Greenville County nearly doubles its number of 'excellent' schools in new SC report card

Ariel Gilreath | The Greenville News

Its been several months since school report cards were released showing significant improvement in Greenville County Schools — the district has almost doubled its number of schools rated "excellent."

And the Greenville County school district isn't alone. More than one-third of South Carolina schools improved on the 2019 ratings, which were overhauled last year to feature new data such as student growth and safety.

The annual report cards, issued by the state Department of Education and released in September, rate schools based on academic performance, graduation rate and student growth, among other factors. There are five ratings used to measure quality: "unsatisfactory," "below average," "average," "good" and "excellent."

The full list of ratings can be seen at the bottom of this story.

Of the 86 schools eligible for ratings in Greenville County Schools, 38 are rated "excellent," 24 "good" and 19 "average." Four are "below average," and only one is "unsatisfactory." The district had 20 "excellent" schools last year.

Heritage Elementary School had the biggest jump in entire state

The ratings show a jump for most schools in the district — 65 improved their scores while seven saw no change and 14 suffered drops. The district's graduation rate for 2019 was about 85% compared to the statewide graduation rate of 81%.

Heritage Elementary School in Travelers Rest had the biggest jump in the district, as well as the state, by going up 35 points from "unsatisfactory" last year to "excellent" this year.

Ryan Brown, spokesperson for the state Department of Education, said no other school in the state jumped from the lowest rating to the highest.

"They worked their tails off for that ranking," said Teri Brinkman, executive director for strategic communication with Greenville County Schools.

Heather Hester, principal of Heritage, said the "unsatisfactory" rating came as a shock to the school last year.

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"We decided that was not going to be the story that we were going to let be told about our school and our community and our students and their families," Hester said.

The biggest change in Heritage's rating was its student-growth indicator. Student growth can be a boost to report cards even if the school's academic scores lag because it tracks how far students progressed rather than just overall academic achievement.

"I give credit to the teachers and the students — they're the ones that really did whatever it took to say, 'No, this is not our story, and we're going to change the narrative,'" Hester said.

All Pickens County schools rate at least 'average' on report cards

Of the 23 schools in the Pickens County school district, nine are rated "excellent," 11 "good" and three "average." The district doesn't have any schools rated "below average" or "unsatisfactory."

“These report cards give us very specific feedback about our areas of strength and weakness,” Sharon Huff, assistant superintendent of instructional services, said in a emailed statement. “Last year, many of our schools saw the positive results from several years of focus on literacy in early childhood. As a result, our third grade reading scores saw great improvement."

The district's graduation rate was 85%.

If you're having difficulty seeing the table below, click here.