Our school is helping all students develop the World Class Skills of the Profile of the South Carolina Graduate by working to create a 'One Team-One Family-One Community' philosophy. At Pelion High School, we are focused on creating a culture where each student can feel empowered, supported, respected and held accountable. Similarly, faculty and staff are supported in their growth of being life-long learners by participating in professional learning that supports the needs of our students and the vision and mission of the school. This year, our school was fortunate to gain an additional graduation coach to work alongside the current graduation coach and the career specialist. We also had the benefit of a colleague strictly working with attendance, seat time and truancy. Our leadership team was able to be intentional about planning and facilitating more SIT meetings, (student intervention team), AIP meetings (attendance intervention plan), PTC (parent-teacher conferences) and a host of other collaborative efforts to put support systems in place for our students. We also offered Math tutoring before school daily and tutoring of all subject areas (twice a week) after-school. Students could sign up on their own or their parent/guardian could sign them up to participate.
This was our second year teaching and implementing The 7 Mindsets to our students. The 7 Mindsets curriculum teaches about having a growth mindset, being optimistic, learning how to handle failure, discovering paths of happiness, being socially aware and culturally competent and learning effective decision-making skills. The curriculum was embedded into our Advisory time with grade-level specific lessons. We have also embedded WICOR strategies, WIN Courseware practice, ACT/SAT/PSAT test prep, ASVAB test prep and 'Zap the Zeros' into Advisory to help increase student achievement.
As a school we are working collaboratively to change our culture and have a growth mindset. We are intentional about building our relational capacity with each other, with each student and with each family. We have built in more opportunities this year to celebrate our students, faculty and staff. Teachers nominated students for 'Students of the Week'; faculty and staff nominated colleagues for 'Staff of the Month', 'Teacher of the Month', 'Tireless Staff Award', 'Tireless Teacher Award' and 'Teacher of the Year'. Short video clips on the morning news program have showcased our students and staff as they are nominated and celebrated for such accolades. Our students have showcased their many talents at events throughout the school year, spanning from performance assessments, competitions, concerts, service learning activities, internships, tournaments, conferences, parades, and in other community connections.
Based on our data reviews, we have been more intentional and purposeful in creating a master schedule that will support our students' academic needs, interests, opportunities for advanced placement, and opportunities for challenge and rigor. For example, we have an increase in the number of teachers who are qualified to teach advanced placement or dual enrollment courses as compared to the previous year. We also paired the AVID elective with a subject area, which was taught by a teacher who had both the subject content and the AVID training. We also provided year-long English and Math courses to select freshman, based on data from their middle school experience. Another area for growth was the content blitzes offered by teachers. During the 2023-2024 school year, Biology 1 and Algebra 1 were the only two subject areas that had organized and facilitated academic blitzes to help prepare students for their EOC tests at the end of courses. This year, all EOC subjects were represented with academic blitzes. Not only was growth seen in three of the four subject areas, but also in the attitude and serious mindset our students took as they embarked on their end of course assessments.
Pelion High School has demonstrated notable academic growth from the 2023-2024 to the 2024-2025 school year as evidenced by the End-of-Course (EOC) scores across multiple subject areas. Algebra 1 saw solid growth in students passing the EOC with a C or higher, increasing from 20.1% to 24.6%. Similarly, the US History and Constitution EOC scores improved from 30.8% to 37%, while Biology 1 EOC scores showed positive momentum from 36.6.% to 40.2% of students passing with a C or higher. These improvements reflect our students' dedication and engagement to the effectiveness of our instructional strategies.
Our school has also seen a significant increase in senior achievements related to scholarships and college and career readiness. The number of seniors meeting eligibility requirements for the prestigious Palmetto Fellows Scholarship doubled from three students in 2023-2024 to six in 2024-2025. In addition, the number of seniors eligible for the LIFE Scholarship increased from 82 to 105 students. Overall, the school experienced a 15% growth in the number of students designated as college and career ready over the previous year. The 2024-2025 school year also saw an increase in the number of students enrolled in a dual enrollment course. There were 42 students this year as compared to 34 the previous year. Additionally, student participation in internships (school or community-based) notably rose from 28 to 62 students. Our school also had two seniors accepted into the Michelin Scholars Program.
While we have many accolades to celebrate from the 2024-2025 school year, we are already focusing our attention on our school work plan for the 2025-2026 school year: (1) Create more alignment with EOC scores and classroom grades by teaching and implementing the Backwards by Design lesson planning model, ensuring instruction and activities are aligned to the grade level standards, and that teachers are collaborating to develop common summative assessments and (2) deepening the implementation of the Lexington One Graduate Profile competencies that are a unified vision of the essential skills students need to be college, career and/or military ready.
Efforts and initiatives to promote these goals in our work plan include a dedicated Advisory time daily (Panther Time) when students learn more about goal-setting and the mission and vision of our school, Capturing Kids’ Hearts training for staff and faculty, implementing the district’s new grading policy, continuing to offer academic blitzes for all EOC subject areas, modeling effective communication and stressing its importance in our work, using WICOR strategies school-wide, providing teachers with Backwards by Design lesson plan training, and providing professional learning to help teachers design common summative assessments and align learning targets and activities with grade level standards.
As we prepare for the 2025-2026 school year, we look forward to helping our students develop the World Class Skills of the Profile of the South Carolina Graduate.
Sean Bishton, Principal
Robert Arcovio, SIC Chairperson
