The state fell on every category of the education assessment<\/a>, pushing already low national rankings even lower.<\/p>\n Melanie Barton is the executive director of the South Carolina Education Oversight Committee<\/a>, a group that reviews school achievement and advises state officials on how to make improvements.<\/p>\n \u201cHow did we slip so far?\u201d Barton said. \u201cI was expecting maybe a slight dip in fourth grade. I wasn\u2019t expecting to move off the cliff.\u201d<\/p>\n Fourth graders dropped in reading and math, eighth graders lagged behind the national average and both grades scored significantly less than over 30 other states.<\/p>\n In a state that recently spent $500,000 to launch an ad campaign<\/a> to promote South Carolina schools, officials are now wondering what they can do differently.<\/p>\n The \u2018Corridor of Shame\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong>Scranton Elementary is located inside one of the 36 school districts that make up the state\u2019s so called \u00a0 “Corridor of Shame\u2019 \u2013 an area of inadequately funded schools along Interstate 95.<\/p>\n Property values in South Carolina town\u2019s like Scranton are low, which makes less money available for school resources.<\/p>\n \u201cThey can\u2019t help where they live,\u201d Allana Prosser, Scranton’s principal said, \u201cbut they don\u2019t get the same things other kids do.\u201d<\/p>\n South Carolina is also facing a teacher shortage, but Prosser says Scranton is not affected.<\/p>\n The school is science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) accredited and a two-time finalist for the Palmetto\u2019s Finest<\/a> award, which measures the impact a school makes on its students.<\/p>\n “We want people to realize, hey, we can do it too,” Prosser said. “We may not have the money… [or] the facility, but we can do it too.”<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Corridor-of-shame-GFX-300x167.jpg\")
<\/p>\n