Test scores show 2 school districts in the Rock Hill region may be the state’s best
Fort Mill students aced their most recent state tests. They not only led the state across subjects. They, in some grades and subjects, showed improvement compared to pre-COVID tests.
As the state and country looked for answers to pandemic learning loss, Fort Mill got stronger.
“Obviously they’re doing something right,” Fort Mill School District superintendent Chuck Epps said of the district’s teachers. “We’re not perfect, but as far as the system goes I think we have a lot of areas to be proud of. And we can always improve. Even though we may be No. 1, we don’t stop there. We keep trying to improve ourselves.”
Epps and school board members addressed recent statewide test scores when the board met last week. The South Carolina Department of Education released scores the day prior for SC READY and SCPASS. Combined, those tests measure students in grades 3-8 for math and English language arts, and science in fourth and sixth grades.
So, how are they doing it?
Of the 14 grade level scores across three subjects, Fort Mill students were best in the state 11 times.
Epps doesn’t discount the role his community plays.
“We’ve always enjoyed strong parental support,” Epps said. “In fact that’s what separates us out through the years from other districts.”
Yet, Epps said, the main reason for Fort Mill’s success is its teachers.
“Let’s face it,” he said. “The real learning has to go on, as far as during the school day, when the teachers are in that room with the kids.”
ELA testing
Fort Mill eighth-graders and seventh-graders, respectively, scored higher on their English language arts tests, by mean score, than any other grade from any other district tested. Third-, fourth- and fifth-graders in Fort Mill also performed better than counterparts anywhere else in the state. In sixth grade, Anderson Dist. 4 edged Fort Mill by half a point.
Clover routinely finished top five in the state by grade, including second to Fort Mill for seventh- and eighth-graders.
Fort Mill students also scored higher in language arts than they did pre-COVID. A higher percentage of students in every grade except seventh met or exceeded expectations in the recent test, compared to 2019 in Fort Mill. All grades except eighth in Fort Mill (the highest performing single grade statewide) accounted for a higher mean score in the new results than they did in 2019.
Math testing
Fort Mill students didn’t fare as well in math compared to in-district scores prior to the pandemic. But the students still led the state.
Third-, fifth-, seventh- and eighth-graders in Fort Mill ranked top in the state for their grade. Fort Mill sixth-graders were second to Anderson 4. Fort Mill fourth-graders were third behind Anderson Dist. 1 and Greenwood Dist. 52. Clover students finished no lower than fourth statewide at any grade level.
Comparison of current and pre-pandemic scores shows some decline.
The percentage of students who meet or exceed math expectations is down 3% for third-graders, almost 8% for fourth-graders, nearly 10% for sixth-graders, 7% for seventh-graders and 8% for eighth-graders.
Only fifth grade held relatively steady. Mean test scores from 2019 to present are down from a single point for third-graders to 35 points for sixth-graders.
Science testing
In 2019, 52% of fourth-graders and 47% of sixth-graders statewide met or exceeded science standards. In Fort Mill, 75% of fourth-graders and 78% of sixth-graders did so.
The mean score in Fort Mill was up more than 11 points for fourth-graders and almost 17 points for sixth-graders compared to the state.
The new data shows about 46% of both fourth- and sixth-graders statewide meet or exceed science standards. The Fort Mill figures are 72% of fourth-graders and 76% of sixth-graders. Fourth-graders in Fort Mill scored about two points higher and sixth-graders two points lower than students in the same district in 2019.
In 2019, Fort Mill led all South Carolina districts in science scores for all three grades tested (eighth grade also was included). Clover schools came in second or third in each category, statewide.
Fort Mill again topped the state in mean science scores with the most recent data. Clover was second for sixth-graders and third for fourth-graders.
Groups with lower scores
Despite high scores, there were groups that scored lower in Fort Mill and Clover.
Almost 26% of Black and 18% of Hispanic third-graders in Fort Mill didn’t meet language arts expectations, compared to 9% of white students. Ratios were similar in math.
Almost 28% of students in poverty didn’t meet language arts expectations, compared to 7% of other students. Math showed similar numbers. Students in poverty across grades were about three times as likely not to meet expectations. Similar numbers in Clover mirror others throughout the state.
Still, grade level data shows progress in Fort Mill and Clover.
Black eighth-graders in Fort Mill scored 15 points higher in mean math results than students in any other district, the same difference between second and seventh place statewide. Clover was third. Fort Mill scored best among seventh-graders, Clover again third. The districts tied for fourth best among sixth-graders. Clover led Fort Mill in Black student math scores for fifth (No. 6 to No.9), fourth (No. 3 to No. 13) and third (No. 2 to No. 6) grades.
Black eighth-graders in Fort Mill performed 20 points better by mean score in English language arts than counterparts anywhere else in the state. For comparison, 20 points separated the No. 2 and No. 13 districts. Clover was No. 11. Fort Mill was No. 1 and Clover No. 2 for performance among Black students in third and fourth grades. Fort Mill was first and Clover third in seventh grade. Fort Mill was No. 3 and Clover No. 6 in sixth grade, and Fort Mill No. 5 and Clover No. 6 in fifth grade.
