In the wake of deep budget cuts at every corner, Hampton County schools have managed to claim small victories for student achievement.
Both Hampton School Districts One and Two made steady improvements in the recently released 2010 PASS tests.
In its second year, the Palmetto Assessment of State Standards is the state- and federal-mandated end-of-year accountability test. Students in grades 3 through 8 are tested annually in five subject areas - writing, English language arts, math, science, and social studies - for a total of 30 categories of scoring. PASS has three scoring levels - Not met, Met, and Exemplary - and students must reach one of the latter two levels to meet the standard and pass each category.
Hampton One Superintendent Dr. Doug McTeer, Jr. said that Hampton One saw its best increases in 3rd and 4th grade students, and the subjects that saw the best improvements were English language arts and writing.
"We went up just a little bit, not as much as we would have liked, but it was a year of deep cuts and we still managed to make progress," said McTeer. "Incremental improvement is where we're at. There's still work to be done, but we're headed in the right direction."
Hampton One also scored higher than the state average in four categories: 3rd grade social studies, 4th grade writing, and 7th grade writing and science. Social studies, however, remains a problem area in the district.
"Social studies is probably where we are weakest, and not surprisingly," added McTeer. "This subject was the latest to be added as part of the testing, and it takes a little while for teachers to be familiar with what is tested."
The majority of Hampton One students passed - scoring "Met" or "Exemplary" - in every category except 5th social studies, 6th grade science, and 8th grade science. Most of the schools also made Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP), which is also based partly on PASS.
While no school in Hampton District Two made AYP this year, Superintendent Dr. Deonia Simmons said that there were some significant improvements at Estill Elementary School, and there were double-digit improvements in writing, ELA, science, and social studies at that school.
"The scores are an indication that we are headed in the right direction," said Simmons. "We've seen some improvement, now we just need to keep heading in that direction."
The third grade improved. 8.7 percent in writing and 12.2 in ELA. Fourth grade improved 6.1 percent in writing, 9.8 in science and 11.1 in social studies. Fifth grade improved 25.6 percent in writing, 12.2 in ELA. Sixth grade improved 5.5 percent in ELA and seventh grade 12.5 percent in math. The eighth grade improved 6.2 percent in math.
Overall, Estill Middle School showed the most improvement in 6th grade ELA and in 7th and 8th grade math.
Several other areas remain trailing, and Simmons says that his staff is taking advantage of a recent school improvement grant to implement various new programs and strategies, including the Success For All program that is being used to improve math and reading at the middle school. Some of these strategies are also being piggybacked into the elementary school curriculum.
However, there is still a long road ahead for Hampton Two, a Palmetto Priority school district identified by the state as one of its most distressed. A majority of Hampton Two students passed in only five out of 30 categories.
"Obviously we've got a long way to go, but I'm excited about our new leadership and the new commitment from the community," added Simmons. "We are looking forward to working with the community and the families in the community to get to our goal of becoming South Carolina's next premier school district."