South Carolina Kids Count
›› 2007 Greenville County Kids Count Report
For two decades the Cognitive Skills Assessment Battery assessed language, social skills, visual and auditory discrimination, memory recall, and knowledge of colors, letters, numbers, names of objects, etc. Since 2001 the South Carolina Readiness Assessment has been carried out by classroom teachers for the entire school year to assess personal and social development and Math and English/Language Arts knowledge and skills tied to the state academic standards. These assessments have shown that too many children reach school without the readiness skills needed for success in learning. Moreover, some schools are not ready to respond appropriately to the varying developmental levels of children in the early grades. As a result, too many students do not experience the success needed to create the motivation and engagement that sustain learning.
Kindergartners Consistently Demonstrating Readiness in 2007
(% of each group)
| Kindergarten Assessment of Readiness for First Grade | White Male | White Female | African-American and Other Male | African-American and Other Female | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| English-Language Arts | |||||
| Communication | 70.8% | 81.5% | 54.9% | 69.5% | 70.1% |
| Reading | 78.9% | 90.1% | 67.1% | 85.0% | 80.8% |
| Writing | 72.6% | 84.7% | 57.5% | 74.8% | 73.2% |
| Mathematics | |||||
| Mathematical Processes | 85.7% | 92.5% | 76.6% | 85.3% | 85.6% |
| Number and Operations | 80.4% | 88.6% | 67.8% | 80.0% | 79.9% |
| Patterns, Relationships, and Functions | 76.1% | 85.7% | 56.9% | 72.3% | 73.9% |
| Geometry and Spatial Relations | 84.0% | 90.9% | 68.3% | 80.1% | 81.8% |
| Measurement | 83.9% | 91.1% | 70.3% | 81.8% | 82.6% |
| Data Collection and Probability | 73.6% | 77.2% | 51.0% | 58.6% | 66.7% |
| Personal and Social Development | |||||
| Self Concept | 87.3% | 90.3% | 73.5% | 80.6% | 83.8% |
| Self Control | 90.2% | 92.8% | 77.0% | 83.9% | 86.8% |
| Approaches to Learning | 88.3% | 92.2% | 73.1% | 79.6% | 84.4% |
| Interaction with Others | 80.3% | 84.7% | 62.6% | 71.4% | 75.9% |
| Social Problem Solving | 78.9% | 83.0% | 61.0% | 68.5% | 74.1% |
Failures Grades 1-3 in 2007
316 or 5.5% children failing first grade
125 or 2.3% children failing second grade
64 or 1.2% children failing third grade
Figure 6: Failures Grades 1-3 in 2008
| White Males | White Females | African-American and Other Males | African-American and Other Females | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Greenville County | % | % | % | % |
Over-age for Grade 3 in 2007
884 children over-age
17.0% children over-age
Special Education: Large numbers of children are placed in special education classes. In elementary school, 1,524 six and seven year olds and 1,941 eight and nine year-olds were enrolled in special education classes during 2006-07, approximately 14.0% and 17.7% of their age groups respectively. Of 8-9 year olds, 19.9% of Whites and 15.6% of African-American and Others were in special education.
Readiness Summary: A serious problem exists in terms of student readiness and school success in the early grades. With 22.9% assessed not consistently ready for the 1st grade, 17.0% over age in grade 3, and 17.7% of eight and nine year-olds placed in special education, unacceptably large numbers of students still begin school without good prospects of success in future school achievement and graduation.
Graphs
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The same data presented in each graph is also displayed in a data table beneath the graph.