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H. 3344
STATUS INFORMATION
General Bill
Sponsors: Rep. Hayes
Document Path: l:\council\bills\agm\18484ab15.docx
Introduced in the House on January 20, 2015
Currently residing in the House Committee on Education and Public Works
Summary: Uniform grading scale for public schools
HISTORY OF LEGISLATIVE ACTIONS
Date Body Action Description with journal page number
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1/20/2015 House Introduced and read first time (House Journal-page 13)
1/20/2015 House Referred to Committee on Education and Public Works
(House Journal-page 13)
View the latest legislative information at the website
VERSIONS OF THIS BILL
TO AMEND SECTION 59-5-68, CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, RELATING TO THE UNIFORM GRADING SCALE FOR PUBLIC SCHOOLS, SO AS TO REQUIRE USE OF A TEN-POINT GRADING SCALE BEGINNING WITH THE 2015-2016 SCHOOL YEAR, TO PROVIDE DETAILS CONCERNING THE GRADING SCALE, AND TO IMPOSE RELATED REQUIREMENTS ON SCHOOL DISTRICTS AND THE STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION CONCERNING THE RECALCULATION OF PREVIOUSLY EARNED GRADES AND CLASS RANKS.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:
SECTION 1. Section 59-5-68 of the 1976 Code is amended to read:
"Section 59-5-68. (A) The General Assembly finds that given the fact the State provides substantial financial academic assistance to students of the State based on cumulative grade point averages and districts currently use a variety of grading scales, it is in the best interest of the students of South Carolina for a uniform grading scale to be developed and adopted by the State Board of Education to be implemented used in all public schools of the State. Therefore, the State Board of Education is directed to establish a task force comprised of superintendents, principals, teachers, and representatives of school boards and higher education no later than June 30, 1999. The task force shall make recommendations to the board including, but not limited to, the following: consistent numerical breaks for letter grades; consideration of standards to define an honors course; appropriate weighting of courses; and determination of courses and weightings to be used in the calculation of class rank. The task force shall report its findings to the State Board of Education no later than December 1, 1999. The State Board of Education shall then adopt and school districts of the State shall begin using the adopted grading scale no later than the 2000-2001 school year.
(B)(1) Beginning with the 2015-2016 school year, the:
(a) public school districts of this State shall begin use of a ten-point grading scale in which a letter grade of A for a numerical average of 90 to 100, a letter grade of B for a numerical average of 80-89, a letter grade of C for a numerical average of 70-79, and a letter grade of F for a numerical average below 70; and
(b) State Department of Education shall develop a procedure for converting grades received under the previous system, which each district shall use to recalculate the grades and class rank of each high school student. This recalculation must be accomplished by November 1, 2016.
(2) The provisions of this section apply to all public school students."
SECTION 2. This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor.
This web page was last updated on January 22, 2015 at 1:46 PM