Despite receiving record amounts of taxpayer funding, South Carolina’s public schools saw their student’s scores on the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) fall for the fourth consecutive year in 2010.
According to the College Board, which administers the SAT, public school students in the Palmetto state scored a composite 1,443 (out of 2,400) on this year’s exam – 482 on the critical reading section, 496 on the mathematics section and 465 on the writing section. That’s a two-point drop from last year – and the latest evidence that the so-called “gains” being touted by status quo educrats are illusory.
The national SAT average for public school students increased by three points this year to 1,497. That puts South Carolina’s public school students 54 points behind their national peers … with the gap growing wider each year.
Only eight of our state’s 85 public school districts scored above the national average, while South Carolina’s top-performing public school districts are still trailing their counterparts in North Carolina by nearly 200 points.
Additionally, it’s important to note that these figures do not include the thousands of children who drop out of school each year in South Carolina, which has one of the highest dropout rates in America.
“The wealthiest and most privileged public school districts in South Carolina continue to underperform their regional peers, even as our most challenged students fall further and further behind,” said Randy Page of South Carolinians for Responsible Government (SCRG), a group that supports comprehensive education reform.
Page’s group released its own analysis of the SAT data, which you can read by clicking here.
No matter how you try to slice it, though, South Carolina’s public system continues to produce inferior results Despite receiving a whopping $13,000-plus per child in the most recent budget year.
In 2009, SAT scores at S.C. public schools declined by six points.
In 2008, they dropped by five points, even as S.C. Superintendent of Education Jim Rex put out a press release praising “gains” that were provided exclusively by religious and independent schools (i.e. the very schools his department is working to shut down).
Speaking of … students at religious schools in South Carolina scored a composite 1,563 on this year’s SAT (120 points higher than their public school peers), while students at independent schools scored a composite 1,528 (85 points higher than their public school peers).
Roughly 25,000 students in South Carolina took the SAT this year – the vast majority of them (89 percent) coming from public schools. More public school students have been taking the ACT exam in recent years, although South Carolina’s scores on that exam have stagnated.
Roughly 1.6 million students nationwide took the SAT, roughly the same number that took the ACT.
In addition to its declining test scores, South Carolina’s overall graduation rate has improved by a meager 1.5 percent over the last decade – one of the worst percentage improvements in the entire country and a figure that stands in stark contrast to the “perpetual progress” cited by Rex and other educrats.
What can be done to turn things around?
For starters, it is clearly time for state lawmakers to provide parents of all children – including parents of the 75,000 children trapped in failing or below average schools in South Carolina – meaningful choices.
That means passing universal choice legislation – which includes tax credits for all parents and scholarships for parents who cannot afford them.
Breaking the public school system’s monopolistic stranglehold would save tax dollars, free thousands of children from failing schools and create real, market-based accountability for our state’s annual $9.5 billion investment.
WEB EXTRA
2010 SC SAT Results
By Noname September 13, 2010 at 12:37 pm
Greenville’s School system has failed to allow posting of the counties expenditures as Eckstrom has pointed out…..in all of places the Greenville Snooze.
It is time for some paper in Greenville….maybe the Greenville Journal …to really look into Penny Fischer….focus on HS Principals leaving to work in Nashville.
As for expences in Greenville County…publish the number of people and salaries in administration.
That is a story.
Also Diane Smoak Wyche’s editorial today was a classic bull shit piece by a Greenville Dixiecrat.
By exyank September 13, 2010 at 12:45 pm
Thank God fo’ Missippy!
Look to the bright side. Every eighth grader can put a condom on a banana.
By fitsnews September 13, 2010 at 12:48 pm
“Thank God fo’ Mississippi?”
Their public school students scored nearly 200 points higher than ours.
By The Colonel September 13, 2010 at 1:04 pm
Educrat or Proven Leader? Do we need four more years of the same BS? If so, Holleman is your man.
Mick Zais is the candidate capable of reigning in and focusing the state’s monstrous education machine.
Any plan to improve our deplorable systems must include:
Consolidation of districts with less than 20,000 students to the county level
Elimination of duplicative state and local agents
Wholesale reduction of “overhead costs” in our educational expenditures, less than half of every dollar we spend winds up being directly tied to actual instruction
I personally am ambivalent to the idea of vouchers. Properly managed, it could save the schools a significant amount of money up to the point where about 20% of students opt out after that point, there is diminished return. Reduced class sizes and eased expenditures for facilities are just two of the multiple benefits that an “opt out with a portion of the money” plan would bring. Above 20% opt out, the school system begins to face difficult budget questions.
