• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Go-the-Distance Learning: South Carolina is Gaining Significant Ground in Education and Workforce Development

Posted on: Monday, 9 January 2006, 12:00 CST

By Mau, Sandy

A riot of color erupts from the canvas of Alex Beaumont's still- life painting. Standing in a cool basement studio, Beaumont and seven other students listen to rock-n-roll music over headphones and paint their own interpretation of the haphazard arrangement of pastel plates, cups, and pottery at the center of the room. This is only Alex's second semester of visual arts instruction at the South Carolina School for Arts and Humanities, but this senior, who began her tenure at the residential school as a dancer, already has accepted a full scholarship to the New York Fashion Institute.

In fact, 100 percent of this school's seniors graduate and head to college, most with full-ride scholarships to prestigious institutions. A wall inside the Greenville school is plastered with handwritten signs noting the names of seniors and the scholarship offers that will take them across the country even around the globe, after graduation. Two will step onto the stage as Julliard drama freshmen, capturing two of only 18 available slots nationwide. An accomplished pianist from the school will attend Duke on a full scholarship next term to pursue a degree, not in music, but in biomedical engineering.

A swath of 17,000 daffodils blooms in Reedy River Falls Park just outside the school's tall windows. In the central courtyard, a privately donated, life-sized bronze sculpture of Romeo pleads with Juliet, who looks back longingly from her balcony. In so many ways, this school and its sister school, the South Carolina School for Math and Science, are everything public education is supposed to be: a public-private partnership that strives to attract the best teachers and use the latest techniques to push students along the path to excellence.

The contrast between this nearly Utopian education and that experienced every day by stu dents in other South Carolina public schools could hardly be more stark.

A documentary shown widely across the state and broadcast by South Carolina Educational Television, Corridor of Shame: the Neglect of South Carolina's Rural Schools, illustrates the contrast all too clearly. The hour-long program focuses on the plight of rural schools along the I-95 corridor, where the effects of reduced state funding and an a already-low tax base have left school buildings crumbling and schoolchildren struggling to achieve.

The documentary, controversial in the context of the school equity funding lawsuit against the state's General Assembly, is a startling reminder that public education in South Carolina is a work in progress. At one end of the spectrum, a handful of schools is providing the kind of education most parents dream about for their children. At the other end are schools that are barely fit for occupation, with raw sewerage seeping in after storms, or buildings that don't meet fire safety codes, or a woeful lack of qualified instructors to teach all subject areas.

'JOHNNY CAN'T READ... IN SOUTH CAROLINA'

Over the past 10 years, milestones have marked the path of public education, beginning with public demand for accountability in primary and secondary school education. In 1998, the South Carolina Legislature passed the Education and Accountability Act, which charged the governor, General Assembly, State Department of Education, colleges/universities, local boards, administrators, teachers, parents, students, and communities with responsibility for improving student performance and taking actions to improve classroom performance. Three years before the federal No Child Left Behind Act appeared on the education scene, South Carolina began focusing on the quality of the education process and measurements to increase accountability.

The act set in motion a requirement to set statewide curriculum standards and testing of students in grades 3-8 to determine whether the students scored at below basic, basic, proficient, or advanced levels. The PACT test was implemented to determine which students needed academic assistance to perform at basic levels, and which schools were not performing up to the standards. The act also introduced a new committee, the Education Oversight Committee, to supervise the standards setting and implementation process. The committee is composed of the governor or his designee, members of the Legislature, and representatives from the business community.

"The General Assembly's approval of the Educational Accountability Act sent a message to the education system that business is looking for measurable accountability," said Mike Forrester, chairman of the state's Board of Education and vice president of South Carolina operations for Piedmont Natural Gas. "I remember it met with some resistance initially, but it has since become a model for other states to follow."

South Carolina freshmen, fielded the first PACT test in 1999, and the results were dismal. Some 47 percent of students scored below basic levels in math, and 36 percent scored below basic in English language arts. Across the state, 73 schools rated "Unsatisfactory" on statemandated School Report Cards.

