Recently the state released school performance data for the 2020-21 school.  The data is different than previous years.  For the 2020-21 school year, the state did not issue school letter grades and did not calculate “academic growth” data due to the perceived impact of COVID-19.  However, released data still included academic performance for 22 performance indicators from 3rd grade through high school.

Haywood County Schools ranked 10th among the state’s 115 school districts, based upon the school system’s performance composite.  Academic highlights from the 2020-21 school year include:

  • HCS ranked #2 in the Western Region and #10 out of 115 school districts in the state based on the academic performance composite.
  • Haywood Early College tied for 1st in the state in overall performance composite >95%.
  • Pisgah High School ranks 3rd in the Western Region and is in the top 7% of approximately 362 traditional high schools (grades 9-12) based on the academic performance composite.  In Math I, Pisgah ranked 10th in the state and 2nd in the Western region.
  • All HCS Elementary Schools rank in the top 22% among approximately 833  Pre-5/K-5 Title I schools in the state.
    • RES (1%)           HES (12%)
    • BES (2%)           MES (13%)
    • JES (3%)            JVE (20%)
    • NCE (7%)          CLY (22%)
  • Riverbend ranked 1st in 3rd grade reading, 8th in 3rd grade math, 2nd in 4th grade reading and 2nd in 4th grade math.  All these scores are in the top 1%.
  • Bethel Elementary 5th grade math ranked 11th (top 1%) and 5th grade science ranked 13 (top 2%).
  • North Canton 4th grade math ranked 13th (top 2%) and 5th grade science ranked 22 (top 3%).
  • Junaluska 5th grade math ranked 19th (top 2%) and 4th grade reading ranked 10th (top 2%).
  • Of approximately 408 6-8 middle schools in the state, Bethel Middle School ranked in the top 15% and Waynesville Middle School ranked in the top 22%.
  • Bethel Middle School’s science ranked in the top 5% and 6th grade math ranked in the top 5%.
  • Waynesville Middle School’s 8th grade math ranked in the top 13%.
  • Haywood County Schools ranked in the top 20 of 115 districts as follows:
    • All subjects grade 3                   (11th in the state)
    • All subjects grade 4                   (5th in the state)
    • All subjects grade 5                   (7th in the state)
    • All subjects grade 8                   (14th in the state)
    • All subjects grades 9-12           (11th in the state)
    • Math grade 3                              (8th in the state)
    • Math grade 4                              (1st in the state)
    • Math grade 5                              (6th in the state)
    • Math grade 6                              (19th in the state)
    • Math grade 8                              (15th in the state)
    • NC HS Math 1                             (14th in the state)
    • NC HS Math 3                             (10th in the state)
    • Reading grade 4                         (9th in the state)
    • Reading grade 5                         (11th in the state)
    • Reading grade 8                         (17th in the state)
    • Science grade 5                          (9th in the state)
    • Science grade 8                          (6th in the state)
    • Biology                                         (16th in the state)
    • ACT                                                (8th in the state)
    • WorkKeys                                    (15th in the state)

Performance data for all schools is available on the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction website at  https://www.dpi.nc.gov/2020-21-school-assessment-and-other-indicator-data.

“This data tells the story of many hard decisions that have been made since March of 2020 to ensure our students were able to receive the best education possible, no excuses,” said Assistant Superintendent, Jill Barker.  “Our support staff worked to provide the best possible learning environment, our teacher taught and our leaders led with a sense of urgency.  Our students are resilient and overcame many obstacles.  We are so proud of our entire school community.”

“From the beginning, we decided 2020-21 would not be a wasted school year,” said Superintendent, Dr. Bill Nolte.  “We verified that in-person learning works much better for most students.  Going in-person five days a week as much as we could made a big difference for a lot of our students.  As always, we will dig into the data and work on areas where we can improve.”

Contact:  Dr. Bill Nolte, Superintendent