BLYTHEWOOD – Blythewood area schools continue to perform well on the 2023 South Carolina Report Cards, with six of 10 schools rated “Good” or better.
Three others were rated “Average” while one school received a “Below Average” rating. No schools were rated “Unsatisfactory,” the lowest rating a school can receive.
Kelly Mill Middle (Elementary), Muller Road Middle (Elementary), and Round Top Elementary all received “Excellent” ratings, according to Report Card data published last week by the S.C. Department of Education.
An “Excellent” rating means “school performance substantially exceeds the criteria to ensure all students meet the profile of the SC Graduate.”
Blythewood High and Blythewood Middle received “Good” ratings, as did Bethel Hanberry Elementary. Good schools are those where performance exceeds the criteria.
A Richland Two school district representative could not be reached to discuss the 2023 Report Card results.
In a news release, the Department of Education said 22.5 percent of the state’s schools received overall ratings of Excellent, a nearly 2 percent increase from last year.
Half of all S.C. public schools were rated either Excellent or Good, the release said.
“Looking forward, we must redouble our efforts to support early literacy. We must also focus the same attention on boosting effective math materials and instruction,” S.C. Superintendent of Education Ellen Weaver said in the release. “Our students will never get a second chance at their education, and our urgent priority must be equipping them with the foundational skills they need for success in school and life.”
S.C. Report Cards have been published since 2001. Traditionally released in November or December, they provide a measure of accountability in school and school district academic performance.
Data is broken down into several categories, such as Academic Achievement, Preparing for Success, and College and Career Readiness. They include other data, including teacher salaries, graduation rates, and per pupil spending.
Three Blythewood area schools received “Average” ratings. They include Kelly Mill Middle (Middle), Langford Elementary, and Muller Road Middle (Middle).
Westwood High School received the district’s only school-level “Below Average” rating. Below Average means a school is in jeopardy of not meeting criteria of the successful S.C. graduate.
Westwood High also received “Unsatisfactory” ratings in two subcategories – Preparing for Success and Classroom Environment.
Preparing for Success includes end-of-course assessment results for Biology and U.S. History and the Constitution.
At Westwood High, 26.3% scored “C” or higher in Biology and 29.6% scored “C” or higher on the U.S. history and Constitution exam, trailing the district and state by double digit points.
School Climate includes survey results about teacher and student perceptions of learning, social-physical environment, and safety.
Roughly two-thirds of teachers reported feeling satisfied with learning environment (65.3%), social and physical environment (69.4%), and school-home relations (68%).
Chronic student absenteeism also rose significantly from last year, climbing from 20.3% to 32%, data shows.