Hispanic students in Clover performed better than peers anywhere else in the state in English language arts for eighth, seventh, fourth and third grades. Fort Mill was second statewide in each of those grades. Fort Mill topped the state in sixth and fifth grades. Clover was second in fifth grade and No. 6 in sixth grade.
Hispanic math scores fares similarly well. Clover students topped the state in eighth, sixth, fourth and third grades. Fort Mill was second in eighth and sixth grades, No. 4 in fourth and No. 3 in third grades. Fort Mill was second in seventh and fifth grades. Clover was third in seventh grade, No. 4 in fifth grade.
Fort Mill had the highest scores statewide among Black students for sixth grade science. Clover was third highest. In fourth grade, Clover was first and Fort Mill second in the state. Fort Mill and Clover were the top two performing districts in science for Hispanic students both grades. Fort Mill was best and Clover second in sixth grade, Clover topping Fort Mill in fourth grade.
For students in poverty, math rankings improved with age. Clover students ranked No. 10 in third grade, No. 9 in fourth grade and No. 12 in fifth grade for mean math scores. Fort Mill ranked behind Clover respectively at No. 16, No. 18 and No. 17 in those same grades. By sixth grade Clover was at No. 2 and Fort Mill No. 8. Fort Mill was second and Clover fifth by seventh grade. Fort Mill was best in the state and Clover No. 7 in eighth grade.
Among students in poverty, English language arts scores weren’t always at the top of state rankings but they did improve in Fort Mill and Clover as students age. Fort Mill was first and Clover No. 7 in eighth grade. Clover was second and Fort Mill third in seventh grade. Clover also finished ahead of Fort Mill in sixth (No. 4 to t-No. 8), fifth (No. 9 to No. 10) and fourth (No. 5 to No. 6) grades. Fort Mill was No. 6 and Clover No. 10 in third grade.
In science, Clover schools had the highest sixth-grade science scores among students in poverty. Fort Mill was No. 6 in the state. Clover was second in fourth-grade testing, with Fort Mill No. 7.
COVID learning
The COVID-19 pandemic initially caught school districts off guard. Students went home on a spring weekend in 2020 and didn’t return to a school building, in many cases, until the next fall. Even then there were staggered schedules and virtual schools.
Educators feared learning loss. Yet they also worked to prevent it.
“The thanks go to all of our hardworking people in the schools — our teachers, our support staff, our bus drivers, our maintenance people, all the people that have a hand in it,” said Fort Mill district assistant superintendent Michael Waiksnis. “We had a very detailed plan of attack for how we were going to recover the learning loss.”
Federal ESSER funds, or emergency funding related to the pandemic, were used for afterschool and summer programs. The district relied on professional learning communities across its 20 schools.
“It’s collaborating,” Waiksnis said. “It’s getting teachers together to use their collective expertise to see what every students needs, and developing a plan to make sure our students are provided what they need.”
Board chair Kristy Spears said its noticeable in Fort Mill schools how administrators and teachers focus not just on grade levels or classrooms, but individual students whose needs may vary.
“It’s very customized and targeted to what their situations are,” Spears said. “It’s extremely impressive.”
Another key piece, Epps said, is Fort Mill schools went back to in-person learning as quickly as state law allowed. The district took measures to open buses or classrooms as quickly as possible, as decisions like mask usage in some placed divided public opinion.
“The secret sauce is our teachers,” said board member Celia McCarter. “And by getting the children back to school in front of their teachers face to face, I think was pivotal in what we’re doing. And that’s why you see our scores bouncing back and exceeding so quickly.”
Again, those decisions require commitment from teachers.
“A lot of us were worried and a lot of them were concerned about safety and so forth,” McCarter said. “But they trusted us and we trusted them, and we worked together to do that.”
State, national test scores
In certain columns Fort Mill schools doubled state averages in the recent test scores. Waiksnis said the new data only tells part of the story. Students in higher grades annually test just as well.
“We’re always above the national average in ACT,” Waiksnis said. “We’re always above the national average in SAT. We’ve been an AP Honor Roll district for like 10 out of the last 12 years.”
District officials say state and national averages are important, but as long as any students within the district don’t meet expectations there is room to improve.
“The state average is not our benchmark,” Epps said.
Continued success in Clover
Few districts in the state come anywhere near competing with Fort Mill test scores. One that does is quite near. The Clover School District, just across Lake Wylie, outpaced state counterparts across every assessment at every grade level in the latest results. On almost all assessments and grade levels, the percentage of Clover students who met or exceeded expectations was higher than in 2019.
“Pandemic learning loss was real, but it’s now something we’ve put behind us in Clover,” superintendent Sheila Quinn said after the data release. “I am delighted that the hard work of students and teachers has paid off.”
Quinn said Friday the district is proud of student performance, and that the state sets a high bar for meeting expectations. Scores for meeting expectations are aligned to the National Assessment of Educational Progress.
“As a result,” Quinn said, “students who perform well on South Carolina state assessments demonstrate a level of college and career readiness, even at the lower grades.”
As in Fort Mill, Quinn sees the latest results as proof of progress after what was in many ways an unprecedented challenge for educators with the COVID pandemic.
“The results on these tests show that the academic recovery plan the district and schools implemented worked well to ensure students continued to learn even through the pandemic,” Quinn said.
This story was originally published September 12, 2022 at 2:00 AM.
