Education
Waccamaw schools at the top in district in state report cards
There were 232 schools rated “excellent” in the report cards released last week by the state Department of Education.
Three of those are in Pawleys Island: Waccamaw Intermediate, Waccamaw Middle and Waccamaw High.
The high school scored a 69, the highest of all the schools in the district.
The percent of Waccamaw students who earned a grade of C or better in end of course testing in English 2, U.S. History and the Constitution, algebra 1 and biology was better than the state and the district.
Waccamaw’s graduation rate dropped two points from last year to 92 percent. The district average is 88 percent; the state’s is 85.
Carvers Bay High has a score of 56, which is average. Georgetown High (50) and Andrews High (45) are below average.
Waccamaw Middle’s score of 68 is 1 point better than 2023.
Seventy-one percent of Warriors met or exceeded expectations in English/language arts. In the state it was 54 percent; in the district 47 percent.
In math, 64 percent of Warriors met or exceeded expectations. It was 43 percent in the state; 37 percent in the district.
Georgetown Middle (37) and Rosemary Middle (36) are rated as average. Carvers Bay Middle (33) is rated as below average. Georgetown Middle’s score is 11 points better than last year.
On last year’s report card, Waccamaw Intermediate scored a 57, which was third among the district’s elementary schools. This year’s score of 63 ranked third among all the schools in the district.
Seventy-six percent of Gators met or exceeded expectations in English/language arts. In the state it was 54 percent; 47 percent in the district.
In math, 70 percent of Gators met or exceeded expectations. In the state it was 43 percent; 37 percent in the district.
Coastal Montessori Charter School improved both its elementary (49/average) and middle school (53/good) scores from last year. The charter school was rated 37/below average for elementary and 51/good for middle school in 2023.
For elementary school, 57 percent of Stingrays met or exceeded expectations in English/language arts and 21 percent met or exceeded expectations in math.
For middle school, 65 percent of Stingrays met or exceeded expectations in English/language arts and 31 percent met or exceeded expectations in math.
Schools are rated on categories such as academic achievement, preparing for success, multilingual learners’ progress, school climate, classroom environment and student safety.
High schools are also judged on graduation rates and college and career readiness. Middle schools also have a student progress category.
Because of Waccamaw Elementary School’s grade configuration it does not receive an overall score and rating.
However, 78 percent of Dolphins met or exceeded expectations in English/language arts, and 84 percent met or exceeded expectations in math.
Among the district’s other elementary schools, Pleasant Hill (58) is good; Andrews (48), Kensington (51) and McDonald (49) are average; Maryville (40), Sampit (37) and Brown’s Ferry (34) are below average; and Plantersville (23) is unsatisfactory.
There are only 49 schools in the state rated unsatisfactory.
Andrews Elementary’s rating is 12 points better than last year.
Superintendent Bethany Giles said 60 percent of district schools had an overall rating of average or above average and 64 percent of district schools maintained or improved their overall rating from last year.
“That is clearly no small feat especially given the certain challenges that our schools face this year,” she added. “We continue to move and celebrate, recognizing that we still have work to do.”
Complete report card information is available at screportcards.com.
