Education Oversight Committee highlights dashboard, flags chronic absenteeism and rural teacher recruitment

Dana Yao, executive director of the Education Oversight Committee, told members of the South Carolina House Education and Public Works Committee that the agency’s school report-card work and new public dashboards are meant to give lawmakers and districts clearer, locally actionable data.

Yao said the committee produces annual accountability ratings that are "legislatively mandated" and that the EOC evaluates state-funded programs including full-day 4K and other targeted investments. "The evaluations that we've done show that that program does work for 4 year olds," she said.

The presentation included an overview of the EOC’s public dashboards (dashboardsc.sc.gov), which Yao said let users “drill down” to see spending, graduation and postsecondary outcomes at specific schools. Yao reported a statewide on-time graduation rate of 85.4 percent for the class referenced in her slides and showed measures the EOC uses for college and career readiness.

Members pressed for clarity on several issues during questions. Representative Bradley (committee member) asked whether the 85 percent on-time graduation rate aligned with much lower proficiency results; Yao and other members said graduation and proficiency are measured differently and that the EOC is focused on ensuring diplomas represent