Pickens School receives Perfect Letter Grade

A charter school in Pickens County has achieved a perfect score.  The South Carolina Department of Education released letter grades for the state’s public schools this week based upon student achievement and improvement in 2012-13. Pickens County’s only charter school, the Youth Leadership Academy is one of 33 schools achieving a perfect score of 100. The letter grades were a key component of the state’s approved flexibility request from certain provisions of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, commonly referred to as No Child Left Behind.  The Youth Leadership Academy opened last fall for sixth and seventh graders. Its academic emphasis is science, technology, engineering and mathematics or STEM course, which are a widely promoted learning focus in classrooms nationwide.