Dana Yao, executive director of the Education Oversight Committee, told the House Education and Public Works Committee on Tuesday that South Carolina’s on‑time high school graduation rate for the class of 2024 is 85.4 percent while roughly 72 percent of that cohort meet the state’s measures for college or career readiness.

The data matter because the EOC is statutorily charged with approving content standards and statewide assessments, producing school report cards and evaluating state‑funded programs, Yao said. The committee issues an annual accountability rating for K‑12 public schools and provides evaluation reports — for instance on full‑day 4K and the teacher loan program — that the General Assembly uses to allocate Education Improvement Act (EIA) funds.

Yao described the EOC’s dashboards (dashboardsc.sc.gov) as tools for lawmakers and the public to view trends by district and school and said the EOC is conducting special studies, including a rural recruitment evaluation tied to $7.6 million in EIA funds. The rural recruitment menu includes about 15 incentives — housing aid, mentoring, recruitment fairs and international teacher recruitment — and the EOC is analyzing which incentives deliver the best return on investment for hiring and retaining teachers.

Committee members pressed for more detail on several fronts. Representative Brad(ley) asked whether the 72 percent figure represented “college and career ready” and said the disparity between on‑time graduation and readiness raised questions about the value of the diploma. Representative Tippel and other members discussed retention, remediation and the potential effects of holding students back: Yao and others emphasized that retention must be paired with intensive, different instruction rather than repeating the same year.

Yao flagged chronic absenteeism as a growing concern: in 2022–23 about 23 percent of students were chronically absent (roughly 10 percent or more of school days missed), and the EOC is preparing follow‑up work that included focus groups with students and recently completed parent focus groups; results were still being processed at the time of the presentation. The EOC has also been tasked with a public awareness campaign aimed at increasing families’ sense that students are missed and needed in school to reduce absences.

Committee members asked for additional data the EOC did not have on hand: Yao said the EOC can supply district‑level turnover comparisons for rural schools and the results of the parent focus groups when they are finalized. She offered members the dashboards and stated the EOC’s readiness to provide the EIA recommendations and other reports the General Assembly requested.

The committee chair thanked Yao and noted the EOC is small (about eight FTEs) but produces the state’s accountability measures and evaluations the legislature uses to make budgeting and policy decisions. Yao said the EOC will continue cyclical reviews of the accountability system and can return to the committee with deeper briefings on topics such as chronic absenteeism and the cyclical review process.

Less urgent details: Yao noted the EOC’s historical origins (established following the PASS commission recommendations in 1997 and codified in 1998) and described the “Profile of the South Carolina Graduate” as the committee’s guiding framework for desired graduate outcomes.

The committee did not take formal action during the presentation; members requested follow‑up data and copies of the slides and dashboards.