GCS Students Outscore State Average on HSAP, PASS Tests
82.8% of Greenville County High School Students Pass HSAP
More than 82 percent (82.8%) of Greenville County Schools’ high school students passed the High School Assessment Program (HSAP), the state’s high school exit exam, on the first attempt in Spring 2012. The 2012 passage rate exceeded last year’s passage rate of 82.2%.
GCS students also outscored the 2012 South Carolina average of 80.1% percent for all high school students in the state who passed both sections of the test on the first attempt.
All students must pass the High School Assessment Program (HSAP) Exit Examination to qualify for a standard South Carolina High School diploma. The HSAP consists of two content areas: English/language arts and mathematics. The tests are initially administered to students in the second year of high school. Students who do not pass have additional opportunities to retake the test in later grades.
First attempt HSAP scores are used in Federal Report Card letter grades and School Report Card ratings.
GCS Outperforms the State on PASS Tests
The percentage of Greenville County Schools students scoring Met or Exemplary on the Palmetto Assessment of State Standards (PASS) tests increased from 2011 to 2012 in 19 of 26 tests, including all grade levels in science. The results were released today by the State Department of Education.
GCS students outperformed the state in every subject area (writing, English language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies) and at all grades 3 through 8.
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. This decision will require the adoption of a new accountability test beginning in the 2014-15 school year for these subjects and could be administered to most students by computer.
Percentage of GCS students who scored Met and Exemplary on PASS 2009 to 2012 (All Students)
- The percentage of GCS students scoring Met and Exemplary increased from 2011 to 2012 in 19 of 26 tests, including all grade levels in science.
| Writing | ||||
| 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | |
| Gr 3 | 72.3 | 75.3 | N/A | N/A |
| Gr 4 | 70.3 | 71.4 | N/A | N/A |
| Gr 5 | 77.4 | 77.3 | 79.0 | 78.3 |
| Gr 6 | 69.7 | 70.8 | N/A | N/A |
| Gr 7 | 70.8 | 73.5 | N/A | N/A |
| Gr 8 | 71.4 | 73.9 | 72.0 | 77.2 |
| ELA (Reading & Research) | ||||
| 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | |
| Gr 3 | 78.3 | 83.4 | 83.7 | 83.3 |
| Gr 4 | 75.8 | 77.8 | 80.8 | 82.1 |
| Gr 5 | 81.7 | 80.9 | 81.3 | 79.5 |
| Gr 6 | 71.2 | 72.4 | 74.2 | 73.1 |
| Gr 7 | 68.6 | 69.2 | 70.2 | 74.6 |
| Gr 8 | 70.0 | 66.4 | 69.0 | 71.8 |
| Science | ||||
| 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | |
| Gr 3 | 66.5 | 65.3 | 65.6 | 67.3 |
| Gr 4 | 73.2 | 74.1 | 75.8 | 78.7 |
| Gr 5 | 72.8 | 69.2 | 68.8 | 75.6 |
| Gr 6 | 64.1 | 61.5 | 67.5 | 68.3 |
| Gr 7 | 70.7 | 72.3 | 71.4 | 77.0 |
| Gr 8 | 66.2 | 71.6 | 72.5 | 78.3 |
| Mathematics | ||||
| 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | |
| Gr 3 | 70.2 | 74.6 | 75.8 | 77.3 |
| Gr 4 | 80.0 | 78.1 | 83.5 | 83.2 |
| Gr 5 | 77.3 | 75.1 | 77.8 | 81.4 |
| Gr 6 | 65.7 | 69.7 | 74.8 | 74.0 |
| Gr 7 | 68.7 | 65.7 | 71.9 | 73.1 |
| Gr 8 | 63.1 | 64.5 | 69.8 | 70.1 |
| Social Studies | ||||
| 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | |
| Gr 3 | 78.9 | 76.5 | 80.6 | 80.3 |
| Gr 4 | 81.8 | 79.2 | 82.2 | 83.9 |
| Gr 5 | 75.1 | 72.9 | 75.2 | 76.6 |
| Gr 6 | 79.0 | 78.9 | 78.4 | 79.8 |
| Gr 7 | 61.8 | 61.6 | 66.4 | 72.2 |
| Gr 8 | 72.6 | 71.0 | 72.4 | 75.2 |
2012 GCS vs. SC PASS Performance (All Students)
- The percentage of GCS students scoring Met and Exemplary was higher than the percentage of SC students scoring Met and Exemplary in all areas at all grade levels.
| Writing | ELA(Reading & Research) | Mathematics | Science | Social Studies | ||||||
| GCS | SC | GCS | SC | GCS | SC | GCS | SC | GCS | SC | |
| Gr 3 | N/A | N/A | 83.3 | 80.3 | 77.3 | 72.6 | 67.3 | 60.7 | 80.3 | 74.6 |
| Gr 4 | N/A | N/A | 82.1 | 78.2 | 83.2 | 78.4 | 78.7 | 73.8 | 83.9 | 80.9 |
| Gr 5 | 78.3 | 73.5 | 79.5 | 76.5 | 81.4 | 76.1 | 75.6 | 71.7 | 76.6 | 69.9 |
| Gr 6 | N/A | N/A | 73.1 | 69.7 | 74.0 | 73.6 | 68.3 | 66.1 | 79.8 | 77.8 |
| Gr 7 | N/A | N/A | 74.6 | 71.4 | 73.1 | 71.6 | 77.0 | 74.8 | 72.2 | 68.7 |
| Gr 8 | 77.2 | 74.1 | 71.8 | 69.8 | 70.1 | 68.6 | 78.3 | 75.4 | 75.2 | 71.4 |