Twelve schools within Horry County Schools are among 141 statewide to be recognized by the South Carolina Education Oversight Committee (EOC) for closing the achievement gap. Locally, 48 percent of the district’s 25 elementary schools were recognized, an increase from 45 percent last year when 10 district elementary schools were recognized. None of the district’s middle schools met the critieria for recognition this year.

For the sixth year, the EOC staff recognized the efforts of schools to close the achievement gap among students of differing economic and ethnic groups. The annual study uses results of the English Language Arts and mathematic portions of the 2007 Palmetto Achievement Challenge Tests (PACT). Recognized schools had high achievement for at least one target subgroup—African American students, Hispanic students, or students participating in the free/reduced price meals programs. Identified as a persistent challenge nationwide, the achievement gap is defined as the difference between the target group (the historically lower-scoring demographic group) and the statewide comparison group (the historically higher-scoring group) at the various PACT performance levels of Below Basic, Basic, Proficient or Advanced.

The following schools from HCS are 2008 Closing the Achievement Gap honorees: Aynor Elementary School, Carolina Forest Elementary School, Forestbrook Elementary School, Homewood Elementary School, Lakewood Elementary School, Loris Elementary School, Midland Elementary School, Myrtle Beach Elementary School, North Myrtle Beach Elementary School, Seaside Elementary School, Socastee Elementary School, and North Myrtle Beach Intermediate School.