SC School Report Cards annually sends out report cards about schools and districts across the state. According to report cards’ website, they highlight academic achievement and provide background on academic growth, college and career readiness, graduation rates, student safety and more.

“Under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), State Education Agencies are required to prepare and disseminate an annual state report and Local Education Agency (LEA) report card that meet the minimum requirements described in federal law,” the site explains. 

Over the next few weeks, the Chronicle will dig into the evaluations for the five school districts that touch Lexington County, starting with Lexington County School District 1. The county’s largest district, it has more than 27,000 students and covers 16 elementary schools, eight middle schools and five high schools, expanding out from the Town of Lexington.

Graduation Rate

For 2023, 88.2% of students in the district graduated on time, compared to a statewide rate of 83.8%.

That rate has largely been on the decline in the district since 2020, going from 90.7% that year to 90% in 2021, 88.1% in 2022.

The district's annual dropout rate rose to 1% from .9%, and the dropout recovery rate is down to 10.3% from 11.5%.

College and Career Readiness

Students who are college- or career-ready made up 73.4% of the district’s latest graduation cohort (down from 74.2% the year before), while only 64.7% were college- or career-ready statewide. 

Students who are college-and-career-ready made up 39.8% of the district graduation cohort (up from 38.1% the year before), while only 29.4% were college-and career-ready statewide.

Students who are college-ready made up 42.6% of the graduation cohort (up from 40.9% the year before), while only 32.6% were college-ready statewide.

Students who are career-ready made up 70.5% of the graduation cohort (down from 71.5% the year before), while only 61.4% of the state were career-ready.

Academic Achievement

English Language Arts (Reading and Writing) – 58.8% of the district met or exceeded English language arts expectations (up from 52%), compared to a statewide rate of 53.9%. 71.8% of the district scored a C or higher on the end-of-course assessment in English 1 (up from 64.4%), compared to 64.4% statewide.

Mathematics – 46.2% of the district is meeting or exceeding mathematics expectations (up from 43.7%), compared to 40.9% statewide. 45.7% of the district scored a C or higher on the end-of-course assessment in Algebra 1 (down from 53.2%), compared to 41.8% statewide.

Preparing for Success

SCPASS Science – 47.3% of the district is meeting or exceeding science expectations (down from 49.6%), compared to 45.1% statewide. 39.5% of the district scored a C or higher on the biology end-of-course exam (down from 59.6%), compared to 40.9% statewide.

U.S. History and the Constitution – 49.9% of the district scored a C or higher on the U.S. History and the Constitution end-of-course exam (up from 33.9%), compared to 42.1% statewide.

Student Safety

The district had five incidents of sexual assault (not rape), 58 incidents of physical attack without a weapon, one incidents of possession of a firearm or explosive, 3,158 students with in-school suspension, 1,946 students with out-of-school suspension, 52 students expelled, 78 school-related arrests and referrals to law enforcement, and 203 incidents of bullying and harassment.

Statewide, there were 139 incidents of sexual assault not rape, 135 incidents of possesion of a firearm or explosive, 101,407 students with in-school suspension, 95,982 students with out-of-school suspension, 1,422 students expelled, 3,413 school-related arrests and referrals to law enforcement, and 5,526 incidents of bullying and harassment.

Evaluations by parents – A total of 3,601 responses were gathered from parents, with 90.3% agreeing/strongly agreeing that their child feels safe at school, and 82.6% agreeing/strongly agreeing that their student’s teachers and staff prevent or stop bullying at school.

Evaluation by teachers – A total of 1,971 responses were gathered from teachers, with 97% agreeing/strongly agreeing that they feel safe at school before and after operation hours, while 71.3% said they agree/strongly agree that there are rules for behavior enforced at their school.