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District reports Act 114 first‑year results: 57 retained, 11 superintendent appeals with 3 promotions
Summary
Deputy Superintendent Emily Baker told trustees that, under the updated Act 114 implementation, 264 third‑graders scored 'not met' on SC Ready, 57 were retained districtwide, and 11 superintendent appeals produced three promotions and eight denials; absenteeism and summer camp participation were cited as key factors.
At the Oct. 9 meeting, Deputy Superintendent Emily Baker reported on the district—s first full year implementing the updated Read to Succeed law (Act 114), including assessment results, retention counts and the superintendent appeal outcomes.
Baker said the district recorded 264 third‑graders who scored in the not‑met band on the SC Ready reading assessment under the updated standard. She said 57 students were retained portfolio‑wide under Act 114. The presentation described the superintendent appeal process: the district received 11 parent appeals, staff assembled an audit team to "review the whole child" and recommended outcomes to Superintendent Neely; the superintendent approved three appeals for promotion and denied eight.
Baker and other staff told trustees that the most frequent issues behind denials were excessive absenteeism and lack of summer reading camp participation. Baker said staff had examined school‑level patterns and reached out to at least one school with a higher volume of students in the not‑met category to offer supports. She also noted the state has expanded summer reading camp funding to include students as young as first grade under current Read to Succeed funding for the coming year.
Baker said the district can provide a school‑by‑school breakdown of not‑met counts and the parent‑appeal data on request.
