Students in Colleton Co. Schools see improvement in language arts, math

WALTERBORO, S.C. (WCSC) - School officials in Colleton County say their students are succeeding, and they have the numbers to back it up.

The school district says the data comes from their mid-year report from a program they started using this school year called i-Ready. This is an online assessment program that monitors a student’s progress in language arts and math.

Students took the assessment in the beginning of the year and another in December to see where their performance lies.

Out of the 3,303 students who used this program, the data shows that 16% of students were mid or above grade level or early-on grade level for language arts in the fall. That percentage increased to 25% by December. For math, 6% of students were mid or above grade level or early-on grade level in the fall and in the winter, that number rose to 15%.

“So, while we have made progress of students on grade level from 6% to 15%, we do realize that we have a lot of work that needs to be done in the area of math,” Tracy McDonald, the coordinator of assessment and accountability for the district, said.

Although the district says they are happy with the improvements, they say they are still concerned about those at below grade level.

For example, 48% of students in i-Ready were performing two or three grades below grade level in language arts in the fall. However, the number went down to 43% by the winter. Similarly, 55% were performing two or three grades below grade level in math in the fall, but 47% by the winter.

Daryl Erwin, representing District 2 on the board of trustees, says this is a concern.

“With our designations, our school designations, five of our seven schools are below average or below,” Erwin said. “So, just to me, devastating numbers and data.”

Superintendent Dr. Vallerie Cave agreed.

The district says if students continue progress at this rate, they say they should see a stretch growth of 27% district-wide for language arts and 18% for district-wide for math. This is a six percent growth difference from what they would normally see.

The district says they will implement standards mastery so that all students will receive grade-level content and their test questions will align to what they’re normally asked on SCREADY exams.