End-of-Course Benchmark Test Results

South Carolina released End-of-Course test results for Algebra, Biology, English, and U.S. History. The examinations count 20% of a student’s final course grade in these classes, and the exams are administered to students at the end of the semester in which they are scheduled to complete the course. The School District of Oconee County met or exceeded state pass rate performance in English I, explains Oconee County Schools Assistant Superintendent of Instruction Steve Hanvey.  “In South Carolina there is End of Course bench mark testing for Algebra, Biology, English, and U.S. History.  This is part of our Accountability Measure for our report cards and ESA Waiver Rating, so while it wasn’t as good as the SAT and ACT, it still had its positives.  We were very excited about how our students performed in English 1, everyone exceeding the state pass rate.” Hanvey said the School District was very pleased with the performance of middle schoolers on the End-of-Course Benchmark Test.  “Excited about our middle school students and how well they performed because in the middle schools these are our advanced and gifted and talented students, so we expect them to perform that well, so it is kind of a catch 22.  A lot of those students take the Algebra 1 and the English 1 portion of the EOC in middle school and do a great job with that and our middle schools have them well prepared but then that takes those students away from the high school scores.  So, if you look at the schools and this is a trend all across the state, obviously the middle school scores are going to be on average higher than the high school scores.” The highest pass rates on Algebra and English I were at the middle school level where advanced students participate in these courses in the seventh and/or eighth grade.  Hanvey said the District knows more work must be done to improve on the End-of-Course Benchmark Test. “We continue to work to make progress.  We have shared this information with all our principals, assistant principals, the Board and community groups that we have been meeting with.  We know that we have some areas that we have got to continue to grow in, but our goal is to always be above the state mean in each test we take and that is no different for the EOC test, so we will continue to work on that.” Mean scores for Algebra and US History in the School District of Oconee County were up over last year and a higher percentage of students passed benchmark tests in Algebra, English I and US History as compared to 2012.