Five years later, South Carolina's scores have improved dramatically. In 2004,24 percent of those tested were below basic levels in math and 24.6 percent scored below basic in English language arts, and some 25 schools rated "Unsatisfactory" on school report cards. Although one out of four students in grades 3 through 8 is still far behind, the numbers have improved.

"I wish there were a silver bullet we could put into place and we'd have all the problems fixed overnight," Forrester said. "But it almost takes a full 12-year cycle to determine if you're making a difference. I think the testing offsets and shortens that cycle, and I think that's why it's important to stick to our original focus we had when we put PACT in place. We need to stay the course."

Despite improvements, South Carolina still ranks near the bottom of the list in school performance nationwide. One reason for the low ranking, however, points to the rigor of the state's standards.

In the May 2005 issue of Education Week, the state's PACT tied for the top spot in difficulty in a national study by the Hoover Institution. The article was subtitled, "Johnny can't read ... in South Carolina. But if his folks move to Texas, he'll be reading up a storm. What's going on?" It compared how well each state's testing system (used to determine accountability according to the federal No Child Left Behind Act) aligned with a single nationally administered standard, the National Assessment of Educational Progress. Comparing the percentage of students achieving proficiency on state tests of fourth and eighth grade reading and mathematics with the percentage achieving proficiency on the NAEP revealed how demanding each state's standards really are. South Carolina's PACT emerged as the toughest, truest measure of how students and schools are performing.

A broader Education Week report, published in January 2005, ranked South Carolina as one of only 12 states earning all As for rigor in standards and accountability, demonstrating clear and specific standards in English, mathematics, and science at the elementary, middle, and high school levels, and in social studies/ history at the middle and high school levels. The "Quality Counts" report card also highlighted South Carolina's successful efforts to improve teacher quality, ranked first nationwide in 2002 and 2003, and slipping to only second place in 2004 in the magazine's annual survey.

South Carolina ranks third in the nation in the number of teachers certified by the prestigious National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, with 3,226 board-certified teachers as of January 2005. The state rewards board-certified teachers with a $7,500 stipend each year for 10 years, and many districts offer additional financial incentives for achieving board certification.

But not all marks on this national report card warrant bragging rights for the state. South Carolina only managed a C+ grade in school climate, because educators participating in the National Assessment of Educational Progress reported that only 60 percent of the state's eighth-graders attended schools where classroom misbehavior was not a problem or was only a minor problem, putting the state near the bottom on that indicator. While elementary class size is low (17.9 pupils per classroom, on average, one of the lowest ratios in the nation), students in South Carolina are also more likely to attend large schools than are their counterparts in most other states.

LAWSUIT SPOTLIGHTS DISPARITIES

An upshot of the federal No Child Left Behind legislation has been the ready availability of statistical data on school performance, opening a gateway for school districts to argue that low-performing districts need more financial assistance to meet the standards.

In June 2004, eight poor, rural South Carolina school districts located along the I-95 corridor challenged the General Assembly in a funding equity lawsuit. Over 102 days of testimony, a Clarendon County judge heard arguments similar to those heard in courtrooms across 15 other states the same year. Plaintiffs' attorneys argued that South Carolina's rural, low-tax-base districts cannot compete to give students the "minimally adequate" educ\ation the state constitution demands. Attorneys for the General Assembly argued that the state is providing a "minimally adequate" education across all counties. The outcome of the case, still unknown at this writing, may fundamentally change how South Carolina funds public education, although most agree the case will probably be appealed, no matter what the initial verdict.

Over the past several years, roughly half the states have been challenged in similar suits, and judges have sided with the plaintiffs in about 70 percent of the cases. A Court of Appeals decision in New York set a July 31, 2005, deadline for the state to respond to plaintiff demands for a $9.5 billion increase in the education budget every year for the next four years, a 30 percent increase in funding.

South Carolina school funding already includes a policy that favors poorer school districts with more money per pupil. For example, defense attorney Bobby Stepp argued that Marion County District 7 spends at least $1,500 more per pupil than its wealthier neighbors in Horry County. But plaintiffs' attorneys in the case argue that the higher payments are fast absorbed by the larger proportion of at-risk students who need more help in poorer counties.

