Goucher Elementary is among 32 schools involved in a recent state study of schools that are successful in closing the achievement gap among poor students.

The Education Oversight Committee (EOC) asked the South Carolina Policy Center to look at schools with a 4-year history of improved performance for at least one historically underachieving student group. The EOC oversees the state's Education Accountability Act and issues annual report cards rating public school performance.

Goucher Elementary was recognized by the EOC from 2002-2005 for high student achievement on the state's Palmetto Achievement Challenge Test in English and math among students receiving free and reduced lunches. Goucher and the other schools included in the policy center study are from 15 of the state's 85 school districts.

A copy of the study was included with Tuesday's release of the organization's seventh annual "Closing the Achievement Gap" study. No county schools were on this year's list.

Schools with high poverty rates can still have good test scores, said David Potter, director of research for the Education Oversight Committee. Thirty percent of this year's honored schools are high-poverty schools, serving a student population of at least 70 percent poverty.

Goucher Elementary has a student poverty rate of 75.6 percent. The district's average poverty rate is 69.2 percent.

A family income of $20,000 is considered below poverty, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

"Poverty does not guarantee low student achievement. Poverty is certainly related to problems with achievement," Potter said. "Schools can be successful in raising the achievement levels of all students to a high level regardless of the risk factors students bring to school with them. It takes involvement, commitment and a complete focus on the individual needs of students."