LANCASTER COUNTY, S.C. — Lancaster County School District (LCSD) has achieved its highest performance levels to date on the 2025-2026 SC READY assessments, with students demonstrating significant gains across all tested grade levels and subject areas.
Specifically, the district’s third graders now rank among the top performing students in South Carolina, placing 4th out of 75 school districts statewide.
“This is a defining moment for the Lancaster County School District,” said Dr. Norris Williams, Superintendent of LCSD. “Our students, educators, and families have worked tirelessly to reach this level of excellence, and these results prove that when we commit to high expectations and targeted support, our children rise to meet them.” Third grade students achieved significant results, with 74.8% proficiency in English Language Arts (ELA), more than 10 percentage points above the state average of 64.2%, and 77.2% proficiency in mathematics, surpassing the state average of 59.3% by nearly 18 points. This represents gains of 6.2 percentage points in both categories from the previous school year.
Fourth graders also posted strong improvements, with ELA proficiency rising 7.5 points to 71.5% and math proficiency increasing to 68.1%. Fifth grade ELA scores climbed 5.8 points to 71.8%.The district’s middle schools produced the most dramatic gains. Eighth grade math proficiency surged 16.6 percentage points to reach 49.5%, while eighth grade ELA jumped 9.3 points to 61.4%. Seventh grade math improved by 8.4 points to 49.4%.“Our middle school results tell an incredible story of what happens when we focus on foundational skills and refuse to accept limits on what our students can achieve,” Williams said. “A nearly 17-point jump in eighth grade math doesn’t happen by accident, it happens because our teachers are using data to drive instruction and because our students are developing the confidence to tackle challenging material.”Both tested science grade levels reached approximately 60% proficiency, with fourth graders achieving 59.6% and sixth graders reaching 60.5%. These results represent gains of 4.6 and 4.9 percentage points respectively.High school students demonstrated strong performance on End-of-Course examinations, with 73.74% proficiency in English 2 and 54.95% proficiency in U.S. History and the Constitution. Biology proficiency reached 54.76%.While celebrating these achievements, district leadership remains focused on continuous improvement.
“We are incredibly proud of how far we’ve come, and we are continuing toward becoming the premier school district in the state,” Williams said. “These results inspire us to keep pushing forward, knowing that with continued dedication, we can achieve even more for our students.”
The district plans to maintain its focus on early literacy support, mathematical reasoning, and reducing the number of student deficiencies while building on the strong momentum established.
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Thomas Hyslip lives in Tega Cay with his wife and daughter. After 27 years in the U.S. Army and Federal Law Enforcement, he retired to pursue his passion for teaching. Tom is now an Assistant Professor of Instruction at the University of South Florida. In 2 short years he has won 10 awards from the South Carolina Press Association, including first place in column writing, education beat reporting and best podcast.
