PICKENS COUNTY — The Pickens County Career & Technology Center earned the highest possible marks on its Perkins Performance Indicators for the 2015-2016 school year, one of only three education agencies in South Carolina to do so.

“For a career center, this isn’t just the equivalent of getting all “A”’s on a report card. It’s like getting all 100’s,” said Dr. Brian Richard, the Coordinator of Career & Technology Education for the School District of Pickens County.

Perkins Performance Indicators are a federal accountability system for measuring how well careers centers prepare their students for college and the workforce.

These indicators are considered to be met when career centers meet 90 percent of each goal. However, the Pickens County Career & Technology Center distinguished itself by meeting 100 percent of each goal. Only three of the 91 local education agencies in South Carolina that are measured by Perkins indicators achieved this feat in 2015-2016.

The eight indicators are academic attainment in reading/language arts, academic attainment in mathematics, technical skill attainment, secondary school completion, student graduation rates, secondary placement, nontraditional participation, and nontraditional completion (i.e. participation and completion by students from demographic groups that are not traditionally well-represented in particular programs).

These performance indicators are used to quantitatively assess the effectiveness of career centers. When properly defined, they can provide useful information on how well schools and programs are performing and whether educators are meeting their instructional goals.

“It’s clear by any measure that our Career & Technology Center is one of the very best in the state,” said Dr. Danny Merck, SDPC superintendent. “Dr. Ken Hitchcock, his faculty and staff deserve enormous credit for a job well done. They’re creating brighter futures for kids and helping attract industry to our county at the same time.”

The last time the Pickens County Career & Technology Center achieved this accomplishment was in the 2008-2009 school year.

Staff Report