(A) The Education Oversight Committee, working with the State Board of Education, is directed to establish the format of a comprehensive, web-based, annual report card to report on the performance for the State and for individual primary, elementary, middle, high schools, career centers, and school districts of the State. The comprehensive report card must be in a reader-friendly format, using graphics whenever possible, published on the state, district, and school websites, and, upon request, printed by the school districts. The school's rating must be emphasized and an explanation of its meaning and significance for the school also must be reported. The annual report card must serve at least six purposes:

(1) inform parents and the public about the school's performance including, but not limited to, that on the home page of the report there must be each school's overall performance rating in a font size larger than twenty-six and the total number of points the school achieved on a zero to one hundred scale;

(2) assist in addressing the strengths and weaknesses within a particular school;

(3) recognize schools with high performance;

(4) evaluate and focus resources on schools with low performance;

(5) meet federal report card requirements; and

(6) document the preparedness of high school graduates for college and career.

(B)(1) The Education Oversight Committee, working with the State Board of Education and a broad-based group of stakeholders, including, but not limited to, parents, business and industry persons, community leaders, and educators, shall determine the criteria for and establish performance ratings of excellent, good, average, below average, and unsatisfactory for schools to increase transparency and accountability as provided below:

(a) Excellent-School performance substantially exceeds the criteria to ensure all students meet the Profile of the South Carolina Graduate;

(b) Good-School performance exceeds the criteria to ensure all students meet the Profile of the South Carolina Graduate;

(c) Average-School performance meets the criteria to ensure all students meet the Profile of the South Carolina Graduate;

(d) Below Average-School performance is in jeopardy of not meeting the criteria to ensure all students meet the Profile of the South Carolina Graduate; and

(e) Unsatisfactory-School performance fails to meet the criteria to ensure all students meet the Profile of the South Carolina Graduate.

(2) The same categories of performance ratings also must be assigned to individual indicators used to measure a school's performance including, but not limited to, academic achievement, student growth or progress, graduation rate, English language proficiency, and college and career readiness.

(3) Only the scores of students enrolled continuously in the school from the time of the forty-five-day enrollment count to the first day of testing must be included in calculating the rating. Graduation rates must be used as an additional accountability measure for high schools and school districts.

(4) The Oversight Committee, working with the State Board of Education, shall establish student performance indicators which will be those considered to be useful for inclusion as a component of a school's overall performance and appropriate for the grade levels within the school.

(C) In setting the criteria for the academic performance ratings and the performance indicators, the Education Oversight Committee shall report the performance by subgroups of students in the school and schools similar in student characteristics. Criteria must use established guidelines for statistical analysis and build on current data-reporting practices.

(D) The comprehensive report card must include a comprehensive set of performance indicators with information on comparisons, trends, needs, and performance over time which is helpful to parents and the public in evaluating the school. In addition, the comprehensive report card must include indicators that meet federal law requirements. Special efforts are to be made to ensure that the information contained in the report card is provided in an easily understood manner and a reader-friendly format. This information should also provide a context for the performance of the school. Where appropriate, the data should yield disaggregated results to schools and districts in planning for improvement. The report card should include information in such areas as programs and curriculum, school leadership, community and parent support, faculty qualifications, evaluations of the school by parents, teachers, and students. In addition, the report card must contain other criteria including, but not limited to, information on promotion and retention ratios, disciplinary climate, dropout ratios, dropout reduction data, dropout retention data, access to technology, student and teacher ratios, and attendance data.

(E) After reviewing the school's performance on statewide assessments and results of other report card criteria, the principal, in conjunction with the School Improvement Council established in Section 59-20-60, must write an annual narrative of a school's progress in order to further inform parents and the community about the school and its efforts to ensure that all students graduate with the knowledge, skills, and opportunity to be college ready, career ready, and life ready for success in the global, digital, and knowledge-based world of the twenty-first century as provided in Section 59-1-50. The narrative must be reviewed by the district superintendent or appropriate body for a local charter school. The narrative must cite factors or activities supporting progress and barriers which inhibit progress. The school's report card must be furnished to parents and the public no later than November fifteenth for the 2016-2017 and 2017-2018 School Years. To further increase transparency and accountability, for the 2018-2019 School Year, the school's report card must be furnished to parents and the public no later than October first. For the 2019-2020 School Year, and every subsequent year, the school's report card must be furnished to parents and the public no later than September first.

(F) The percentage of new trustees who have completed the orientation requirement provided in Section 59-19-45 must be reflected on the school district website.

(G) The State Board of Education shall promulgate regulations outlining the procedures for data collection, data accuracy, data reporting, and consequences for failure to provide data required in this section.

(H) The Education Oversight Committee, working with the State Board of Education, is directed to establish a comprehensive annual report concerning the performance of military-connected children who attend primary, elementary, middle, and high schools in this State. The comprehensive annual report must be in a reader-friendly format, using graphics whenever possible, published on the state, district, and school websites, and, upon request, printed by the school districts. The annual comprehensive report must address at least attendance, academic performance in reading, math, and science, and graduation rates of military-connected children.

HISTORY: 1998 Act No. 400, Section 2; 2001 Act No. 40, Section 1; 2002 Act No. 265, Section 2; 2005 Act No. 88, Section 3, eff May 27, 2005; 2006 Act No. 274, Section 3, eff May 3, 2006; 2008 Act No. 282, Section 1, eff June 5, 2008; 2014 Act No. 289 (S.825), Pt V, Section 5, eff June 23, 2014; 2017 Act No. 94 (H.3969), Section 11, eff June 10, 2017.

Effect of Amendment

The 2005 amendment, in subsection (D), in the sixth sentence added "dropout reduction data".

The 2006 amendment added subsection (G) relating to promulgation of regulations.

The 2008 amendment rewrote subsections (A), (B), and (E).

2014 Act No. 289, Section 5, added subsection (H), relating to the annual report on educational performance of military-connected children.

2017 Act No. 94, Section 11, rewrote the section, providing that the annual comprehensive annual report card is web-based, revising the purposes of the report card, revising provisions relating to categories of academic performance ratings, and revising requirements for related school improvement council reports.