District Calendar

Operating Hours
Dorchester School District Four's operating hours are  8:00 AM to 4:30 PM Monday through Thursday , and 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM on Fridays.

Dorchester Four Schools Receive Recognition from the Palmetto Gold and Silver Awards Program

The South Carolina Department of Education has announced the recipients of the Palmetto Gold and Silver Awards for the 2011-2012 school year using criteria by the Education Oversight Committee.  Last school year, 853 schools were recognized for General Performance, Closing the Achievement Gap, or qualifying in both categories.

In Dorchester School District Four, Harleyville-Ridgeville Elementary, Williams Memorial Elementary, and Clay Hill Middle each received a Silver Award in the area of Academic Improvement.  Woodland High School was recognized with an award for Closing the Achievement Gap.  This is the fourth year that closing the achievement gap has been honored as part of the Palmetto Gold and Silver Awards program.

The 2011-2012 school year marked the first time when three years of data for growth index calculated using the PASS test scores was available.  Schools qualify for a Silver Award if the school's absolute performance rating is above "School At Risk" for the most recent year, and its growth index is 92.20  or greater for three consecutive years.  A total of 312 schools qualify a Silver Award based on this particular criterion.  With the inclusion of this new way to qualify for recognition, nearly 70% of South Carolina schools are given awards through the Palmetto Gold and Silver Awards Program.

Established by the Education Accountability Act of 1998, the Palmetto Gold and Silver Awards Program gives recognition to schools for high levels of academic achievement and high rates of improvement.  Over half of this year's recipient schools have a poverty index of 60 or higher.

The Education Oversight Committee establishes the criteria for the awards, and the State Department of Education then applies those criteria to determine which schools are honored.  The criteria for awards for General Performance are based on both the absolute and growth ratings and the growth index found on school report cards.