Jasper County schools’ annual report card is a mixed bag

The graduation rate for Ridgeland-Hardeeville High School broke 80 percent last year, according to the 2015-2016 state report card released this month for the Jasper County School District.

In 2015-2016, 80.4 percent of students at Jasper County’s lone public high school graduated, up from 75 percent the year before. The statewide graduation rate is 82.6 percent.

But just 11 percent of the district’s elementary and middle school students performed at the proficient level on the new SC Ready assessment, compared to 42 percent statewide, according to the state report card.

Also in the Jasper County School District in 2015-16:

▪  More than 65 percent of high school students earned the WorkKeys National Career Readiness Certificate.

▪  The district met two of the four performance criteria on its report card — having a 4-year graduation rate higher than 70 percent, and more than 20 percent of eligible students score a “Silver” or higher rating on ACT WorkKeys.

▪  The district, however, did not meet two other criteria. Its mean percentage of students in grades 3-8 scoring “Does Not Meet Expectations” in English language arts or mathematics was greater than 50 percent; and less than 5 percent of students scored a 22 or higher in mathematics on the ACT college entrance.

▪  Ridgeland-Hardeeville High School met all of its own performance criteria.

This story was originally published November 22, 2016 at 9:10 AM with the headline "Jasper County schools’ annual report card is a mixed bag."