Here’s Why South Carolina Schools Are Among The Worst In The Nation
Oh boy. If you’re Governor Henry McMaster, this is the last thing you want crossing your desk. South Carolina schools have been found in a recent study to be among the worst in the country. And by among the worst, I mean ranked 42nd out of 51 (each state and Washington DC).
In the immediate years following the abysmal policy of shutting down schools during the Covid-19 Pandemic, education has been one of if not the priority. Learning Loss due to remote instsruction difficulties has led to falling test scores. It’s been my fear that we may have damaged some of our kids irreparably.
Most of the time, research like this focuses almost exclusively on academic outcomes (testing, graduation rates, etc.) or school finance. However, our friends at WalletHub have taken a deeper dive in their analysis. It accounts for performance, funding, safety, class size and instructor credentials.
In terms of education “quality,” South Carolina ranks a pitiful 44th. However, it’s the safety metric that bothers me more. You can always hire more teachers, update facilities and technology. Improving quality is not a difficult fix to make happen. Safety? Sometimes that’s out of your control as a politician, administrator, or teacher.
In the safety metric, South Carolina ranks in the lower half of the country (30th). This takes into account incidences of bullying, injury, and threat. Also, kids who are not attending school out of safety concerns, kids who have access to illegal drugs, and kids participating in violence. Sure, you can argue that some of these issues these can be alleviated with hiring of security officers. Maybe. However, I think a lot of these point to failure in the home. And this is out of the government’s control.
Any way you slice it, South Carolina (and its parents) has a mess on their hands and a lot of work to do to improve their ranking as one of the worst states for public schools in America.
These Are The Best Public Elementary Schools In North Carolina
Choosing the right school for your child can feel like the most important decision in the world. It’s a factor in where you purchase a home. Should you shell out the big bucks for a private school education? How can you set your child up for success? So many parents stress about these decisions for years and years. Good think Niche.com is here to help with rankings of schools and universities across the country. They recently released their 2023 rankings of schools. This includes K-12 as well as higher education. You can play around with the filters and view the rankings based on a variety of factors. One of the more intriguing, and important levels of schooling is elementary schools. This is often when the path is set for children. So what are the best public elementary schools in North Carolina? Let’s find out.
For this list, we are counting charter schools as public schools since they are free to attend. And well the bad news is if you aren’t looking at a charter school or don’t live in the Chapel Hill area, then you’re school isn’t on this list. Yes, of 25 spots there wasn’t a single one that wasn’t a charter school or in Chapel Hill-Carrboro City School district. But where did these rankings come from you may ask? According to Niche:
The 2023 Best Public Elementary Schools ranking is based on rigorous analysis of key statistics and millions of reviews from students and parents using data from the U.S. Department of Education. Ranking factors include state test scores, student-teacher ratio, student diversity, teacher quality, grade school ratings, and the overall quality of the school district. Read more on how this ranking was calculated.
If you’re struggling with where to send your child to school hopefully this list will help you narrow it down. These are the 25 best public elementary schools in North Carolina.
Charlie Nance is the Afternoon Drive co-host (along with his wife) of "The Charlie and Debbie Show" at WSOC, Country 1037 in Charlotte, North Carolina. The couple have been with the radio station since 2006. Charlie has won the prestigious CMA (Country Music Association) Award for Radio Personality of the Year and has been a finalist for the Country Radio Hall of Fame four times. Prior to his time in Charlotte, Charlie (along with Debbie) spent more than a decade hosting successful morning radio shows in Greenville, SC; Augusta, Ga; and Birmingham, Al. As a content creator for Country 1037, Charlie writes about dream lottery windfalls, sports, restaurants and bars, and travel experiences in North and South Carolina.
