South Carolina § 59-18-120 - Definitions.

§ 59-18-120. Definitions.

As used in this chapter:

(1) "Oversight Committee" means the Education Oversight Committee established in Section 59-6-10.

(2) "Standards-based assessment" means an assessment where an individual's performance is compared to specific performance standards and not to the performance of other students.

(3) "Disaggregated data" means data broken out for specific groups within the total student population, such as by race, gender, level of poverty, limited English proficiency status, disability status, gifted and talented, or other groups as required by federal statutes or regulations.

(4) "Longitudinally matched student data" means examining the performance of a single student or a group of students by considering their test scores over time.

(5) "Academic achievement standards" means statements of expectations for student learning.

(6) "Department" means the State Department of Education.

(7) "Performance rating" means the classification a school will receive based on the percentage of students meeting standard on the state's standards-based assessment, student growth or student progress from one school year to the next, graduation rates, and other indicators as determined by federal guidelines and the Education Oversight Committee, as applicable. To increase transparency and accountability, the overall points achieved by a school to determine its 'performance rating' must be based on a numerical scale from zero to one hundred, with one hundred being the maximum total achievable points for a school.

(8) "Objective and reliable statewide assessment" means assessments that yield consistent results and that measure the cognitive knowledge and skills specified in the state-approved academic standards and do not include questions relative to personal opinions, feelings, or attitudes and are not biased with regard to race, gender, or socioeconomic status. The assessments must include a writing assessment and questions designed to reflect a range of cognitive abilities beyond the knowledge level. Constructed response questions may be included as a component of the writing assessment.

(9) "Division of Accountability" means the special unit within the oversight committee established in Section 59-6-100.

(10) "Formative assessment" means assessments used within the school year to analyze general strengths and weaknesses in learning and instruction, to understand the performance of students individually and across achievement categories, to adapt instruction to meet students' needs, and to consider placement and planning for the next grade level. Data and performance from the formative assessments must not be used in the calculation of elementary, middle, or high school ratings, but may be used in determining primary school ratings.

HISTORY: 1998 Act No. 400, SECTION 2; 2006 Act No. 254, SECTIONS 2.A, 2.B, eff March 24, 2006; 2008 Act No. 282, SECTION 1, eff June 5, 2008; 2017 Act No. 94 (H.3969), SECTION 5, eff June 10, 2017.

Effect of Amendment

The 2006 amendment, in item (10), rewrote the second sentence and added the third sentence; and added item (12) defining "Formative assessment".

The 2008 amendment, in item (3), substituted "level of poverty, limited English proficiency status, disability status, or other groups as required by federal statutes or regulations" for "and family income level"; deleted item (5) defining "norm referenced assessment"; redesignated items (6) to (12) as items (5) to (11); in item (8) substituted "Growth" for "Improvement performance"; and in item (9) in the third sentence substituted "Constructed" for "Constructive".

2017 Act No. 94, SECTION 5, in (3), inserted "gifted and talented,"; rewrote (7), which had related to the definition of "absolute performance"; deleted (8), which related to the definition of "Growth", and renumbered accordingly; in (8), deleted "multiple-choice" preceding "questions"; in (10), substituted "elementary, middle, or high school ratings, but may be used in determining primary school ratings" for "school or district ratings"; and made a nonsubstantive change.