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Rock Hill board unanimously approves competency-based education waiver to submit to state
Summary
The Rock Hill School Board voted 7-0 to approve submission of a competency-based education waiver allowing high-school credit to be awarded by demonstrated mastery rather than strict seat-time; the district will submit the application to the state and monitor implementation closely.
The Rock Hill School District Board voted unanimously to approve a competency-based education waiver for submission to the South Carolina Department of Education, a move the district says would allow students to earn high-school credit based on demonstrated mastery rather than seat-time requirements.
Alicia Johnson, executive director of secondary education, told trustees the waiver seeks an exemption from the student attendance regulation (43-2-747(b)) that currently ties one Carnegie unit to at least 120 hours of seat time. "This is an approach that is going to award credit to a student based on mastery of academic standards, and it's not going to be based on the number of hours that the students are spending in the classroom," Johnson said.
Johnson presented district data showing credits lost due to attendance failures (FA counts) of 1,184 in 2022-23, 1,356 in 2023-24 and 1,579 in the most recent year; she argued those lost credits are the primary rationale for seeking the waiver and described district guardrails to prevent abuse, including school-level attendance clerks, a district attendance officer, research-and-accountability monitoring tools (PowerSchool custom reports) and an approved district evaluation tool with four program-quality indicators.
Board members pressed for detail about scope and monitoring. Johnson said the waiver, if approved by the state, would be districtwide and apply to all high-school credit-bearing courses but stressed it would come with "a high level of accountability," requiring evidence that students demonstrate mastery. When a trustee asked whether the FA numbers would "not exist at all" if the waiver were in place, Johnson clarified those figures represent credits lost under current seat-time rules and said the waiver aims to prevent those types of lost credits when mastery is demonstrated.
Trustees also discussed a pilot program already used for seniors that allowed certain exam exemptions tied to attendance and grades; Johnson said that pilot is being expanded and the waiver would build on those guardrails.
After discussion, the chair called for the motion to approve the waiver submission. The motion carried 7-0. The superintendent and staff will begin the application process to the state; final implementation will depend on state approval and subsequent district monitoring plans.
The board's approval starts the application process; the district staff said they will return with operational monitoring details if and when the state approves the waiver.
