Greenwood High School students posted the best scores in school history on the Functional Literacy Math Exam this academic year, with more than 90 percent passing.
The new mean score of 266 put the district nearly in line with the state average, which is 266.8.
That's a substantial jump from the mean of 241 Greenwood High students turned in during the 2001-2002 school year for a passing rate of 73.6 percent.
The secret to the turn-around is a two-day remedial course that covered everything the students, mostly juniors, have ever been taught in math class, said first-year Greenwood High Principal George Noflin.
He reported the scores to the School Board on Tuesday evening.
"You got to understand - these students are taking geometry and algebra," Noflin said. "It's been years since they've done fractions and percentages, and they have to refresh. And that's what we did."
The comprehensive exam is designed to test students on everything taught up to 11th grade - from the most basic addition and subtraction learned in elementary school to the more advanced concepts in algebra and geometry. Passing the exam is a requirement for graduation.
The 9 percent at Greenwood High who didn't pass this time around will be able to retake the test Feb. 25-26.
Those who passed the first time took a big step for their school, Noflin said, but they can't stand still quite so fast.
"We're proud of being better than we were, but we haven't arrived yet," he said.
That doesn't mean there isn't room for self-congratulations. Noflin and his administration threw the students a party in the gym last week to celebrate their achievement.
