Dr. Bill Nolte, Associate Superintendent of Haywood County Schools
In September, the state began releasing academic performance and academic growth data from the 2013-14 school year. The data includes information from 2,514 public (traditional and charter) schools across North Carolina. The results reflect (1) academic performance … grade level or course proficiency for students and (2) academic growth … the impact that teachers and schools have on student learning.
“Academic growth” is an adult measure. In essence, growth measures how far teachers move students academically in one year compared to other teachers in North Carolina who taught students at the same academic level. Students across the state are placed in five academic groups (20% in each group) based upon past academic performance. At the end of the year teachers and schools are measured based upon how far they move students compared to other teachers and schools with similar students. In North Carolina 74.61% of schools met or exceeded “academic growth” benchmarks. In Haywood County Schools 81.25% of schools met or exceeded “academic growth” benchmarks. While we did better than the rest of the state in growth, it is possible for our schools to achieve 100% in academic growth.
There are currently 115 school districts in North Carolina. School districts receive an academic performance composite measure based upon all of the state required assessments given at the school. Ten years ago Haywood County Schools ranked a little above the state average for overall performance. In 2012-13, Haywood County Schools ranked 17th of 115 school districts in North Carolina. In 2013-14, Haywood County Schools ranked 15th of 115 school districts. Despite this significant academic improvement over time, our schools have the potential to perform even higher.
North Carolina recently became 1 of 8 states to require the ACT for all juniors in the state. In 2013-14, Haywood County Schools ranked 17th among the 115 school districts in North Carolina on the ACT benchmark. Sixty-seven percent (67.3%) of our seniors have an ACT score that meets the minimum enrollment requirements for entering the NC university system. One amazing piece of data in this category is the Central Haywood High School (CHHS) ACT benchmark. At CHHS, our alternative high school, 42.9% of our seniors have an ACT score that will get them into a two-year degree program and a number of four-year colleges. That is pretty cool! While our overall ACT success is good, we are working to make it measurably better.
CHHS is a very successful alternative school with a great graduation rate, especially for an alternative high school, and an impressive ACT benchmark score. Haywood Early College (HEC) is a high performing early college high school for first generation college students. This school consistently scores among the highest performing high schools in the region. Many HEC alumni are first generation college students and/or college graduates. Tuscola High School performance composite ranks 5 points above the state average and Pisgah High School ranks 17 points above the state average for 9-12 schools.
Among the 281 6-8 grade schools in the state, Bethel Middle ranks in the top 18% in academic performance for schools making academic growth … out performing 82% of the other middle schools in the North Carolina. Canton Middle and Waynesville Middle are in the top 24% … out performing three-fourths of the other middle schools in North Carolina. This is the best combined performance for our middle schools since middle schools were opened in Haywood County.
Among the 816 Title I K-5 schools in North Carolina, Riverbend Elementary ranks 1st in academic performance for schools making academic growth. Junaluska Elementary is in the top two percent. Jonathan Valley Elementary and Bethel Elementary are in the top five percent. The remaining five elementary schools are all in the top 20% in student academic performance.
So, how are our schools doing? It is clear that our good schools have gotten even better. Many of them are among the best in North Carolina. With all of this growth, there is still some room for continued improvement. We thank you in advance for your continued support. You can’t have great schools without great parent and community support.