(posted on January 25, 2010)
Six Horry County high schools are among 79 schools from across South Carolina to be recognized for their efforts on either the ACT or SAT college entrance exams, the Department of Education announced today.
In their first year, the ACT/SAT Performance Improvement Awards (ASPI) were created to showcase schools that showed high performance on the ACT or SAT and those that have had rapid or continuous improvement in their scores. The recipients represent 42 of South Carolina’s 85 school districts and will receive banners and certificates of achievement for their efforts. The ASPI program has three types of awards for high performance and three types of awards for high improvement.
The award banners for the schools indicate Summa Cum Laude, Magna Cum Laude and Cum Laude for the level of award given. Awards for high performance go to schools whose average composite score exceeds the national average, whose improvement in composite score exceeds the state average, or whose score is in the top tenth percentile in the state.
Improvement awards go to schools whose score exceeds the state average and level of significant improvement, and who show improvement over a three-year period.
SAT Performance Award winners are: Carolina Forest High School, Excellent Performance and Rapid Improvement, Magna Cum Laude; Conway High School, Excellent Improvement, Summa Cum Laude; Loris High School, Excellent Improvement, Summa Cum Laude; North Myrtle Beach High School, Excellent Improvement, Summa Cum Laude; and Socastee High School, Excellent Performance, Cum Laude.
ACT Performance Award winners are: North Myrtle Beach High School, Excellent Improvement, Summa Cum Laude; Socastee High School, Excellent Performance and Rapid Improvement, Magna Cum Laude; and St. James High School, Excellent Performance, Cum Laude.
To read the complete story, visit the South Carolina Department of Education web site.
Gold and Silver Awards
The Horry County Board of Education and Horry County Schools initiated a program in 2001 to reward all levels of employees in the school district for their contributions to improving and sustaining students’ academic performance. This program, the Gold and Silver Awards Program, is designed to reward excellent school performance and provide an employee incentive to maintain and improve the academic progress that schools are making. The incentive/reward is based on the total school’s performance, not the performance of individual employees. You can read more about the program's guidelines.