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, continuing with Lexington County School District 2.

The district covers six elementary schools, three middle schools, a middle-school-level creative arts academy, and two high schools. The district serves nearly 9,000 students.

Graduation Rate

For 2023, 74.2% of the district’s students graduated on time, compared to a statewide rate of 88.3%.

Since 2020, the district's expected on-time graduation rate has decreased every year, going  from 80.9% in 2020 to 80.1% in 2021 to 79.5% in 2022.

The district's dropout rate decreased from 1.6% to 1%, and the dropout recovery rate dropped from 2.5% to 0%.

College and Career Readiness

Students who are college- or career-ready made up 42.5% of the district’s latest graduation cohort (down from 49.1% the previous year). 64.7% were college- or career-ready statewide.

Students who are college-and-career-ready made up 16.7% of the district;s graduation cohort (down from 17.8%). 29.4% were college-and-career-ready statewide.

Students who are college-ready made up 20.1% of the graduation cohort (down from 20.9%) 32.6% were college-ready statewide. 

Students who are career-ready made up 39.2% of the graduation cohort (down from 46%). 61.4% were career-ready statewide.

Overall Student Performance

English Language Arts (Reading and Writing) - 40.3% of the district met or exceeded English language arts expectations (up from 34.8%), compared to a statewide rate of 53.9%. 58.5% of the district scored a C or higher on the end-of-course assessment in English 1 (up from 51%), compared to a statewide rate of 64.4%.

Mathematics –  30.7% of the district met or exceeded mathematics expectations (down from 31.1%), compared to a statewide rate of 40.9%. 22.3% of the district scored a C or higher on the end-of-course assessment in Algebra 1 (down from 33.1%), compared to a statewide rate of 41.7%.

Preparing for Success (Overall Student Performance)

SCPASS Science – 34.4% of the district met or exceeded (down from 38.4%), compared to a statewide rate of 45.1%. 32.9% of the district scored a C or higher on the biology end-of-course exam (up from 27.2%), compared to a statewide rate of 40.9%.

U.S. History and the Constitution – 33.5% of the district scored a C or higher on the U.S. History and the Constitution end-of-course exam (up from 28.8%), compared to a statewide rate of  42.1%.

Student Safety

The district had 10 incidents of sexual assault (not rape), three incidents of robbery without a weapon, 44 incidents of physical attack without a weapon, two incidents of possession of firearm or explosive, 1,685 students with in-school suspension, 1,493 students with out of school suspension, 76 students expelled, two school related arrests and referrals to law enforcement, and 55 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 443 responses were gathered from parents, with 88.2% agreeing/strongly agreeing that their child feels safe at school and 84.5% agreeing/strongly agreeing that their student’s teachers and staff prevent or stop bullying at school.

Evaluation by teachers – A total of 584 responses were gathered from teachers, with 95.9% agreeing/strongly agreeing that they feel safe at school before and after operation hours and 74% agreeing/strongly agreeing that there are rules for behavior enforced at their school.