Columbia, S.C. – State Superintendent of Education Molly M. Spearman made the following statement about the solid improvements seen in 2014-15 End of Course test results.

"I am very pleased about the score increases in our End of Course tests," said Spearman. "Our students' average scores improved across all four subject areas, and I want to give credit to them, their teachers, parents, and administrators," said Spearman. "We will continue promoting best practices with our instructional leaders and providing world-class professional development to our educators. While we are pleased that student achievement continues to grow, we must continue the hard work necessary to ensure that all students meet the Profile of the South Carolina graduate," concluded Spearman.

Here is a summary of the score increases, followed by the mean scores in 2014-15 compared to the previous year:

Algebra 1/Mathematics for the Technologies 2

In 2014-15, the percentage of students achieving an A or B increased to 23.8 and 19.7, respectively; in 2013-14 those percentages were 23.0 and 16.3.  The percentage of students scoring C decreased to 22.5 percent from 26.0 percent in 2013-14.  The percentage of students scoring D decreased to 19.5 percent from the previous mark of 20.2 percent.

Biology 1/Applied Biology 2

The percentages of students making A or B in 2014-15 increased to 32.7 and 16.5, respectively, from the 2013-14 percentages of 30.3 and 14.8.  The percentage of students scoring C decreased to 16.2 percent from 17.6 percent the previous year.  The percentage of students scoring D decreased to 12.2 percent from 16.0.

English 1

The percentage of students receiving an A and B in 2014-15 increased by 3.7 percent over 2013-14.  The percentage of students scoring C declined to 21.5 from 26.1 percent in 2013-14.  The percentage of students scoring D declined to 16.9 from 18.3 the previous year.

U.S. History and the Constitution

In 2014-15, the percentage of students earning a score of A increased to 10.6 percent from 8.4 percent in 2013-14.  The percentage of students scoring a B increased to 13.9 percent from 13.0 percent the previous year.  The percentage of students scoring a C declined from 22.8 to 21.8 percent.

In specific courses, the mean scale score for students taking the Advanced Placement (AP) U.S. History course increased to 89.0 in 2014-15 from 88.0 in 2013-14.  The mean score for International Baccalaureate (IB) “History of the Americas” students increased from 85.6 in 2013-14 to 86.9 in 2014-15.  The mean score for students in the “U.S. History and the Constitution” course improved to 74.5 in 2014-15 from 73.2 in the previous year.

Here are the 2014-15 mean scale scores, compared to 2013-14:

Subject	2014-15	2013-14
Algebra 1/Mathematics for the Technologies 2	82.6	82.1
Biology 1/Applied Biology 2	82.3	81.8
English 1	79.4	78.4
U.S. History and the Constitution	76.1	74.9

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