Richland County School District One reviews underperforming-school plans as state accountability rules change

Richland County School District One held a work session on plans for underperforming schools focused on how state accountability rules determine ratings and how principals are using local data and interventions to try to improve results.

Dr. Minor, a district presenter on accountability, told the board the session was required by South Carolina Code §59-18-1615 and said the plans were sent to commissioners on Friday, January 24. "The plans that you have were emailed to you on Friday, January 24th," Dr. Minor said, and printed copies were placed at commissioners’ seats for the meeting.

The presentation reviewed how the state assigns school report-card ratings. For elementary and middle schools, Dr. Minor described indicators including academic achievement (SC READY ELA and math), preparing-for-success subjects (science), student progress (growth), school climate (surveys) and multilingual-learner measures. At the high-school level she said the state recently added a "high school student success" indicator (12 points), with graduation rate and college- and career-ready (CCR) measures each worth 19 points. Dr. Minor said the changes reduced points previously available in other categories after the state adopted the new weighting for the 2023–24 school year.

Dr. Minor and district staff also summarized how student counts are determined (students continuously enrolled from the 45th day through a district's testing window, typically the district's 160th day), how performance levels are scored (does not meet=0, approaches=1, meets=2, exceeds=3) and how local summative calculations translate to the point values on the report card. She said high-school on-track calculations require course completion by the 180th day; summer credit recovery can count for the following year’s on-track status but not for the current year's on-track calculation.

District academic staff and principals discussed measurement and local monitoring while the state testing calendar and federal requirements have changed. Dr. Williams, speaking for Teaching and Learning, described a multi-tiered approach that pairs strong core instruction with targeted interventions and noted principals and teachers use professional learning communities and shared data to identify and close student gaps.

Principals from several schools presented school-specific updates and data used to monitor progress. Dr. Gregory T. Pickett, principal of Haywood Gibbs Middle School, said the school disaggregates report-card and survey data and uses visible learning strategies; "we are unapologetically the small school with the big heart," Pickett said when describing school climate and instructional priorities. A principal from Pine Grove described using WIDA assessments and Renaissance STAR benchmarks to monitor multilingual learners and reading/math goals.

Dr. Robin Hill Davidson, principal of Burton Pack, provided a written attachment and an on-paper update to the board and described reductions in disciplinary referrals and chronic absenteeism compared with last year. "Burton Pack is definitely on track," she said, and cited progress on targeted goals for students with disabilities and district benchmark results she included in attachments.

Dr. Cope, principal of C.A. Johnson High School, described demographic and resource challenges and progress in graduation rates: "We have gone from 67% graduation to a 70% graduation. This year, we're tracking for a 76," Cope said, adding the school has raised its school-climate score and is meeting some CCR requirements tied to removal from CSI status.

Board members pressed district staff and principals on two recurring themes: attendance and social supports. Commissioners and principals described attendance incentives, family engagement events and community partnerships (Title I parent engagement specialists, mentoring programs, local church and community groups) as strategies to reduce chronic absenteeism. Several principals stressed that making school experiences meaningful and strengthening family outreach were central to raising daily attendance.

Multiple speakers urged expanding social-worker capacity. Commissioners and principals said full-time school social workers — or additional social workers at the highest-need schools — help reach families with housing instability, connect them to McKinney-Vento supports, and reduce chronic absenteeism. The board asked staff to report current social-worker staffing numbers for the district.

Board members and staff also discussed last-minute state and federal changes to the student growth calculations. Dr. Minor described a shift that combined three components for growth (the prior value-added measure plus median-annual-target and added-value-target calculations) after federal authorities rejected an earlier state proposal. District leaders said the change, announced in February after an earlier verbal approval, complicated local preparations and may have affected measured growth in some schools.

No formal board motions or votes were recorded during the work session. Dr. Minor said the original school improvement plans must be approved by the district before principals submit 30-day updates to the Office of Federal and State Programs; she noted three additional plans (Keenan, Eau Claire and Watkins Nance) were added to the packet after an initial file error.

The work session closed without action; staff were asked to follow up with more staffing data, and principals continue monthly school-level review meetings and data updates to monitor progress toward the schools’ SMART goals.