Sandhills Middle School highlighted its academic growth at the recent Lexington County School District Four school board meeting.

The school currently serves 490 seventh and eighth grade students with a staff of 38 certified educators and 15 support staff. Principal Michael Spencer said the school’s top priority is to maximize student achievement.

Sandhills Middle uses I-Ready, an assessment tool, to track student progress and identify areas for improvement. Students take the assessment three times during the year, with sessions already completed in August and December.

In English, 45% of students met or exceeded their individual goals, with Spencer noting that students were not expected to reach this benchmark until the end of the school year.

Overall, 44% of students showed improvement placement in English.

In math, 37% of students met or exceeded their personal goals. Students were also not expected to reach this goal until the end of the school year. 43% of students saw improvement in placement.

The school has also utilized Win Time, an intervention period designed to boost achievement through targeted instruction and personalized support in both math and English Language Arts.

Sandhills Middle encourages students with various rewards, including Roar Rewards. Administrators review data at the end of each quarter. Students with A’s and B’s, no referrals and no absences earn a gold sticker, while those with a mix of A’s, B’s, a few C’s and minimal referrals receive a purple sticker for their identification cards.

Students with the stickers get incentives including outdoor time, supervised free time in the gym during lunch and more.

In addition to these quarterly rewards, students are rewarded through Tiger Tracker. Students get a card, which teachers can sign, and receive recognition for making positive choices throughout the day.

Similar to the stickers, students can get free time in the gym during lunch and more.

Those who meet their personal growth goal in the I-Ready challenge celebrated by playing games and having snacks. 

The next school board meeting is scheduled for March 10 at 6:30 p.m. at the administrative office, located at 607 E 5^th St. in Swansea.