Case Study: South Carolina Department of Education achieves accurate student funding allocation and data-driven K–12 decision-making with SAS

Smart data exploration advances K-12 public education programs

The South Carolina Department of Education oversees nearly 750,000 K–12 students across 86 districts and faced a critical data challenge: relying on error-prone spreadsheets that made it difficult to validate student counts, ensure districts received proper funding and services, and deliver consumable reports to diverse stakeholders.

By implementing SAS Data Management, SAS Business Intelligence and SAS Visual Analytics, the department replaced spreadsheets with interactive, tailored reports, improved data quality and reporting speed, and enabled unique student identification. This led to better-funded districts, a culture of analytics across program offices, and the reallocation of millions of dollars that had previously been misdistributed.

South Carolina Department of Education

Daniel Ralyea

Director of the Office of Research and Data Analysis