District Releases 2015-16 State Education Assessment Results

The South Carolina Department of Education released Tuesday the 2015-16 school year assessment results of the South Carolina College-and Career-Ready Assessments (SC READY) and the South Carolina Palmetto Assessment of State Standards (SCPASS), tests administered to all elementary and middle school students throughout the state. End of Course Examination (EOCEP) results for our high schools were also released.

“In many areas, we did well,” Aiken County’s Superintendent Dr. Sean Alford commented on today’s release of 2015-16 scores. “Our students, teachers and families should be applauded for their efforts to raise the level of achievement in Aiken County.”

“We will never be satisfied until all students perform at accelerated levels. We must equip our teachers, students and families with a clear understanding of utilizing the data, make time for educators to share best practices, and work together to build student understanding in areas of struggle.”

SC READY

SC READY is a statewide assessment which was administered for the first time in late April of last year to all students in grades three through eight in English language arts and mathematics. SC READY measures student performance on the South Carolina College-and Career-Ready Standards with questions aligned to the standards for each subject and grade level.

“It’s highly rigorous,” Aiken County’s Chief Officer of Instruction Dr. DeeDee Washington, Chief Officer of Instruction, commented on the new test. “We need this data to help build understanding of what students are expected to learn in each grade in order to ensure their academic and future success.”

SC READY includes summative assessment in English language arts (ELA) and mathematics. Test items are written to assess the knowledge and skills described in the academic standards by indicating students not meeting readiness indicators to students exceeding those benchmarks. Results are shown as percentages of students in four categories: Does Not Meet, Approaches, Meets, and Exceeds.

“While we are not satisfied with the results of our District’s first-administration of SC READY,” Dr. Washington stated, “we are confident that recent enhancements of instructional resources, including our new teacher-created curriculum, Professional Learning Communities, grade and subject-specific Content Interventionists and a benchmarking process, will allow for adjustments to instructional practices to be made regularly and with greater success towards positive student outcomes.”

Aiken County’s percentages of students in grade five whose scores were in the “Approaches,” “Meets,” or “Exceeds” categories in ELA, 77.1%, was slightly greater than the state average, 76.1%. The same is true for third grade students, with 78% approaching, meeting or exceeding ELA standards, up from the state’s average of 77.8%. Additionally, third grade mathematics students and sixth grade ELA students’ middle performance scores were stronger than the state average in every standard measured on SC READY.

ELA SC READY SCORES

Grade	ACPSD # tested	SC # tested	ACPSD % Not Met	SC % Not Met	ACPSD % App.	SC % App.	ACPSD % Met	SC % Met	ACPSD % Exceeding	SC % Exceeding	ACPSD % App, Meets & Exceeds	SC % App, Meets & Exceeds
3^rd	2002	59,722	22	22.2	36.7	34.1	30.4	29.3	10.9	14.4	78	77.8
4^th	1911	57,207	26.4	24.2	35.4	32.4	27.6	28.8	10.6	14.6	73.6	75.8
5^th	1830	55,649	22.9	23.9	37.3	34.9	28.7	27.9	11.1	13.3	77.1	76.1
6^th	1752	55,196	21	20.4	41.7	38.6	27.7	26.9	9.6	14.1	79	79.6
7^th	1837	55,091	26.3	23.2	38.7	36.1	24.8	26.8	10.2	13.9	73.7	76.8
8^th	1875	55,020	25.5	22.4	33.4	32.9	29.8	30.3	11.3	14.5	74.5	77.6

MATH SC READY SCORES

Grade	ACPSD # tested	SC # tested	ACPSD % Not Met	SC % Not Met	ACPSD % App.	SC % App.	ACPSD % Met	SC % Met	ACPSD % Exceeding	SC % Exceeding	ACPSD % Approaches, Meets & Exceeds	SC % App. Meets & Exceeds
3^rd	2001	59,871	24	21.5	29.1	24.9	33.3	33.7	13.6	20	76	78.5
4^th	1912	57,321	28.3	22.7	34.9	30.6	21.4	24.9	15.3	21.8	71.7	77.3
5^th	1837	55,782	27.9	22.9	35.4	32.9	23.4	25.4	13.3	18.9	72.1	77.1
6^th	1756	55.310	33.5	25.8	38.9	34.7	18.2	22.4	9.4	17.1	66.5	74.2
7^th	1841	55,189	29.1	26.6	41.5	38.7	19.9	19.6	9.6	15.1	70.9	73.4
8^th	1886	55,129	36.3	29.3	42.7	38.3	13.7	18.6	7.3	13.8	63.7	70.7

“There are specific areas of study where we need to help our students to demonstrate comprehensive understanding,” Dr. Washington continued. “These are standards that we need to work through with teacher teams in ongoing Professional Learning Communities to move students who are ‘approaching’ meeting standards to the next level and beyond.”

2016 SCPASS

The South Carolina Palmetto Assessment of State Standards (PASS) in science and social studies was administered in grades four through eight in May of last year. The state test assesses science and social studies standards in grades four through eight and indicates student mastery of subject-specific standards for each grade level, allowing educators to evaluate their instruction in targeted areas.

SC PASS student scores for each grade level and subject are grouped to indicate performance as percentages of students not meeting standards, meeting standards, scoring exemplary and met or exemplary.

