COLUMBIA, S.C. — A revised set of statewide English language arts standards is going into effect in the next school year after an Education Oversight Committee gave key approval on Monday.
The new standards emphasize four key topics: foundations of literacy, applications of reading, research, and written and oral communications.
It also reduces the number of standards within these topics from 41 to 20, which the State Department of Education said will get rid of repetitive standards.
The South Carolina Department of Education started the revision process in 2020 and received public input from teachers, students, and parents. Once approved by the state Board in January, the standards will be implemented in 2023-24.
According to this year's state report card, 46.6% of students met or exceeded SC Ready English Language Arts
"They seem a little bit clearer. So that way, there isn't a great deal of misunderstanding across the state in terms of the expectations for each grade level," said Literacy Coach and educator Dena Crews.
Crews said less standards will mean more time to teach students.
"They can really spend their time for students who aren't picking up on it to be able to come back to revisit to work with them and small groups to differentiate how they're teaching a topic instead of feeling a rush to get through everything by the end of the school year," Crews said.
The committee also approved a new accountability metric in state's report card, which will focus on college and career readiness.
This year's report revealed fewer than one in three students who graduated this year were considered prepared post-graduation.
"If they're gonna go straight into the workforce, they need good work skills, or if they're going to go to college, they need to be ready to take English 101 and math 101," said South Carolina Educator Association President Sherry East.
East said one way to improve this is moving away from standardized tests.
"We're spending a lot of time on testing, that does not create a good work skill person," said East.