Scores on the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) ended a six-year free fall in South Carolina this year … but they’re still not moving in the right direction.
Students at government-run schools in South Carolina scored 479 on critical reading (up two points from last year), 484 on math (down three points) and 460 in writing (up two points). Add it all up and you’ve got a 1,423 score (out of 2400) – or a one-point (0.07 percent) increase from 2012.
Of course we did attend public schools in the Palmetto State so you’d be wise to check our math …
Nationally scores were unchanged – 496 for critical reading (17 points higher than South Carolina), 514 for math (30 points higher than South Carolina) and 488 for writing (28 points higher than South Carolina).
Last year scores at government-run schools were down by five points. The previous year saw a 12-point decline.
Worth pointing out? South Carolina’s free fall stopped just as state lawmakers decided to level off record spending increases – holding the annual per pupil cost to roughly $12,000 per child in the most recent state budget. Meanwhile religious schools in South Carolina – where average tuition is around $4,000 a year – scored well above the national average in all three categories.
Also worth pointing out? These figures do not include the thousands of children who drop out of school each year in South Carolina.
According to the 2013 Diplomas Count study, only 61.5 percent of public school students in the Palmetto State graduate from high school – compared to the national average of 74.7 percent.
That ranks South Carolina next-to-last in the entire nation …
S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley – an aggressive supporter of expanded parental choice during her tenure in the state legislature – has done literally nothing on the education issue since becoming governor in 2010.
9 comments
“government-run schools” used two times. That’s 2 more dollars in my Sic Willie overused phrase jar.
You get $$s for “first female graduate of the Citadel”, “our founding editor” and gay references to women’s footware, also?
That kitty must be getting fat. Time to hit the Z-bar or the Mill Street Inn.
From the report.
Family income: Writing/Math/Reading (Mean scores)
$0 – $20,000: 420/423/403
$40,000–$40,000: 448/449/429
$40,000–$60,000: 475/477/454
$60,000–$80,000: 492/491/469
$80,000–$100,000: 496/499/475
$100,000–$120,000: 509/512/488
$120,000–$140,000: 511/516/490
$140,000–$160,000: 513/518/495
$160,000–$200,000: 521/528/494
More than $200,000: 546/552/530
$40,000–$40,000: 448/449/429 ???
SC public education or just a typo :)
You state that “religious schools in South Carolina scored well above the national average in all three categories.”.
Four simple questions:
What percentage of private schools in SC fall into the “religious” category? How did the other non-religious ones do?
Is the “national average” that you refer to the national average for public schools or for private schools? If it’s a reference to public school scores, how do SC private school scores rate in comparison to private schools in other states?
So answers please.
That would be “some answers please.”
Obama, democrats, RINOS responsible for this.
Given that SC schools encourages all juniors and seniors to take the SAT as opposed to most states which only encourage those likely to attend college to take the test, it is amazing we are as close as we are. I have never understood why SC schools continue this practice.
As for the results of private schools, you are comparing apples and oranges. Private schools can pick their students, public schools cannot. Also, as Centrists points out below, you family income plays a huge role in your scores. Private schools are going to have a much higher concentration of students from families with higher incomes. What it comes down to is SC private schools are not doing significantly better than the public schools in regard to the test scores of similarly situated children.
Isn’t SC always at the bottom of that list?