2016 ACPSD SC PASS ASSESSMENT RESULTS - SCIENCE

Grade Level	ACPSD % NOT MET	ACPSD % MET	ACPSD % EXEMPLARY	ACPSD % MET + EXEMP.
4^th Grade	40.8	49.8	9.3	59.2
5^th Grade	40.6	44.0	15.4	59.4
6^th Grade	48.3	42.6	9.1	51.7
7^th Grade	34.3	42.9	22.9	65.7
8^th Grade	42.1	34.1	23.7	57.9

2016 ACPSD SC PASS ASSESSMENT RESULTS – SOCIAL STUDIES

Grade Level	ACPSD % NOT MET	ACPSD % MET	ACPSD % EXEMPLARY	ACPSD % MET + EXEMP.
4^th Grade	19.2	56.9	23.9	80.8
5^th Grade	30.1	44.5	25.4	69.9
6^th Grade	32.4	49.6	18.0	67.6
7^th Grade	41.5	33.9	24.6	58.5
8^th Grade	35.7	37.2	27.1	64.3

“While there is much work to be done,” Dr. Washington noted, “we’re encouraged to see ACPSD student data showing improvements over 2015 scores in four of five grade levels tested in social studies. Also, a greater percentage of Aiken County students exceeded the science standard in 2016, 16.1%, than did the previous year, 14.7%.”

2016 & 2015 SC PASS SOCIAL STUDIES, % MET STANDARD

Grade Level	2016 ACPSD % MET	2015 ACPSD % MET
4^th Grade	56.9	55.8
5^th Grade	44.5	39.3
6^th Grade	49.6	47.7
7^th Grade	33.9	29.5
8^th Grade	37.2	37.6

“Though the increase over last year’s scores is encouraging,” Dr. Washington continued, “the state average for students that ‘met’ standard and scored ‘exemplary’ surpassed Aiken County’s average. And, in some grade levels, the state average bested Aiken’s by several percentage points. We are not satisfied with that.”

2016 SC PASS SCIENCE, % MET + EXEMPLARY

Grade Level	ACPSD % MET + EXEMPLARY	South Carolina % MET + EXEMPLARY
4^th Grade	59.2	65.0
5^th Grade	59.4	65.7
6^th Grade	51.7	62.1
7^th Grade	65.7	70.6
8^th Grade	57.9	66.2

2016 SC PASS SOCIAL STUDIES, % MET + EXEMPLARY

Grade Level	ACPSD % MET + EXEMPLARY	South Carolina % MET + EXEMPLARY
4^th Grade	80.8	81.3
5^th Grade	69.9	71.5
6^th Grade	67.6	76.3
7^th Grade	58.5	68.4
8^th Grade	64.3	69.5

2016 END-OF-COURSE EXAMINATION PROGRAM (EOCEP)

The South Carolina End-of-Course Examination Program (EOCEP) offers cumulative annual assessments in four subject areas, including Algebra 1, Biology 1, English 1, and U.S. History and the Constitution.

South Carolina EOCEP student scores for each grade level and subject are grouped in six categories: a mean score representing all students tested in that subject area; the percentage of students scoring an “A” (93-100); the percentage of students scoring a “B” (85-92); the percentage of students scoring a “C” (77-84); the percentage of students scoring a “D” (70-76); and the percentage of students scoring an “F” (0-69).

Aiken County students surpassed the state scores in the mean average, as well as the percentage of students scoring a “B” and “C” on math and science End of Course tests.

“We’re pleased that Aiken County students are slightly outpacing the state average in critical STEM related foundational areas,” Aiken’s Superintendent Dr. Sean Alford stated. “Through community partnerships and advanced learning, we anticipate increased success in those areas, as well as Aiken County graduates being well-prepared for our area workforce needs.”

2016 EOCEP ALGEBRA 1

ACPSD Mean	SC Mean	% ACPSD “A”	% SC “A”	% ACPSD “B”	% SC “B”	% ACPSD “C”	% SC “C”
83.0	81.9	22.9	25.1	20.7	15.2	28.9	24.1

2016 EOCEP BIOLOGY

ACPSD Mean	SC Mean	% ACPSD “A”	% SC “A”	% ACPSD “B”	% SC “B”	% ACPSD “C”	% SC “C”
82.3	81.6	33.3	32.6	15.2	14.0	16.3	16.4

Aiken County has a multiyear trend in increasing U.S. History Mean Scores on the EOCEP. While the state bested our average this year, 2016 results show Aiken County is continuing its upward trend in this subject area. State score averages in English also slightly exceeded Aiken County’s students’ mean score last year.

2016 EOCEP U.S. HISTORY AND THE CONSTITUTION

ACPSD Mean	SC Mean	% ACPSD “A”	SC “A”	% ACPSD “B”	% SC “B”	% ACPSD “C”	% SC “C”
75.6	77.2	8.6	12.2	14.6	15.7	22.6	23.7

2016 EOCEP ENGLISH 1

ACPSD Mean	SC Mean	% ACPSD “A”	% SC “A”	% ACPSD “B”	% SC “B”	% ACPSD “C”	% SC “C”
79.6	79.8	12.9	16.0	22.4	21.4	28.3	24.4

“We have very bright students in Aiken County,” Superintendent Dr. Sean Alford stated. “Better alignment and consistency in our instructional program through our new teacher-generated guaranteed and viable curriculum will be instrumental in student growth performance. We look forward to seeing our teachers’ hard work evidenced in student performance in future assessment data."