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EOC staff begins cyclical accountability review; NAEP 2024 shows mixed national results, modest state gains in fourth-grade math
Summary
Staff described the cyclical five-year review of the state accountability system required by statute, outlined public listening session plans, and summarized NAEP 2024 results: national declines in reading, small national gains in fourth-grade math and South Carolina matching or modestly exceeding some national trends.
EOC executive staff presented the timetable and scope for the statutory five-year cyclical review of South Carolina’s accountability system and summarized national assessment results from NAEP 2024.
Miss Hale, executive director, said the law (cited in discussion) requires stakeholder engagement and sets a timeline for recommendations to the General Assembly. The staff will convene a State Accountability Advisory Committee, conduct regional listening sessions (remote) in March–April, run focused convenings on topics identified by stakeholders, and work with the Center for Assessment to survey public expectations and host three in-person advisory meetings before producing a capstone report later in the year.
Hale said planned focus areas include the high-school experience (measures of college- and career-readiness), career-and-technical education report cards, primary-school report cards, and multilingual-learner measures. Staff urged members to submit nominations for advisory and focus groups and noted the report must be completed prior to legislative consideration of accountability changes.
Separately, the director reviewed the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) 2024 results. Hale said nationally the percentage of eighth graders reading below NAEP Basic reached a high point in NAEP history and fourth-grade reading performance was the lowest in two decades; however, fourth-grade math saw a modest two-point gain nationally. South Carolina matched the modest fourth-grade math gains and outperformed the national average by one point in fourth-grade reading; eighth-grade results were generally flat for the state. Hale said the NAEP also included a self-reported student-absence question showing small improvements in days absent for eighth graders compared with 2022 but not a full return to pre-pandemic levels.
Committee members asked procedural questions about advisory nominations and survey work; staff reiterated the statutory deadlines and the need for robust stakeholder participation.
