COLUMBIA – Fewer than half of third- through eighth-graders in South Carolina are proficient in math skills expected for their grade level, according to test results released Friday.

The state’s education department hopes to improve grades with a new $10 million program to hire math tutors, improve training and fund resources.

A similar program has helped improve reading scores in recent years, but overall test scores “are still not where we should be, period,” says Sherry East, president of the South Carolina Education Association.

On average, the percentage of students who graduated last school year with grade-level reading skills was barely more than half, according to the state Department of Education.

Student scores on the mathematics portion of the mandatory annual SC READY test remain below pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels.

In 2019, 45% of third- through eighth-graders nationwide were able to master math on grade level, compared to 2024, when 42% of students met expectations. Scores also worsen as students get older. By third grade, about 54% of students were ready to advance to the next grade, while only 30% of eighth-graders met that benchmark.

That leaves high school teachers trying to bring students up to speed as their math skills improve each year, says East, a high school science teacher in Rock Hill.

Reading scores have now surpassed their pre-pandemic levels but remain low. This year, 53% of students met expectations in reading, compared to 45% before the pandemic. State education officials have set a goal for 75% of students to be on grade level in both subject areas, but there is no longer a one-year deadline to meet that goal.

A nationwide improvement in reading skills may be possible through the Palmetto Literacy Project, East said.

Starting in 2019, a provision in the state budget directed the department to allocate up to $14 million each year to hire reading specialists, train teachers and provide more resources to schools with particularly poor scores.

The ministry is running a similar program to improve math scores. With $10 million from this year’s budget, education officials plan to hire math tutors, buy better textbooks and resources, and improve teacher training in schools where at least a third of students fall into the lowest-performing categories.

“South Carolina’s math scores have consistently lagged and remain stubbornly below even the anemic pre-pandemic levels,” the department wrote in justifying the program when it requested the money.

Whether that program proves effective depends on how the department spends the money and how long it continues, said Patrick Kelly, a lobbyist for the Palmetto State Teachers Association. Math scores likely won’t improve immediately while schools work to implement the program and students learn the skills, he said.

“Improving math grades isn’t as easy as turning on a light switch,” Kelly said.

While virtual learning during the COVID-19 pandemic likely played a role in students’ poor test scores, that’s not the whole story, East said.

In math, where numbers are below pre-pandemic levels, the decline may be partly due to aftereffects of students not learning online, but most students should have had time to recover, East said.

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“We’ve been back in school for two years now,” East said. “I don’t know if we should be seeing results like this anymore.”

Another likely reason is the ongoing teacher shortage, she said. According to a report from the Center for Educator Recruitment, Retention and Advancement, there were more than 1,300 job openings for teachers, counselors, librarians and other education professionals in the state as of February. At the start of the school year, more than 1,600 positions were still unfilled.

When teachers have larger classes, students are more likely to miss out on one-on-one instruction, says Kelly, who is also a high school teacher at Richland Two. Other classes may rely on a long-term substitute teacher who doesn’t always know the material or how to teach it, he says.

“There are many students in this state who are either sitting in overcrowded math classes or in classrooms without trained teachers,” Kelly said.

Poorer districts are more likely to suffer these effects. Fewer resources often mean fewer qualified teachers, fewer opportunities for low-performing students and larger class sizes, leading to worse test scores, East said.

Some districts respond to poor test results by requiring more testing, but that shouldn’t be the case, Kelly says.

Tests often take time away from students learning skills, and scores don’t always reflect a student’s performance. Instead, schools should focus on proven methods to best teach the material, he said.

“The goal is not to reach an abstract number,” Kelly said. “The goal is to help every student reach their potential.”

Students in Fort Mill (York 4) achieved the best results in the state.

From fourth through eighth grades, at least 75% of the district’s students read on grade level, and 76% of third-graders met expectations in math. The fast-growing school district south of Charlotte also has the state’s lowest poverty rate: 21% of students live in poverty, compared to a statewide average of 62%, according to data from the state agency.