Reading at Fourth-Grade Level? CCSD Welcomes You to High School

If you set the goal low enough, almost everyone can achieve it.

However, the Charleston County School District struggles to meet its own criterion that all incoming ninth graders will read at the fourth grade level. Despite focusing on literacy for the past few years, nearly 13 percent of the district's students read at or below the fourth-grade level. That would be bad enough if those students were spread evenly among CCSD's high schools. An additional problem is that they are clustered, often up to 40 percent of an entering class, in CCSD's lowest-performing schools. a

Below is an example of a fourth-grade reading worksheet. Remember that this is the goal for these students.

http://www.k5learning.com/sites/all/files/reading-comprehension-worksheet-grade-4-Washington.pdf

We don't know what percentage reads below the fourth-grade level. Here is third-grade level. Can you imagine this student reading a high school textbook?

http://www.k5learning.com/sites/all/files/reading-comprehension-worksheet-grade-3-rover.pdf

It's way past time to get serious about reading. If students reading on this low a level pass their freshman classes, what does that suggest about the difficulty of what they are learning? What percentage of these students will actually graduate?

Time to fish or cut bait. Either put all students reading at fourth-grade level or below in the same classes in the same school and keep them there until each reads at least on the sixth-grade level or distribute them evenly over the district's high schools so that students reading at grade level or above need not face a class with a majority of poor readers.

Priority Schools in Charleston County: McGinley Blames Teachers

"Priority" schools, by definition of the state Board of Education are South Carolina's lowest-performing, high-poverty schools. Being named a Priority School is not a compliment; in fact, that sobriquet is reserved for the lowest performing five percent. Only 26 schools statewide are on the list, and five of them are in the Charleston County School District. Richland County has none; Greenville County has only two. Think about that for a moment.

Not too long ago, such schools would be taken over by the state, but state takeovers in the past, such as in Allendale-Fairfax. have not been terribly productive. Now such schools must offer parents the option of transferring to higher-performing schools or intensive free tutoring.

North Charleston's Lambs Elementary featured in a local story states that it is getting poorer every year, a claim based presumably on applications for free and reduced meals. Since this is its second year on the list, perhaps more non-poverty students than poor students have taken the transfer option. Lambs previously drew more students from the military base, but where are they living now? What percentage are bused in from other neighborhood districts? As usual, asking questions regarding details of its decline never occurs to the reporter.

Principal Jamalar Logan took over the school in the middle of last year, but the reporter doesn't ask why. Logan was originally made principal in November 2011 but then had been shifted elsewhere. Perhaps, as in so many of CCSD's poorly-performing schools, Lambs has been the victim of revolving door principals. Certainly Superintendent McGinley and her associate Jim Winbush weren't going to volunteer that information to Mick Zais, especially since both are part of the administration they claim responsible.

In her remarks McGinley seemed to blame lower scores on the higher percentage of Hispanic students; however, that would make sense if the lower scores were in the language arts area. Instead, math and science are the areas of concern. The reporter also forgot to ask if any teachers had left or not had their contracts renewed and if any new teachers were inexperienced.  In addition, since the school will be using a "new math curriculum," would it not be of interest to find out what it is, what has been dropped, and what are perceived as the weaknesses of the old curriculum? And if teachers weren't focused enough on teaching math, whose fault was that?

Despite the reporter's years of reporting on CCSD, she still has little curiosity beyond what the superintendent tells her.