Students bomb on newest test

End-of-course exams scores for South Carolina high school students improved in physical science, held steady in algebra but dropped in English, according to a release from the state Department of Education.

And more than half of students who took the exam on U.S. history and the Constitution, which was given for the first time, failed it. That exam was added last year, so scores can't be compared with the previous year.

Scores on end-of-course exams for all subjects are based on tests students took in the 2008-09 school year.

The state began requiring students in algebra 1 to the take the test in 2003. English and physical science were added a year later. Results of end-of-course exams count for 20 percent of students' final grades in those courses.

The grade distribution for the U.S. history and Constitution exam was: 2 percent of students received an A; 5.1 percent earned a B; 14.6 percent a C; 20.8 percent a D; and 57.6 percent earned an F.

State Superintendent Jim Rex in the release said, "These low history scores, together with the mixed improvement we see for the other tests, are proof that many schools need extra tools for learning. High standards can't guarantee high achievement by themselves."

Rex also said in the release that students typically don't perform well on a new tests, but scores improve in future years. "So we would certainly expect U.S. history scores to move upward as other subject test scores have."

Reach Diane Knich at 937-5491 or dknich@postandcourier.com.