To further illustrate the issue, the documentary "Corridor of Shame" highlighted the blighted school buildings students attend in the equity lawsuit districts. In the film, students at JV Martin High School are seen shivering in unheated classrooms, and viewers are treated to a tour of the dilapidated building, in use since 1896. Fire alarms don't work. The auditorium has been closed by the fire ire marshal. Water seeps under walls, and plaster falls off in chunks. Decades of neglect tell the story of school districts that don't have the tax base to build new schools, which wealthier counties fund via local referendum or property tax increases.

Forrester said the reduction in school funding over the past several years of budget cuts has affected schools across the state, but rural districts in particular have suffered more. Richer districts tended to increase local funding to offset state cuts. Although the 2005 state budget raises school funding levels, Forrester admits disparities definitely exist between the haves and the have-nots.

"I think we have some of the best schools in the country, but I also think we have schools that are struggling and have been for quite some time," he said. "if we as citizens in South Carolina aren't willing to invest in our children, then the future is very predictable. We have to do more as a state in equalizing quality education."

BEGIN AT THE BEGINNING

In a dimly lit elementary school classroom near Irmo, 214-year- olds are just opening their eyes after an afternoon nap. The lights come up, and, one by one, the teacher and two teaching assistants wake each child, gently reminding them to stow their sleep mats, Powder Puff Girls pillows and Barney blankets on the designated shelf.

The children choose a "center" to explore. Some put on aprons and begin to mix great globs of blue and yellow paint onto huge paper circles, oohing and ahhing as they see the paper turn brilliant green. Others play a spirited game of Buggy Bingo under their teacher's guidance. One girl plays a computer learning game, while others build with blocks or fill ill and dump containers at a play table filled with beans. Although some of the students have visible handicaps or demonstrate language development delays, the class is a broad mix of students sharing the benefits of early, structured learning.

Since 1996, the state has been targeting atrisk 4-year-olds - those in poverty, with parents who did not finish high school, or with developmental delays - for half-day pre-kindergarten (4K) programs across the state. And 1998 marked the final year of a $92 million, three-year phasein for statewide full-day kindergarten. These two efforts, aimed at the youngest students entering the system, are beginning to pay off, although many believe more students would benefit if the (4K) program were expanded.

Interestingly, improvements in PACT scores have been the greatest in the lowest grade. Some 15 percent more third-graders than eighthgraders met the state's standards in 2004. The lower grade improvement can be attributed in part to smaller class sizes and to an overall concentration of improvement efforts in the lower grades.

Progress of students enrolled in the state's (4K) program is tracked annually by the state Department of Education and reported to the General Assembly. The 2004 report, What is a Penny Buying for South Carolina (www.myscschools.com/offices/research/ PennyBuy2004.pdf), outlined academic achievement for 4-year-olds as they move up through the fifth grade. The statistics show that students enrolled in the (4K) program scored significantly higher than nonparticipants in school readiness tests. By third grade, improvements were showing in PACT scores, with those who participated in (4K) programs scoring significantly higher in both English language arts and math. By fourth and fifth grade, PACT scores were still higher for those who were enrolled in (4K) programs than for nonparticipants.

"Children who have not had the benefit of early childhood preparation, such as having stories read to them, language skills development, being asked many thought-provoking questions, playing educational games, and practicing for the social skills that are required in a school setting do better in school after enrollment in (4K) programs," said Linda Mims, early childhood director at the South Carolina Department of Education.

State funding is available to serve about 16,000 children in the (4K) program across the state, and many school districts use Title 1 or local funding to fill fund more slots, Mims said. In the 2004- 2005 school year, 17,881 children were enrolled in the program.

"But some people say we're not enrolling all the children who need the services the most," Mims said.

The state Department of Education report estimated that close to 4,000 eligible students couldn't participate because of a lack of available slots in the 2003-2004 school year. Mims said she fielded 123 phone calls herself fielded from parents anxious to get their children into the program but unable to fielded find space in their local schools.

