EASLEY — Seven Pickens County schools have received an instructional boost from the state in the form of nearly $46,000 in Education Improvement Act (EIA) grants.

The EIA grants from the South Carolina Department of Education were awarded to 10 instructors representing the seven schools, and they, along with their respective schools, are as follows: Dana Howard, Daniel High; Allison Aiken, Hagood Elementary; Pamela Clarkson and Pam Jones, Holly Springs Elementary; Susan Martin, Pickens Middle; William Chandler, Edwards Middle; Sondra Hennessee, Gettys Middle; and Belle Graver, Kelle Martin; and Kay McKinney, West End Elementary.

Pickens County School Superintendent Lee D’Andrea said the district is proud of the recipients.

“I congratulate these award winners,” D’Andrea said.

“A primary focus in the School District of Pickens County is student learning. Implementing these grants is another way the teachers can enhance student learning in their classrooms,” she added.

The EIA Teacher Awards program supports the improvement of classroom instructional practices and procedures. Projects support instructional activities and implementation of the South Carolina Curriculum Standards, including the implementation of performance assessments, computer-assisted instruction and innovative teaching strategies, activities and materials.

Four grant projects — Read to Succeed, ‘Sea’ing Science, Reading Math the Write Way and The Rhetoric of Video: Using Technology to Improve Reading Comprehension and Composition — were $6,000 each. The remaining projects and their values are: If a Picture Paints a Thousand Words?, $5,810; FREADdom, $5,035; WEE (West End Elementary) Succeed!, $4,998; Weather Watchers and The Need to Read, $2,000 each; and BEARS (Becoming Exceptional Accelerated Readers), $1,999.

Grant awardees will be recognized at the school district’s fall Celebrations of Success that will take place during American Education Week.