Lowcountry high schools' exit exam scores slip

Lowcountry students' scores on the state high school exit exam slipped this year after three years of steady gains, according to results released Tuesday by the state Department of Education.

Record numbers of students passed both sections of the test on their first attempt last year, but students fared far worse on the English and math exams that they must pass to receive a diploma.

The state saw 76.1 percent of its sophomores pass both sections of the test, down from 80.8 percent last year. All of the local school districts – Berkeley, Charleston, Dorchester 2 and 4 – had lower first-time pass rates than last year.

State Superintendent of Education Jim Rex said in a statement that neither his agency's testing experts nor those in districts statewide could account for the sudden drop in scores.

"We've been seeing very positive scoring trends, including the highest scores ever just last year," Rex said. "So these results are not what we expected. But trends are what you look for in student testing, and we'll have to wait a year and see if this is the beginning of a downward trend or just a random blip."

He's concerned that the results could be a symptom of the dramatic budget cuts schools have experienced, which puts an increasing amount of pressure on schools to maintain their core programs despite growing students' needs, he said.

Students take the exit exam for the first time during their second year of high school, and those who fail can retake the parts they did not pass. Schools' performance on the exam are factored into state report card ratings and federal Adequate Yearly Progress ratings.

Read more in Wednesday's editions of The Post and Courier.