"About 12 percent of the children in the program come from families that make less than $9,000 a year," Mims explained. "That's pretty low. We are now adding homelessness and foster child status to the criteria for determining children who are in need."

Mims said that change might increase the number of children who are eligible for the program, which will only increase the need for more slots statewide.

KEEPING KIDS IN SCHOOL

Forrester and Mims are both optimistic that efforts in the lower grades will pay off as students advance through the middle years. But concerns with the state's high school dropout rate may require a new and very different approach.

South Carolina ranks No. 9 in the country for the highest high school dropout rate. Nearly 24 percent of the state's residents have not graduated from high school, according to the South Carolina Statistical Abstract 2002-2003. The high dropout rate affects the state's ability to attract advanced processing and manufacturing companies that need skilled workers.

To make matters worse, South Carolina SAT scores rank second to last in the nation, even when compared with other states in which more than half of students take the test, according to the state Department of Education. The problem is so great that improvement in graduation rates and SAT scores were specifically noted in a report by the South Carolina Competitiveness Initiative, Building the Competitive Advantage of South Carolina: Toward a Shared Economic Vision.

"We're losing way too many students in high school," Forrester said, noting the problem is especially acute in the state's high poverty districts. " We have to do more as a state in terms of equalizing quality education."

In February 2005, State Superintendent of Education Inez Tenenbaum announced the formation of the South Carolina High School Redesign Commission, a statewide board tasked to examine how the state's high schools are run and to recommend improvements to the General Assembly. Mack Whittle, chief executive officer of Carolina First Bank and chairman of the South Carolina Chamber of Commerce, serves with Tenenbaum as co-chair of the 32-member commission.

Issues such as changes in work force expectations, ways to tailor student experiences with their strengths and areas of interest, and dealing with risky behavior will be among the topics the commission will tackle. Forrester also serves on the commission.

"We're looking at the dropout issue, but we're also looking at allowing dual credits in our school systems for both high school and higher education classes," Forrester said. Several schools in the state now permit students in high school to take up to two years of advanced technical coursework, allowing them to complete an associate's degree by the time they finish high school. "A lot of kids are bored in school, they learn at different paces, and we need to be able to challenge those students. High school can't be one- size-fits-all anymore."

Forrester said encouraging students on a technical college track is one step toward lowering the dropout rate.

"I think we're losing a lot of students when kids just give up because of the stigma attached to a technical education," he said. "By adopting benchmarks for students to get dual credit while they are still attending high school, and partnering with technical colleges to run vocational schools, we can raise the bar for these courses and eliminate that stigma."

CAREER-TRACK CURRICULA

Prospects for the state's future work force and the quality of life for high school graduates improved with the General \Assembly's passage in 2005 of the Education and Economic Development Act (EEDA). The legislation, which many expect to significantly reduce the state's dropout rate, will enable students to focus electives around career clusters and will establish alternative programs for at-risk students.

The final bill directs school districts to lay the foundation for anticipated "clusters of study- as early as elementary school by providing careerawareness activities. Once in middle school, students will identify career interests and begin developing individual graduation plans that will be implemented when they reach high school through guidance and curricula designed to facilitate a "seamless transition to relevant employment, further training, or postsecondary study."

Perhaps the most emotional and controversial issue on the table in the 2005 General Assembly was the Put Parents In Charge bill (PPIC), a failed proposal to offer tax credits to parents who send their children to private schools or educate them at home.

Kathy Carper is president of the South Carolina Association of Independent Home Schools, the state's oldest and largest homeschooling organization. Over the past decade, home schooling has gained popularity in the state; more than 13,500 students received their education at home in the 2003-2004 school year, according to the South Carolina Budget and Control Board. Nationwide, home schooling is growing at a rate of between 7 percent and 15 percent annually, Carper said.

"Last year, 82 percent of South Carolina home-school graduates were going on to twoor four-year institutions," Carper said. "Of those going into four-year institutions, 66 percent were on academic scholarships."

"Home schooling continues to be a very viable option," Carper said. The organization is working to open doors so that home- schoolers will be allowed to participate in public school sports and extracurricular activities, which are especially difficult for parents living in rural areas to individually provide for their children.

