Dana Yao, executive director of the Education Oversight Committee, told the House Education and Public Works Committee on Oct. 12 that the EOC produces the state’s K‑12 accountability system and dashboards that track outcomes such as graduation, college and career readiness, and chronic absenteeism.

The presentation included a slide showing an 85.4% on‑time graduation rate for the 2024 graduating class. Yao pointed committee members to the EOC’s online dashboards at dashboardsc.sc.gov and described the committee’s work approving content standards and statewide assessments used in accountability, producing annual program evaluations, and issuing funding recommendations to the General Assembly.

Why it matters: the EOC’s reports and data visualizations are used to evaluate state investments and to recommend changes to programs intended to boost student readiness after high school. Committee members pressed agency staff on whether high graduation rates match students’ preparedness for college or career training.

Yao said the EOC ‘‘approves the content standards and the statewide assessments for the big 4’’ — English language arts, math, science and social studies — and ‘‘establish[es] the accountability system for K‑12 public schools’’ that produces the annual school report cards, which are required by statute to be issued by Oct. 15 each year. She also described the EOC’s role evaluating state programs funded through the Education Improvement Act (EIA), citing the full‑day 4K evaluation and other reports the EOC provides to the legislature.

The committee asked about the share of graduates who are ‘‘college and career ready.’’ During questions Representative Derrick Bridal framed the figures as ‘‘an 85% graduation on time rate and 30% of that group is college and career ready.’’ Yao responded, ‘‘Yes, sir. College and career ready,’’ and also explained the EOC’s slides show various measures of readiness — including ACT/SAT thresholds, completion of rigorous courses (AP/IB/dual credit), state career‑readiness assessments and industry certifications — that feed into the report‑card measures.

The EOC told the committee it recently evaluated rural recruitment incentives, noting the legislature has allocated $7,600,000 in EIA funds for a menu of incentives districts can use to recruit teachers to rural areas. Yao said the committee’s evaluation is tracking which incentives produce the best return on investment for recruiting and retaining teachers, particularly within the first five years when turnover is highest.

Yao also flagged chronic absenteeism as ‘‘a big factor for students right now’’ and said the EOC conducted student and parent focus groups as part of work to understand attendance drivers; results of the parent focus groups were reported as recently received and pending analysis. The EOC is planning a public awareness campaign and pre‑K and K‑12 dashboard products to help districts target interventions.

The committee requested the EOC slides and evaluations be distributed to members. Yao said the EOC will provide the materials and meet individually with members who want more details.

Ending: committee leaders urged members to study the EOC dashboards and follow up with staff for deeper data requests; the EOC said it will continue cyclical reviews of the accountability system and share upcoming evaluations with the committee.