South Carolina state report cards released. How did your Beaufort Co. school do?

Beaufort County School District has improved in the past year, according to the S.C. Department of Education’s new school report cards, with two of the district’s 30 campuses moving out of the “unsatisfactory” rating given to the bottom 10 percent of state schools.

The state rates schools based on students’ scores on standardized tests, English learners’ proficiency, school quality, high school graduation rates and more. The reports released Tuesday measure the results of the 2018-19 school year under interim superintendent Herb Berg.

In the 2018-19 reports for Beaufort County:

• Five district schools were rated Excellent, up from three last year.

• 15 schools were rated Good, up from nine last year.

• 10 schools were rated Average, down from 12 last year.

• Four schools were rated Below Average, half as many as last year’s eight.

• No schools were rated Unsatisfactory, an improvement from two last year.

“We’re not where we want to be,” superintendent Frank Rodriguez said in a district press release Tuesday morning. “We want all of our schools to be rated Good or Excellent. But that being said, these are significant improvements, and we’re very proud of our students, their teachers and all of our employees.”

“Our challenge is to continue these improvements and continue to focus on the needs of all of our students.”

The district scored above state averages on end-of-course exams for Algebra, U.S. History and Constitution, Biology and English 1.

District students scored at approximately state averages on Ready 2 Work exams for career and technical education students and SC READY English and math exams for third through eighth-grade students.

The district achieved its highest-ever on-time graduation rate at 86.9 percent, up from the statewide average of 81 percent. 86 percent of Beaufort County students are classified as college or career ready, compared to a state average of 75.3 percent.

This story was originally published October 1, 2019 at 3:52 PM.

Rachel Jones

The Island Packet

843-631-6039

Rachel Jones covers education for the Island Packet and the Beaufort Gazette. She attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and has worked for the Daily Tar Heel and Charlotte Observer. She has won awards from the South Carolina Press Association, Associated College Press and North Carolina College Media Association for feature writing and education reporting.