By SOS September 13, 2010 at 1:32 pm
Y.The choices will truly be meaningful only if students have legitimate access to their choices
By CNSYD September 13, 2010 at 2:33 pm
Per the P&C scores were down at public and PRIVATE schools. Look at the school lists in the P&C. Governor’s school for science and math averaged 2020. Now why is that? Simple demographics. In SC MOST high school students take the SAT (actually some are forced to take it). In some US states which have higher averages, only those who are college bound take it. Makes a big difference.
By eggaday September 13, 2010 at 5:05 pm
I grew up here in this state. I went to public schools. I can spell, read and write. I actually went to college too.
People in my high school graduating class graduated from Harvard, Columbia University, William and Mary, Duke, Emory, UTenn, Vanderbilt, UFla, UGa, USC, Clemson. There are attorneys, doctors, veternarians, accountants, teachers, professors, researchers, nurses, even a guy who worked for NASA that finished school with me.
Are we suppose to think that education is worse now than back then? My high school did not even have a biology or chemistry lab, but yet, we produced doctors and vets. So what gives?
Here’s what gives… vouchers.
Cash is all and ends all.
Hear ye hear ye
By Genomic Repairman September 13, 2010 at 5:14 pm
There are great parents raising great kids that are being taught by great teachers. This situation is quire rare. Lets be honest with ourselves, we have a lot of fucktards raising fucktarded children being taught by even bigger fucktards. How did this process start? Well I’m glad you asked. One day a daddy fucktard met a momma fucktard in a Church’s chicken bathroom stalled and played hide the trouser snake. They begat a baby fucktard and the rest was history. Seriously, I’m starting to believe comedian Joe Rogan’s bit about the stupid people outfucking the smart ones.
By brakeman September 13, 2010 at 10:52 pm
SAT scores drop under record funding??? Not hardly… the truth, as opposed to the distortion, is that the scores decreased by one tenth of one percent. If the price of a gallon of gas that cost $2.50 increased (or decreased) by one tenth of one percent, the gas would still cost $2.50 a gallon. Unchanged state scores and national scores would be a FAIR assessment. Furthermore, nationally, SAT scores are identical to what they were 20 years ago. Scores in SC are up 3% in the same time frame. Regarding the big lie and school funding… the budget of my local district has decreased by 25% in the last three years. Given that our state is funding schools at 1995 levels, the only rotten apple in this bunch is fitsnews.
By Ttiger September 14, 2010 at 5:31 am
Wait a minute! Hold the presses! Did Sic mislead us again by giving us only half of the story to promote his own view? Did he think we wouldn’t read the whole story? So we had a 2 point drop when the FAILING PUBLIC SCHOOLS are in charge of educating our children but when the SUPER PRIVATE SCHOOLS and POOR HOMESCHOOLING PARENTS WHO JUST NEED VOUCHERS to help their little rich darlings get an additional tax break are averaged in we drop by 5 POINTS! Say it ain’t so Sic! And over the past 10 years we had the 6th best increase Nationwide. OMG! And in case you didn’t notice…nationwide there was a 3 point increase UNTIL you add in the Private and Homeschool. When you add those scores, then there is no increase nationwide. What gives? So Sic please give us the whole picture.
By uh September 14, 2010 at 7:15 am
http://midlandsbiz.com/articles/6242/
An article about one schools SAT improvements. Please remember the kids in SC are encouraged to take the SAT’s even if they have not taken the appropriate classes to prepare for them. They take the SAT’s and ACT’s even if they are not planning on going to College. In other states that get compared to SC, it’s only the top percentiles (kids) that take these tests. If you take the scores of our top 20, then we score very well.
Its all about the numbers, remember: Liars figure and figures lie.
By fitsnews September 14, 2010 at 7:59 am
Our best and brightest districts are at the 71st percentile nationally and trail NC’s best districts by 200 points.
As for public v. private, we think the numbers speak for themselves – and are even more compelling when you consider that the average private school tuition in SC is ONE-THIRD the cost of public school.
Liars do figure and figures do lie, but not in the case of South Carolina’s public education system – unless of course you’re among those computing the state-administered assessments.
-FITS
By baker September 14, 2010 at 8:19 am
From what I have read, participation rates this year were up in South Carolina. Generally, with higher participation rates scores come down. I know we’ve heard that over and over — but it is true, and I think SC deserves some credit for getting more students involved in taking the test. Again, not that this is the whole story — we’d rather scores go up, no matter what — but it certainly is PART of the story.
