Just seven percent of South Carolina high schools met all of their education goals last spring, while new tests for younger students led to a tripling of the number of elementary and middle schools besting their benchmarks.
Data released last week by the state education department shows a fourth consecutive year that no district met every goal. Only 14 of the state’s 202 high schools made adequate yearly progress under the federal No Child Left Behind Act, compared with 63 in 2008. The plunge came as benchmarks rose.
But 59 percent of the 887 elementary and middle schools met each of their targets, up from 19 percent, largely because of new tests and a new scoring system for grades 3-8.
