The Voice of Blythewood & Fairfield County

Local Scores on Par with State

BLYTHEWOOD/FAIRFIELD – Results of the state’s SCPASS tests, administered to fourth- through eighth-grade students last spring, showed local students near or above state results in the tested subjects of Science and Social Studies, according to data released last week by the S.C. Department of Education.

Science

(State results in parentheses)

In the Richland 2 School District, 71.9 percent of fourth-graders (69.9) scored Met or Exemplary on test standards, as did 69.2 percent of fifth-graders (66.3); 60 percent of sixth-graders (63.6); 67.2 percent of seventh-graders (68.2); and 64.1 percent of eighth-graders (65.2).

Sixth-graders throughout the district had the most difficulty with the subject, with 40 percent failing to meet standards (36.4).

Locally, Bethel-Hanberry Elementary led the way with 87.3 percent of fourth-graders scoring Met or Exemplary. At Blythewood Middle, 80.5 percent of seventh-graders scored Met or Exemplary, and at Round Top Elementary 79.8 percent scored Met or Exemplary. At Langford Road Elementary 77.3 percent scored Met or Exemplary, while at Kelly Mill Middle 73.6 percent of eighth-graders scored Met or Exemplary and at Bookman Road Elementary 71.6 percent of fourth-graders scored Met or Exemplary. At Dent Middle 70.4 percent of seventh-graders scored Met or Exemplary, and 68.8 percent of eighth-graders at Muller Road Middle scored Met or Exemplary.

On the downside, 42.3 percent of sixth-graders (36.4) at Dent failed to meet standards, while 42.2 percent of sixth-graders at Muller Road Middle also failed to do so. At Kelly Mill Middle, 39.5 percent of sixth-graders, as well as 37.7 percent of fifth-graders (33.7) at Langford Elementary also failed to meet standards.

Scoring Met or Exemplary in the Fairfield County School District were 54.2 percent of Fourth-graders; 53.8 percent of fifth-graders; 55 percent of sixth-graders; 65.6 percent of seventh-graders; but only 35.7 percent of eighth-graders.

Topping the district was the Magnet School for Math and Science, where 92.1 percent of sixth-graders, 71.4 percent of fifth-graders and 66 percent of fourth-graders scored Met or Exemplary.

At Geiger Elementary, 69.4 percent of fifth-graders and 69.2 percent of sixth-graders scored Met or Exemplary, while at Fairfield Middle 65.6 percent of seventh-graders scored Met or Exemplary. Sixty percent of sixth-graders at the McCrorey-Liston School of Technology and 54.2 percent of sixth-graders at Kelly Miller Elementary scored Met or Exemplary. At Fairfield Elementary, 52 percent of fourth-graders scored Met or Exemplary.

Fairfield Elementary also took the biggest hit in the district, with 72.7 percent of sixth-graders failing to meet standards. At Fairfield Middle, 64.3 percent of eighth-graders (34.8) failed to meet standards, as did 59 percent of fifth-graders at Kelly Miller.

At McCrorey-Liston, 52.9 percent of fourth-graders failed to meet standards, as did 52.8 percent of fourth-graders at Geiger. Thirty-four percent of fourth-graders at the Magnet School also failed to meet standards.

Social Studies

(State results in parentheses)

Scoring Met or Exemplary across Richland 2 were 87.8 percent of fourth-graders (85.3); 76.8 percent of fifth-graders (71.4); 75.9 percent of sixth-graders (77.5); 65.4 percent of seventh-graders (67.9); and 72.7 percent of eighth-graders (73.4). Seventh-graders struggled the most, with 34.6 percent not meeting test standards (32.1).

Langford Elementary saw the best numbers, with 95.5 percent of fourth-graders scoring Met or Exemplary. Bookman Road Elementary was close behind, with 93.8 percent Met or Exemplary in the fourth grade. Bethel-Hanberry also fared well, with 92.1 percent of fourth-graders scoring Met or Exemplary, while 90.4 percent of fourth-graders at Round Top Elementary turned in the highest scores.

At Blythewood Middle, 82 percent of eighth-graders scored Met or Exemplary, as did 77.1 percent of sixth-graders at Muller Road Middle. At Dent Middle, 76.2 percent of sixth-graders scored Met or Exemplary, while 73.5 percent of sixth-graders at Kelly Mill Middle also scored Met or Exemplary.

Kelly Mill also followed the state trend, with 39.4 percent of seventh-graders failing to meet test standards. At Muller Road Middle, 36.8 percent of seventh-graders, along with 36.1 percent of seventh-graders at Dent also failed to meet standards.

At Langford Elementary, 33.3 percent of fifth-graders (28.6) failed to meet standards.

Scoring Met or Exemplary over the entire Fairfield County School District were 81.3 percent of fourth-graders; 55.3 percent of fifth-graders; 71.6 percent of sixth-graders; 58 percent of seventh-graders; and 58 percent of eighth-graders. District-wide, fifth-graders struggled the most with 44.7 percent failing to meet test standards. Forty-two percent of seventh- and eighth-graders also failed to meet standards.

The Magnet School again made the best showing, with 94.7 percent of sixth-graders scoring Met or Exemplary. They were followed closely by sixth-graders at Geiger, 92.3 percent of whom scored Met or Exemplary.

At Kelly Miller, 84.8 percent of fourth-graders scored Met or Exemplary, as did 81.3 percent of fourth-graders at Fairfield Elementary. At McCrorey-Liston, 70.6 percent of fourth-graders scored Met or Exemplary. Fifty-eight percent of seventh- and eighth-graders at Fairfield Middle also scored Met or Exemplary.

Fifth-graders at Fairfield Elementary turned in the poorest performance, with 66.7 percent failing to meet test standards. At Kelly Miller, 51.3 percent of fifth-graders failed to meet standards, as did 42.9 percent of fifth-graders at McCrorey-Liston and 42 percent of seventh- and eighth-graders (26.6) at Fairfield Middle. At Geiger, 30.6 percent of fifth-graders failed to meet standards.