Education Oversight Committee presents data showing high on-time graduation rate, committee focuses on college and career readiness gap

Dana Yao, executive director of the Education Oversight Committee, told the House Education and Public Works Committee that the EOC’s work includes approving content standards and statewide assessments used in accountability, running the public school report card system, evaluating state-funded programs and producing data dashboards for public use.

Yao said the EOC’s most recent data show an on-time graduation rate of 85.4 percent for the 2024 graduating class. She described the committee’s work evaluating the full‑day 4K program, the Educational Credit for Exceptional Needs program, teacher loan programs and a rural recruitment initiative funded with $7,600,000 in EIA (Education Improvement Act) funds. She also highlighted chronic absenteeism as a major driver of lower student achievement and previewed an EOC dashboard at dashboardsc.sc.gov that allows drilldown to schools and cohorts.

The committee’s members pressed Yao about the relationship between on-time graduation and readiness for college or career. Representative Bridal asked whether roughly 30 percent of graduates meet college‑and‑career readiness measures; Yao affirmed that number in the exchange recorded in the meeting. Other committee members referenced different dashboard displays during the presentation, and the transcript contains inconsistent references to readiness percentages (see clarifying details). Yao said the EOC focuses on students who leave high school “without a credential of value” and described multiple measures used to define college and career readiness, including ACT/SAT thresholds, AP/IB or dual‑credit coursework, state career readiness assessments, industry certifications and work‑based learning.

Yao summarized recent and ongoing EOC evaluations: the rural teacher recruitment incentives (a menu including housing, international hires, mentoring and recruitment fairs), a study of alternative modes of instruction that found face‑to‑face delivery more effective for achievement in a prior analysis, and focus groups on attendance that recently completed parent interviews. She said the EOC will continue work on absenteeism and is preparing a public awareness campaign urging schools and families to acknowledge missed students and reduce chronic absences.

Committee members asked for additional data: Representative Tipple asked whether the EOC can quantify higher turnover in rural schools (Yao said she did not have a citation immediately but could provide it). Members also discussed retention strategies and the role of targeted, high‑quality interventions for students who are retained.

Yao asked members to nominate reviewers for the cyclical review of the accountability system and offered to provide the slides and reports she referenced. She described the EOC staff as a small team (about eight FTEs) that produces annual evaluations and recommendations for the General Assembly.

The presentation and the subsequent Q&A emphasized two themes members said matter most to them: (1) lifting students who are not leaving high school with a credential of value, and (2) reducing chronic absenteeism as a driver of lower achievement. The committee requested follow‑up materials, including the EOC’s EIA recommendations and the attendance focus‑group findings when available.

Ending

Yao closed by offering to meet individually with members and to provide the slides and reports; the committee thanked her for the briefing and moved on to the next presenter.