MORNING NEWSBREAK | Fewer high schoolers enrolled in or applied for college this fall, despite the graduation rate for the Class of 2024 being slightly better than the previous year, according to new state report cards released Tuesday.
Meanwhile in the Lowcountry, school scores in Berkeley, Charleston and Dorchester counties were at or above average, and overall school rankings have improved in recent years.
State education officials released the 2023-2024 South Carolina annual School Report Cards, which details how each district in the state performed and breaks down each school and its academic progress.
Overall, this year’s report cards showed fewer schools receiving the “excellent” rating than last year, but fewer schools also received the lowest rating of “unsatisfactory” than last year, according to reports.
But one of the biggest findings was chronic absenteeism, defined as students missing at least 10% of the school year. One in five students in South Carolina are considered chronically absent, according to the report.
In district findings, Charleston County School District was shown to make significant strides in individual school rating and overall academic progress. Fifty-five schools in the district were rated “excellent” or “good,” and 17 rated either “below Average” or “unsatisfactory.” The district’s graduation rate also increased by 1.5%. Wadmalaw Island’s Edith L. Frierson Elementary School, which was rated “unsatisfactory” in 2023, jumped four rating levels to “excellent” this year.
Berkeley County School District students scored around the state average in both math and English. The 2024 report lists 19 schools within the district as“excellent” and “good,” while 20 schools were labeled as “average,” and nine scored “below average.”
Dorchester District 2 students scored higher on math and English tests than the state average, but saw a dip in graduation rate, which decreased 3% over last year, but still remains 4% higher than the state average. Sixteen schools in the district were rated “excellent” or “good,” seven schools were rated “average” and two schools were rated “below average.” No schools in the district were rated “unsatisfactory.”
In other headlines:
Charleston home sales drop 2.5 times faster than U.S. average. U.S. existing-home sales slid 4.2% year-over-year last month while Charleston closings fell 10.9% to 1,381, according to preliminary data published Oct. 14 by the S.C. Realtors Association. The median sales price also slipped for the local market, falling 1.2% to $410,000.
First-in-the-nation accessibility coming to some Charleston Co. polls. The Charleston County Board of Elections announced that it is continuing a partnership with Just Bee, a nonprofit that works to provide equal treatment to neurodivergent and autistic people, offering a mobile sensory safe space with sensory kits for voters with what they refer to as “invisible disabilities.”
- Charleston Co. residents speak out on tax referendum
- Charleston Co. sheriff candidates spar over jail reform
New affordable housing complex coming to downtown Charleston. The building will offer studio, one-bedroom and two-bedroom apartments to people who make less than 50% of the average area annual income, which the most recent national studies place at about $38,000.
- Charleston offers $20M for land slated for affordable housing
- Two new affordable housing projects coming to downtown Charleston
- Charleston was told to add 3,500 affordable housing units by 2030
Charleston nonprofit clinic awarded over $500K to improve diabetes prevention. Lowcountry nonprofit Shifa Free Clinic received a grant of $561,000 from the United States Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Minority Health to fund the clinic’s new “INSPIRE-D” project that focuses on diabetes education and prevention in disadvantaged communities in the Greater Charleston area.
Holiday Festival of Lights returns. The Holiday Festival of Lights at James Island County Park features over 750 light displays along a three-mile drive around the park. The festivities begin Nov. 15 and end Dec. 31.
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