"Home school parents aren't saying they don't like public schools, they're simply bringing their children home for one-on-one instruction," Carper continued. "These parents are citizens of South Carolina and are paying taxes for these schools, so we just want the schools to allow these students to participate in a portion of the school activities they have paid for. In the 20 or so states that already allow it, it's been a win-win situation. The schools gain parent-volunteer support and involvement from people who are interested and involved in their student's education."

OUTCOMES WILL DETERMINE WHAT LIES AHEAD

Accountability in education, both in South Carolina and across the nation, quantifies student achievement in measurable ways. For at least the next decade, success in education will be measured by PACT scores, improvement ratings, SAT results - and research dollars.

Outcomes and quality measurement began in manufacturing, and the trend is growing in the public, service, and charitable sectors. As South Carolina business partners with government and the education system to recruit enterprise to the state and to grow new business from within, the achievement of South Carolina schools is of pivotal importance.

At the state's research universities, the focus is on the new knowledgebased economy and developing the education base that will attract high-tech business to the state. In Columbia alone, the University of South Carolina broke ground in 2005 on a new seven- building, $141.2 million research campus that will include cuttingedge science labs, a biomedical building, and the new Arnold School of Public Health. The research campus will support the University's ambitious plan to focus on four areas of research excellence: nanotechnology, hydrogen fuel cell research, environmental science, and biomedical research.

"This will provide a massive-facelift for the City of Columbia," said Dr. Harris Pastides, USC's vice president of research and health sciences. He emphasized that the millions of square feet of living and learning space will be far more than just "another ivory tower" of academia. Space also will be dedicated to research and offices for researchbased private businesses to work in collaboration with USC, with an eye toward commercializing new research, developing knowledge-based manufacturing facilities, and creating future jobs across the state.

USC will support its research agenda with the hiring of some 600 new faculty over the next five years, Pastides said. A portion of those new hires are intended to replace the estimated 350 faculty members who will retire during that period.

"I couldn't ask for another toolkit to build a world-class research campus," he said. "The state is turning to its research universities as the most important asset for South Carolina to go forward in the new economy. Our state is not going to become rich and famous on the old-style manufacturing base. The new economy is about learning to do things better, faster, or perhaps cheaper than anyone else. One way to do that is to homegrow those businesses."

Clemson University also expects to complete its first building on a 250-acre tract destined to become the International Center for Automotive Research (CUICAR), which incorporates business partners such as BMW Manufacturing, Microsoft Michelin, and IBM. The underlying idea behind the ICAR campus is to create a physical environment that encourages collaboration and maximizes interaction between business tenants and the Clemson faculty and students who will be located in a new graduate engineering center.

When complete, the campus will include technology and product development laboratories, offices, teaching centers, and secured research spaces. The goal is for Clemson-ICAR to foster innovation and development of technologies for the benefit it of the automotive industry, to provide an unmatched academic experience, and to create high-paying jobs.

Cooperative efforts among the three research universities in the state are making it easier to collaborate instead of compete, Pastides said. With $30 million a year in South Carolina Education Lottery funds to spend on endowed research chairs, the General Assembly bankrolled a plan to bring top research talent to the state's university campuses. Now the universities are in recruitment mode to draw top talent to the state.

At the Medical University of South Carolina, the research focuses on innovative ways to alleviate health disparities that negatively impact the state's poor, rural, and minority populations. More than $150 million in National Institutes of Health research funds have fueled projects in epidemiology, biomedicine, and new care delivery models for the rural poor. MUSC is also among the six partnering institutions that form the South Carolina Health Sciences Collaborative, working alongside USC, MUSC, Palmetto Health, the Greenville Hospital University Medical Center, and Spartanburg Regional Healthcare System to draw research money to the entire state.

"To succeed in playing this game, you have to play together," Pastides said. "You're more likely to get funds if you approach it collaboratively. We're letting the competition occur on the football field instead of in the research centers, and we're becoming successful."

Copyright South Carolina Business Journal 2006

Source: South Carolina Business Journal

More News in this Category