During the 2022-2023 school year, our district is helping all students develop the World Class Skills of the Profile of the South Carolina Graduate through cultivating the world-class life, career characteristics, and skills necessary to succeed as responsible, productive citizens. Cherokee County Schools provide excellent opportunities in academics, athletics, and the arts. We are dedicated to excellence by seeking opportunities for continuous improvement in all facets of our school system: curriculum and instruction, operations, finance, and student services. Our school district also developed life and career characteristics through our dedication to the AVID program for all students. The work of Cherokee County School District will permanently be anchored in the ideal that every student graduating from our school system does so college and career ready.
Our district enriched students' opportunities for World Class Skills and World Class Knowledge with grant funding used to implement Advancement via Individual Determination (AVID). AVID is a global nonprofit organization dedicated to closing the achievement gap by preparing all students for college and postsecondary opportunities. At a minimum, students enrolled in the program received one block of AVID strategies and daily tutoring. Additionally, core teachers incorporated AVID strategies in their daily instruction. Achievement test data indicated that the program continued to be successful for student learning. Implementation of the program included students in grades six through twelve. 2021-2022 saw the addition of students from each elementary school in the AVID program. Many of our teachers are AVID-trained, facilitating the fidelity of program implementation across our district.
Cherokee County School District is a Transform SC district. Districts in the Transform network "commit to creating a culture of innovation and implementing a combination of innovative practices to transform learning and teaching for every student and every teacher in every classroom every day." We are a fully 1:1 technology district. Our initiative began at the high school level in August 2015, and students in all three middle schools received laptops in August 2016. We accelerated our timeline for students in grades three through five at each of the district's elementary schools, and those students received their devices in February 2017; 5K through second-grade students received classroom device sets in August 2017, thus completing our 1:1 initiative. During the 2020-2021 school year, all our high school and middle school students received Chrome Books. This was especially important as we transitioned from virtual and hybrid instruction to face-to-face instruction during much of the 2021-2022 school year amid the global pandemic.
Evidence indicates that World-Class Skills and Knowledge are growing throughout the Cherokee County School District. Our Early Childhood program is fully implemented in 3K and 4K programs throughout our schools. We continue to grow and expand the Gifted and Talented programs throughout our school system. Our school district successfully offered more high school credits to our middle school students. We celebrated the continued success of the Cherokee County Scholar's Academy at Limestone College and the Early College at Spartanburg Community College, Cherokee Campus. Our middle schools also celebrated a record number of Junior Scholar students. The graduating class of 2023 earned over twenty million dollars in scholarships, including Palmetto Fellows and Life Scholarship recipients. Our instructional focus continued to be collaboration, research, and technology in all classrooms.
The Institute of Innovation directly impacted teaching and learning in our community. Enrollment for career and technology education has enabled us to provide different college and career pathway offerings based on students' career clusters found through their IGP meetings. Community partnerships continued to be a vital part of our district's success. Mary Black Health System-Gaffney continued to support our Teacher of the Month program and contributed funds to the State Teacher of the Year program. They also continued to be instrumental in the success of our district's annual health fair. Our local Rotary Club provided shoes for children throughout the community through their Happy Feet initiative, and Broad River Electric Cooperative provided 3,000 book bags for students. Local law enforcement agencies provided school supplies as well. This school year, we continued our work-based learning programs through community partnerships with corporations like Freightliner and Hamrick's. We anticipate the growth of these initiatives in the next school year.
Despite our challenges, we appreciate the effort, assistance, and support from all staff and the community in making 2022-2023 a very successful school year. During these unprecedented times, our community came together to ensure that the needs of everyone were met. We came "Together As One" to ensure our students received exemplary instruction. Cherokee County School District is committed to achieving our mission by setting high expectations, transforming instructional practices, and being accountable as we "Prepare Today's Students to Become Tomorrow's Leaders."
Dr. Dana Fall, Superintendent
