The 2022-2023 school year continued as one of recovery both in South Carolina and across the nation as educators, staff, parents, and community leaders sought to address student needs post-pandemic. Through continued usage of Elementary and Secondary Emergency Relief (ESSER) funds and existing resources, the South Carolina Department of Education’s established partnerships with agencies, educational institutions, and organizations address the academic needs of students and help schools recover.
South Carolina’s 19th State Superintendent of Education Ellen Weaver, elected in November 2022, unveiled her agency priorities that culminate in having every child college, career, or military ready and by 2030, at least 75 percent of students at or above grade level. In her first year of service, Superintendent Weaver’s top priority has been to partner with the General Assembly to expand the Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling (LETRS) professional development – which has already benefited thousands of South Carolina teachers and students – to every K-3 teacher in South Carolina. This initiative also reimburses teachers for their valuable time, providing a stipend for successfully completion of this Science of Reading-based training.
As the agency works to prioritize strategic use of remaining ESSER funds, the fruition of several initiatives are paying dividends including the Instruction Hub, which is a digital library for all teachers to provide access to high-quality, effective resources aligned to the South Carolina College and Career-Ready standards. South Carolina students continue to make progress post-pandemic, as measured by the State Report Cards. 22% percent of schools received an overall rating of Excellent in 2023, consistent with the 2019 percent of schools receiving this top ranking.
A new addition to this year’s Report Cards is the High School Student Success measure. This tool measures the percentage of students demonstrating success in high school and shows the percentage of freshmen on-track to graduate, as well as a school’s five-year success rate.
In addition to academic measures for students, the SCDE and its partners remain focused on other high-priority educational needs including school safety, staff recruitment, financial flexibility and transparency, and orderly classroom environments; each of which play an important role in fostering student achievement.
The South Carolina Department of Education hopes that parents, communities, and school leaders will use these report cards as a tool to engage in important conversations about the previous year's challenges and the work that must be done together to ensure that every South Carolina student graduates ready for college, career, or military service.
