Tenenbaum praises educators for state’s progress, emphasizes future challenges
Education reforms that have South Carolina students posting the top gains in the nation and performing on par with the national average on many measures give educators “every reason to celebrate,” State Superintendent of Education Inez Tenenbaum told school and district leaders today.
In her remarks, she also emphasized that the unprecedented challenges facing America in the global economy mean that South Carolina must do more in the years ahead to be competitive nationally and around the world.
More than 1,500 educators gathered for the School Leadership Institute in Myrtle Beach heard Tenenbaum’s keynote State of the Schools Address – her final annual address as the state’s top education leader. She applauded educators for embracing reforms widely touted as among the most rigorous and effective in the nation and for moving South Carolina up in national rankings.
“It is popular in today’s climate for politicians to dismiss the undeniable successes in public education when it suits their political purposes,” she said. “But here is the simple truth: Over the past decade, you have done more to raise achievement in South Carolina than anyone who came before you. You have done remarkable things.”
Tenenbaum listed a number of major accomplishments, including the following:
South Carolina has posted the top five-year SAT improvement in the nation for four consecutive years, gaining 42 points in eight years while the nation gained only 11.
For the first time in history, Palmetto State students are scoring above the national average in math on the federally National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), the only tests that provide valid comparisons among states. In reading and science, the state’s average is just under the national average and improving. South Carolina’s eighth-graders are No. 1 in the nation for improvement in math, and fourth-graders are No. 1 in the nation for improvement in science.
Scores on the Palmetto Achievement Challenge Test (PACT) have risen substantially in all grades, in all subjects and across all demographic groups.
South Carolina has earned top national rankings for improving teacher quality, raising academic standards, and implementing accountability.
Seven independent national studies have confirmed that South Carolina’s academic standards are among the most rigorous and comprehensive in the nation, including one that ranked the state first in the nation for the rigor of standards for student proficiency.
Yet to remain viable in an intensely competitive global marketplace, South Carolina must continue and expand current levels of educational improvement, Tenenbaum said.
“There are sobering statistics that tell us our work has actually just begun, not only in South Carolina but across America,” she said. “The economy America has been warned about for decades – fueled by new technologies, characterized by rapid change and intense competition – is no longer a future threat. It is today’s economic fact of life. And it poses educational challenges greater than any we have ever confronted.”
As technological advances have made the world “flat,” Tenenbaum said, jobs that used to be done domestically are increasingly being done overseas in countries like India and China that have vast numbers of well-educated workers. In the U.S., 85 percent of jobs are semi-skilled or skilled, with only 15 percent available to unskilled workers.
Tenenbaum listed four priorities to maintain and accelerate South Carolina’s educational improvement:
I. Staying the course – Tenenbaum said South Carolina should remain focused on the high standards, rigorous assessments, and accountability for results that are now generating such dramatic progress. “For far too many years, South Carolina has committed to a particular education reform approach, only to abandon it in mid-stream in favor of a newer idea. But the education reforms of the past decade have given our state a solid foundation for strong and sustained progress. They are widely considered among the best and most effective in the nation. And they are working, raising student achievement not just a little, but by leaps and bounds, in even our poorest schools,” she said.
II. Combating the Effects of Poverty – One of every six South Carolina schools has 90 percent or more of its students living in poverty, Tenenbaum noted. While education reform has improved achievement across the economic spectrum, Tenenbaum said South Carolina must do more to combat the effects of poverty. She called for greater access to full-day early childhood programs, starting sooner for children at highest risk of school failure; extended day and extended year programs to help children catch up and get ahead; and greater access to family literacy and parent education programs. In addition, Tenenbaum said, educators must recognize and learn to deal effectively with the range of behaviors, stressors, and psychological effects that influence how low-income students learn.
III. Building on Successes in Math and Science – South Carolina has made substantial progress in improving achievement in math and science, but the state must build on that success to remain globally competitive, Tenenbaum said. South Carolina should expand programs that have helped improve math and science achievement, including the math and science coaching initiative, expanded Advanced Placement participation, and an emphasis in middle and high school on advanced achievement for every student.
IV. Change the Culture of Education – Addressing the high school graduation rate and promoting postsecondary education must be a priority in the coming years if South Carolina is to build a competitive workforce, Tenenbaum said. “South Carolina must change the culture of education from one in which dropping out of high school is acceptable to one in which all students graduate willing and able to think critically and creatively, to be ‘re-educated’ several times during their careers, to embrace change,” she said.
South Carolina’s Education and Economic Development Act (EEDA), which emphasizes intensive assistance for students in completing high school and moving into postsecondary education, is a strong start. But Tenenbaum said the state should move quickly to implement the recommendations of her High School Redesign Commission, which spent a year studying South Carolina’s high schools and recently released its findings. Those recommendations include:
§ Adding rigor, relevance, and relationships – the three R’s of secondary education – to high school curricula.
§ Allowing individual progression through high school by replacing “seat time” with proficiency requirements.
§ Encouraging postsecondary attainment through dual credit courses that allow high school students to obtain high school and postsecondary credits at the same time.
§ Redoubling efforts to mitigate risky behaviors that affect high school completion.
Tenenbaum told South Carolina’s education leaders that when she took office as State Superintendent in 1999, she knew their jobs were difficult.
“As I leave this office, I am in awe,” she said. “Your dedication to the children of South Carolina, your commitment to public education, your determination to succeed even under the most challenging conditions has been a constant inspiration to me – not just professionally, but personally as well. I am grateful for the opportunity I have had to stand with you, and I am proud of what we have accomplished together.”