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.
