For the second year in a row, the percentage of GCS students scoring Met and Exemplary on the Palmetto Assessment of State Standards (PASS) exceeded the percentage of students across South Carolina scoring Met and Exemplary in all areas and at all grade levels.
· The percentage of students scoring Exemplary increased in 25 of 30 areas.
· The percentage of students scoring Met or Exemplary increased in 14 of 30 areas.
· The Mean Scale Scores in all subject areas increased in 20 of 30 areas.
PASS, the state’s accountability test, has three scoring levels:
· Exemplary – the student demonstrated exemplary performance in meeting the grade-level standard.
· Met – the student met the grade-level standard.
· Not Met – the student did not meet the grade-level standard.
· Students who received Met or Exemplary scores meet state academic standards.
PASS was first administered in 2009 to replace the Palmetto Achievement Challenge Tests (PACT). In 2010, the State Board of Education adopted standards proposed by the Common Core State Standards Initiative in the subjects of English language arts and mathematics. Also, South Carolina recently approved participation in the Smarter Balanced consortium – a new, federal, accountability test beginning this year.
