WEST COLUMBIA — More than half of South Carolina’s third- through eighth-grade students still can’t do math on grade level, even as reading scores reached all-time highs, according to state standardized testing data released Tuesday.
State Superintendent Ellen Weaver and teachers’ advocates have attributed much of the improvement in reading scores to a shift in how students learn to read. State officials are hoping for similar results in math after launching a training program in the subject this spring.
By 2030, the Department of Education wants three-quarters of all students performing at or above grade level in both subjects. Three districts met that bar in reading: York 4 (Fort Mill), Anderson 4 (Pendleton) and Anderson 1 (Williamston). But none have reached it in math. Fort Mill comes close at 70% proficiency.
The results of SC READY end-of-year tests taken last spring show that, overall, 44% of third- through eighth-grade students statewide could do math as expected for their age, while 60% could read on grade level.
That’s the highest overall with proficient scores in what’s officially called “English language arts” since students began taking SC READY tests 10 years ago, according to department data.
“We know that we have challenges in math, and we’re not going to sugarcoat those challenges,” Weaver said.
Improvements in reading
Three years ago, the state began using the LETRS program — short for Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling — to train teachers in phonics, the strategy of sounding out letters and rhyming sounds to teach children how to read. That was a change from “three-cueing,” which teaches children to use context surrounding the word to figure out its meaning.
Every kindergarten through third grade teacher in the state is expected to complete the two-year program by the end of this school year, according to the state education department.
“It’s all part of the big package that has taken a number of years to put together and to align, but now we are beginning to see the dividends of that alignment,” Weaver said during an announcement of the scores at J.C. Lynch Elementary School in Florence 3 (Lake City), which showed big leaps in improvement.
There, the number of students scoring proficient for their grade jumped 10 points to 55% in reading and 13 points to 46% in math.
Reading scores have surpassed those from before the COVID-19 pandemic. This year’s reading scores are the best since students started taking SC READY tests in 2016, according to department data.
In 2021, just 42% of test-takers overall could read on grade level.
“Our reforms are working, and together we will keep pressing toward our 2030 goal, so every child has the opportunity to succeed and thrive,” House Education Chair Shannon Erickson, a Beaufort Republican, said in a statement.
Better reading scores could translate to better scores across the board, said Dena Crews, president of the South Carolina Education Association and an elementary school literacy coach. Reading comprehension skills can help students not just in English class but in cases like parsing out word problems in math, she said.
“Reading is the foundation, really, for everything,” Crews said.
Hopes for improved math scores
Math scores have steadily increased in recent years, but students remain slightly behind where they were in 2019, the last full year of school before the pandemic disrupted learning.
All state-standardized testing was suspended in 2020. In 2021, just 37% of students received a score in math showing they were ready for the next grade’s work.
Beginning in January of this year, teachers in 10 of the lowest-performing schools in math started receiving training in best practices. The state also sent math coaches to help students and updated instructional materials, said Abbey Duggins, a state deputy superintendent overseeing academics.
During this fall semester, that will expand to 140 schools, Duggins said. So far, specialized instructors are in about half of those, she said.
“Our goal here in South Carolina is that no kid says, ‘I’m not a math kid,’” Weaver told the state Board of Education during its Tuesday meeting.
Legislators initially spent $10 million on the program, called the Palmetto Math Project, last year. They provided the same amount this year.
Similar to the reading program, which started as a pilot in 2022, the Department of Education will evaluate what works and what doesn’t work in those original districts before expanding the most effective methods statewide, Duggins said.
Math and reading are such different subjects to teach that finding a similar training program to help boost scores has been tricky, Duggins said. The department has settled on OGAP, the Ongoing Assessment Project, which outlines the ways in which students most easily learn different mathematical concepts, Weaver said.
Zearn Math, an online math program with lessons and activities used nationwide, will also expand into South Carolina schools, according to the education department.
The department has also changed the math curriculum to put geometry ahead of algebra, which will introduce students to more concrete ways of learning math before moving into the more abstract realm of algebra, Duggins said.
“If we can just find the way to build in to our teachers’ toolboxes, enhance what they already know about math instruction and take it to the next level, we know that we will start seeing the same results in that math space,” Duggins told the state Board of Education.
What the data says
Older students performed worse than younger ones. Eighth grade students performed the worst in both subjects: 32% of students could do math on grade level, and 56% were reading as expected.
Third graders performed the best. More than 56% of third graders were doing math on grade level, and 62% were reading on level, according to the data.
“That is incredibly concerning to me as a high school teacher, because I know what’s coming for those students when they hit high school,” said Patrick Kelly, a lobbyist for the Palmetto State Teachers Association.
Math skills, especially, tend to build with each class, so a student struggling in one math class is more likely to continue struggling in each of the coming years, Kelly said.
The change in instruction for third graders likely led to the improvement for younger students more than older ones, according to the department. Last year’s third graders were kindergarteners the year teachers began the new training program.
This year, the first kindergarteners whose teachers completed the program entered third grade. Officials are hoping to see scores improve even further as teachers use what they learned in their classrooms, Weaver said.
Fort Mill, which has the state’s lowest poverty rate at 22%, saw the highest reading score in the state, with 82% of students meeting grade level. About 70% of students in the district considered the suburbs of Charlotte, North Carolina, could do math at grade level, according to department data.
The state’s poorest district, McCormick County — where nearly all students live in poverty — saw major gains in its scores. English scores improved by 14%, with 52% on grade level. Math went up nearly 6%, to 26% proficient, according to department data.
That “proves that poverty is not a life sentence — all children have the potential to learn and thrive, and that is exciting,” Senate Education Chair Greg Hembree, a North Myrtle Beach Republican, said in a statement.
Skylar Laird covers the South Carolina Legislature and criminal justice issues. Originally from Missouri, she previously worked for The Post and Courier’s Columbia bureau.
SC Daily Gazette is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.
