school boards.
Education starts in the home. It’s up to Mom and Dad to read to their children and to play games that enhance the learning environment in home. When Mom and Dads don’t value education, what should the kids?
I have three boys. I read to my youngest every night. I limit my oldest boys time on video games. My kids are the tops in their classes at school. It’s because my wife and I know that education begins in the home, not at school.
By Don't know what you are talking about on November 10th, 2009 at 12:40 pm
After to listening to four family members who have over 100 combined years in public education I can tell you that it is not a money issue nor a school choice issue. It plain and simple a “parent” problem. You want little “Johnnie” to read and write and stay until graduation, then you hold parents accountable for their children.
How do you do that? Maybe fine the parents of problem children or perhaps make them pay what it cost to educate their own children. In other words, if your child is studying hard and makeing acceptable grades then instead of property taxes, charge the parent a reduced rate for their child’s education. Exceptions for documented learning diabilities and other situations will be accepted.
Got a child that makes poor grades and is disruptive in class, be prepared to pay a higher fee. Can’t afford it, get a job or even better still make the child work after school cleaning up!
There are a number of ways to skin this cat. The above are just a few of them. The main thing is quit this crap about funding and school choices and get to the main problem, the parent!
By baker on November 10th, 2009 at 2:02 pm
This is pretty depressing stuff. South Carolina has some of the most impoverished rural communities in America, I would think. I’m from the Upstate, and bad as some areas around here are, I think it’s tough for folks in places like Greenville and Spartanburg to really understand the situation in counties like Clarendon, Marion, Jasper, etc.
The state needs to take bold steps, including in the area of teacher recruitment. I imagine it’s VERY difficult to convince young ambitious teachers to settle in many of these rural, poor, sparse communities.
I suspect Will Folks and SCRG and some other ideologues on the right will use this report as a way to push for tax credits, vouchers, or whatever to pay for private school choice. Yet, rural communities would logically seem like the very most difficult places to make private school choice work: little infrastructure to create new private schools; few existing private schools; great distances for families to travel in order to put kids in schools of their “choice”; on and on and on.
We need to look at more practical and realistic ways to get the job done, I’d say.
By EdResearch on November 10th, 2009 at 2:23 pm
Dont’ Know…your’s is not an informed or socially just position.
Most homes in which extreme poverty is present have one parent or a non-parent relative caring for the child/children. Quite often these are very low one-income or welfare subsidy homes. When the caretaker is a worker, they are often performing labor intensive jobs for long hours, and frequently do not get home until very late.
So your position is that the government should fine them–further reduce the family’s resources??
But I do agree that the solution is with the family. Rather than dumping more money into failing school systems, invest in community infrastructure, education, job traning, business development and expansion of local tax bases.
We can’t reasonably expect the schools to correct or overcome in 35 hours a week what their lives shape the other 133 hours of the week.
By Cheraw Citizen on November 10th, 2009 at 2:01 pm
Another Cheraw Citizen:
Why would you spend time determining I’m this or that politically oriented instead of offering some genuine thoughts or ideas on what is the crux of this issue & what can be done to correct it?
Whatever the reason, I refuse to commit myself to any political party. Everyone is right, everyone is wrong when it comes to politics & religion.
Another example from someone in this area being more interested in what someone is politically or religiously & where they fit in than addressing school issues, or any issue for that matter.
That mentality, with respect to politics & religion in this area, is as much the problem with schools & every other issue as money, faculty, parents, or anything else.
Not to mention the overwhelming number of greedy crooks this area seems to have in every respective agency around here.
By Liberty For Me on November 10th, 2009 at 2:10 pm
GEEE..government does such a good job with education.With all the advancements in our generation and with pretty much a wheelbarrel full of money for each child they turn out a third world class of children.I will be glad when they take over our healthcare and tack more taxes on my electric bills for more great advancements
By Mad Max on November 10th, 2009 at 3:12 pm
Where does the money go?
I’ll tell you..
It goes to districts who continue to keep a and pay deadwood District Office personnel who are merely justifying their paycheck.
Where does it not go?
It does NOT go to classroom teachers.
It does NOT go to schools.
It does NOT go to fund hands on science projects, materials, new instructional materials, COMPLETE sets of instructional materials.
IT DOES NOT GO TO THE PLACE WHERE THE TEACHERS MEET THE KIDS.
There is little accountability.
There is even less transparency.
There is NO competency at the Oversight COmmittee level and at the Legislative level. Not a single one of these “elected officials” has ever taught in a rural public school. They have never met a curriculum. They have never been force fed directed instruction from their District Office.
And finally, Education in South Carolina has NEVER EVER been fully funded by the legislature as is layed out and mandated in the law!
READ THE LAW!! It’s all there!!!
By HMMM on November 10th, 2009 at 4:10 pm
You’re only a moron if you cite the Voice for School Choice as an authoritative source.
By BIN News Editorial Staff on November 10th, 2009 at 7:27 pm
Mad Max seems to be a Moron, until you get to the only part of his rant that has any truth. It starts with, “And finally, Education in South Carolina has NEVER EVER been fully funded by the legislature….”
By BIN News Editorial Staff on November 10th, 2009 at 7:44 pm
sic(k) willie,
“…you ignorant slut.”
Our Funding Editor loves that classic line from Saturday Night Live.
You’re nothing but a cheap pimp for Howie and his voucher clowns. Like your “bud” at “voice for voucher scams.”
The voucher scam would only rob from the poor and give to the (Howie) rich. Great pun. Like it?
You know the real problems facing public education in SC. They start with poverty and the social ills that some with it. And, you know the shameful standard set by S.C. is “minimally adequate.”
You never post about the real problems.
That makes you a voucher pimp or a voucher slut.
You decide what you are. Pimp or slut. Pick one.
BIN News Editorial Staff
Flair and Balanced
P.S. But, our Funding Editor still thinks you are hot in a chubby way.
By April Dosier on November 10th, 2009 at 8:08 pm
Interesting report, particularly the parts that FITS didn’t think were important enough to mention. Here, for example, are two sentences FITS quoted from the report:
“Just over half of the state’s rural students graduate from high school, a lower rate than all other states. NAEP and NCLB scores are equally alarming, near the bottom on all four indicators.”
What FITS didn’t think worthy of mention were the two sentences that appeared immediately before:
“Only 5 states have a higher percentage of rural minority students and a higher rate of rural student poverty, and only 10 states have a higher rate of rural students qualifying for special education services. Schools and districts are among the largest in the nation, and spending on instruction in rural districts is very low.“
Adds important context, right? But as we know from experience, SCRG and FITS don’t do context. They do talking points. They’re about staying on message, and the message has been bought and paid for.
By Jim on November 11th, 2009 at 5:14 pm
Dear Unfair and Unbalanced:
I’m sorry, but the link you included took me to fantasy politics page with some made up numbers. You guys give propaganda a bad name.
Jim