Also, apparently private school scores went down this year, as well.
Will says the private vs. public school “numbers speak for themselves.” Do they? I mean, is there really a direct comparison between Heathwood Hall and Eau Claire…or even Irmo?
By Not exactly September 14, 2010 at 8:25 am
Who could possibly be surprised that private schools do better on the SAT than public? They’re only educating kids from normal middle- and upper-income families. They don’t take kids who score below grade level, or pose discipline problems, or have crack-addicted parents. They leave all that to the public schools.
But here’s the rest of the story. If independent schools in South Carolina are so great, why are their SAT scores LAST IN THE NATION, excepting only Alaska?
By @PerezHiltonSays September 14, 2010 at 9:10 am
Mick Zais is a fucking joke and so is Holleman, pick your poison.
By FunkyChickent September 14, 2010 at 10:53 am
Willie,
It is difficult to respect you because you are a liar. This is another one of your BS pieces to keep the money from SCRG rolling in. Get an honest job you lying piece of _ _ _ _. You have someone in your life now that needs to be able to respect you. Right now, they cannot!
By snakeMD September 14, 2010 at 11:20 am
How could an ex Army General and a college president be a joke? Why don’t you take the time to explain why one candidate is better than the other? Why don’t you post your resume and let us judge if you are a fu….. joke or not.
By J Wilson September 14, 2010 at 3:40 pm
The reason our scores are down is that effective 2005, the SAT added a Writing Section worth 800 points, but our state has decided not to “count” the Writing Section in the calculation of the state funded SC Life Scholarship or the Palmetto Fellows Award. It’s not just those scholarships either. The Writing Section is also not counted for college admissions in every SC school, ROTC scholarships, and NCAA eligibility. The net effect is that SC kids just blow the Writing Section off. This is the reason for drop since 2005.
My company, Carolina College Prep (www.carolinacollegeprep.com) specializes in SAT Preparation, and we put 100 – 190 points on average per student. We also guarantee a score improvement, so it’s a risk free proposition. Don’t let your kid be a statistic ~ be proactive in getting your student the help he needs.
By Ttiger September 14, 2010 at 3:41 pm
Let’s do a little apples to apples (although states do not use the same tests) and challenge your assumptions. By using http://www.greatschools.org and looking at Chapel-Hill Carrboro vs. Lexington 5 here is what I found: Lexington 5 has 16,621 students in 19 schools. Chapel-Hill has 11,316 students in 17 schools. (In case you don’t notice, that is 5300 more students in only 2 more schools) Chapel Hill spends $9,983 per students while Lexington 5 spends $9,178 per student. In Chapel Hill 52% of their economically disadvantaged 6th graders passed their state English test while in Lexington 5 the number is 72%. In Chapel Hill 60% of 6th grade Limited English speakers passed the English portion of the test while 80% in Lexington 5 passed. The list goes on and all of this is to say that when parents are involved and when you have good teachers, good things happen. Is it for all? No. But SC does show that we can educate kids. Poverty is the elephant in the room and that falls back on our economic system designed to keep the poor poor and the rich rich. We have government officials who are not interested in the welfare of the people, only in their own gains. Just saying…
By Ima September 14, 2010 at 4:29 pm
http://professionals.collegeboard.com/profdownload/2010-sat-trends.pdf
By Rick September 14, 2010 at 6:45 pm
Have we given any thought to the idea that standardized tests may be biased against students who don’t give a shit – who get to high school and can’t spell, do basic math without relying on a calculator, can’t write a complete sentence, will not read, are extremely apathetic when it comes to anything school related, only put the minimum effort into the little bit of work that they attempt knowing that the lowest grade they can make is 55 and making 70 is the objective? And many get this way because their parents and the public do not give a shit either. Everyone wants good schools as long as they don’t have to pay for them. And, I have taught for 20 years in one of the 8 districts that whose SATS are above the national average and is tops in the Midlands
By snakeMD September 15, 2010 at 10:56 am
A good friend of mine is a professor in Columbia, SC who teaches at MidLands Technical College.
He has been there 25+ years. He recently told me he is fed up and can’t wait to retire. He says the FuckTards are now enrolling in college. He no longer requires term papers for his class. “It is a waste of time.” More than a majority of them are downloaded from the Internet. He has tried to confront the students and they don’t care what he says because they know that nothing will happen to them other than receiving an F. So what. And some students don’t even bother doing them. I like the policy at The Citadel. Plagiarism once convicted and you are permanently expelled from school.