Committee serves important role for education oversight in S.C.

The S.C. Education Oversight Committee plays an important role as a watchdog in the state.
Results from the non-partisan group’s most recent statewide study will be analyzed for years to come.
And rightfully so.
We found a troubling disconnect between business leaders and parents and educators to be the most significant finding.
Two-thirds of state business leaders say the K-12 public school system isn’t providing students with key knowledge.
Nearly half of parents and 56 percent of educators say they’re satisfied.
The difference is reason for concern. If business leaders think students enter the work place unprepared, there’s at least a perception problem streaming from state schools.
In the study conducted earlier this year by Clemson University, 6,500 S.C. taxpayers, educators, parents and business professionals were asked about public schools’ performance.
Results will help the Education Oversight Committee set future goals for the public schools, hoping to implement them by 2020.
All the stakeholders have high expectations for schools. But what’s the best path to success?
Student behavior was seen as being more important to parents, educators and taxpayers than graduation rates and SAT scores.
Educators and taxpayers think the schools should focus on the three R’s: Reading, writing and arithmetic.
The data show a contrast with the business community. Business leaders say work skills, including teamwork, commitment, communication and critical thinking, should get more attention during the school day.
It will be interesting to see how the committee mediates the ideas and if the Education and Economic Development Act makes a difference. The act requires high school students to declare a major and will be fully implemented by 2011.
On one hand, students need the fundamentals. Reading and math scores are excellent predictors of future success.
On the other, students must develop real-life skills to be competitive and need to cultivate interests no later than high school.
Teachers will be caught in the middle. In recent years, they’ve been bombarded with messages about sticking to classroom curriculums. By taking time to teach social skills, students fall behind and below grade level in math and reading, they’ve been told. That’s not changing for the better.
Parental involvement is a necessity. Mothers and fathers are supposed to work with students and counselors in developing majors for their children.
Before South Carolina required a major for the class of 2011 and beyond, parental involvement seemed to drop dramatically after grade school.
Businesses can change the perception of unpreparedness by offering resources such as scholarships, internships and guest speakers. If they want graduates to thrive in college or in the work place, they must give of their time, resources and expertise to help make it happen.
We’re excited to know graduation rates have improved. Two years ago, South Carolina was last in a survey of graduation rates by Education Week.
Last week, the publication reported the state had improved to 37th.
The blueprint for change has been established by the study. Failure to capitalize on the information would be frustrating and unacceptable, in our opinion.

— Unsigned editorials represent the views of this newspaper. Editorial board members are Mark Laskowski (regional publisher), James Bennett (regional editor), Sam Bundy (sports editor), Kimberly Ginfrida (news editor), David Johnson (regional circulation director), Charles Tomlinson (Lake City News & Post editor) and Jackie Torok (metro editor).