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South Carolina schools and school districts received letter grades for the first time this year based upon student achievement.

These grades are a key component of the state to be flexible under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), also formerly known as No Child Left Behind.

The state’s education department applied for a waiver of the accountability requirement of the No Child Left Behind because of its all or nothing system.

The letter grade system replaces Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) in which schools either met or did not meet certain objectives.

Changes in the system include the following:

• Subgroup size in terms of number of students decrease from 40 to 30.

• Male and female subgroups added.

• Science and social studies content areas added to Palmetto Assessment for State Standards (PASS) for elementary and middle school and End of Course Examination Program (EOCEP) will include biology and U.S. History.

•State’s expectations are based on annual measurable objectives (AMOs) for elementary through high schools.

• AMOs are set based on the state’s average scale scores.

• Points are awarded for each subgroup and their performance by content area, percent tested and graduation rate.

• AMOs will increase each year.

• Letter grade scales describe achievement of state’s expectations for performance: A, B, C, D, F.

A=performance substantially exceeds state’s expectations.

B=performance exceeds state’s expectations

C=performance meets the state’s expectations

D=performance does not meet the state’s expectations

F=performance is substantially below the state’s expectations

• Improvements towards meeting state’s expectations is included as part of the system and count in calculations.

Here is how the schools measured up for 2012:

District

Overall weighted points total 87.9

Overall grade conversion B

Boundary Street Elementary

Overall weighted points total 88.8

Overall grade conversion B

Gallman Elementary

Overall weighted points total 91.6

Overall grade conversion A

Little Mountain Elementary

Overall weighted points total 99

Overall grade conversion A

Newberry Elementary

Overall weighted points total 92.3

Overall grade conversion A

Pomaria-Garmany Elementary

Overall weighted points total 99.8

Overall grade conversion A

Prosperity-Rikard Elementary

Overall weighted points total 88.4

Overall grade conversion B

Reuben Elementary

Overall weighted points total 100

Overall grade conversion A

Whitmire Community Elementary

Overall weighted points total 89.3

Overall grade conversion B

Mid-Carolina Middle

Overall weighted points total 85.3

Overall grade conversion B

Newberry Middle

Overall weighted points total 92.2

Overall grade conversion A

Whitmire Community

Overall weighted points total 91.4

Overall grade conversion A

Mid-Carolina High

Overall weighted points total 75.5

Overall grade conversion C

Newberry High

Overall weighted points total 73.1

Overall grade conversion C