High Attendance Rate in SDOC

Statistics from the South Carolina Department of Education’s 2012 report card reveals that students and teachers are attending school in Oconee County.  If both students and teachers are in the classroom, learning is more likely to occur, says Oconee County Schools Superintendent Dr. Mike Lucas. “We know that if the teacher is present in school and the student is present in school and they are both there together the same day, odds are that learning is taking place.  The state does a calculation looking at student attendance rates and teacher attendance rates and they rate the school on is it likely that both the teacher and student are present, so that learning can take place.” Each year, the South Carolina Department of Education and the South Carolina Education Oversight Committee, as part of the requirements of the Education Accountability Act of 1998, release report card ratings for schools and districts in South Carolina.  That report card shows attendance ratings for each school, explains Dr. Lucas. “In the School District of Oconee County 96% is the average student attendance.  Keowee Elementary and Walhalla Elementary have the highest attendance at the elementary level at 97%. In the case of the middle schools, Seneca Middle and Walhalla Middle are right at 96%.  At the high school level, Tamassee-Salem has the highest at 95%, so we have good attendance by our students.  Our teacher attendance rate is a little bit lower than our student rate, because sometimes teachers are sick and many of them have young children, who cause them to miss school.  So, the typical teacher attendance rate in the district is about 93%.” More data on Oconee County schools can be found in the annual report card, concludes Dr. Lucas. “This is the report that you can get lots of great school statistics.  If you go to my blog or go to our website, you can see the district report card.” To read the 2012 report card for the School District of Oconee County, visit www.oconee.k12.sc.us.