Students in Oconee and Pickens County completed the final year of Palmetto Achievement Challenge Testing (PACT) with a bang.

Local students exceeded the state average in most categories in test scores released Wednesday morning.

More than 300,000 third through eighth-grade students were tested last May in English/language arts, mathematics science and social studies with scoring levels of below basic, basic, proficient and advanced. Students meet state academic standards by scoring basic or above.

Oconee County students exceeded state performance in grades five, seven and eight in English-language arts and grades five, six, seven and eight in mathematics.

“I am extremely proud of our PACT performance,” said Oconee County School Superintendent Mike Lucas. “It is tough to improve when your scores are among the best, but we made significant gains this year. I am especially proud of the performance in grades five, six, seven and eight and congratulate our students, teachers, parents and administrators in the School District of Oconee County for their performance on the final year of PACT.”

In sample science testing, Lucas said student performance in Oconee County at the advanced level increased at third-, fifth-, seventh- and eighth-grade levels and the percentage of students meeting standard increased at the fourth-grade level. In sample social studies testing, students meeting standard in the school district increased at the fourth- and eighth-grade levels compared to a year ago while the number of students scoring advanced increased at the fourth-, fifth-, sixth- and seventh-grade levels.

While greater percentages of South Carolina students met state standards by scoring basic or above in 16 of 24 test categories, Pickens County Schools reported students met the standard in 23 of the 24 categories. The district also met or exceeded the state in the percentage of students scoring proficient or advanced in all but one category.

“We are proud of our students and teachers for the dedication and hard work demonstrated in our PACT performance,” said Brenda Turner, assistant superintendent for instructional services for Pickens County. “We still have areas for growth, so we will continue to provide rigorous, standards-based instruction. Our goal is to provide every child with high quality instruction that allows success.”

While Pickens exceeded the state in most categories, the district lagged 1.8 percentage points behind the state in students meeting standard in seventh-grade science and 1.1 percentage points below the state for students scoring proficient or advanced in the same category. Overall, Turner said the Pickens County School District has seen much improvement in student achievement during the past 10 years of PACT.

But Phillip Bowers, a Pickens County resident who serves on the State Board of Education, called the school district results “mixed.”

“Some scores are up and some are down, some schools did well, others not so well” Bowers said. “English and math scores are down in all three grades and science scores are down in eighth-grade. That’s particularly troubling since these courses are so important to future success. If our eighth-graders, headed for high school, can’t read well, can’t do basic computations and are weak in science knowledge, their high school years are going to be really difficult. Those difficulties may translate into higher dropout rates.”

PACT scores are key components in South Carolina’s annual School Report Cards that rate elementary and middle schools.

A variety of independent national research studies in recent years have shown that PACT scoring requirements are higher than tests in other states. Those studies have indicated that a PACT score of basic could be the equivalent to a score of proficient in other states.

Next year, a new standardized testing system, the Palmetto Assessment of State Standards (PASS), will replace PACT. The new assessment will feature more detailed information on individual students and a faster turnaround on score reporting.

Click here to view the Historical performance chart.

Click here to view the Oconee County performance versus other top districts.

Click here to view the Oconee County performance and state performance numbers.