Three of the four schools in the Roanoke Rapids Graded School district met expected growth under the new READY accountability model while the high school did not.
The school systems said in a statement that Roanoke Rapids school leaders have identified new target goals to help students grow and reach their academic potential following the release of the report. Some of the immediate goals include improving the district’s graduation rate, emphasizing math rigor, and working with 8th, 9th and 10th graders to prepare them for the ACT.
Manning Elementary, Belmont Elementary, and Chaloner Middle Schools all met expected growth this year. Roanoke Rapids High School did not meet the state expectations.
Overall the performance composite for the district is 37.8 percent proficient.
“The data released today provides a great framework to help our students reach their full potential. This is not a surprise to us but it’s important for parents to note that in most cases their child has not lost ground but that he or she is being measured against a much more difficult standard,” said Dennis Sawyer, RRGSD superintendent.
North Carolina’s new model continues a long-standing practice of reporting both academic growth rates and also the percentage of students who scored proficient on state assessments.
Growth reflects the progress students made during the course of the school year. It is quite possible for a student or a school to have a strong pattern of academic growth and to also have many students who may not have scored proficient or above on state tests.
Some students begin school or a particular school year behind their peers and will need to achieve very significant academic growth in order to meet proficiency standards by the end of the grade or course.
Also, standards are much higher now than in the past, which makes it more difficult for some students to reach proficiency levels.
“While proficiency is important, our focus will be on growth. Growth leads to proficiency,” Sawyer added.
In terms of academic growth, 687 schools statewide or 28.6 percent, exceeded expected growth.
A total of 1,027 schools or 42.7 percent, met expected growth. That leaves 691 schools or 28.7 percent that did not meet growth goals.
On the end-of-grade and end-of-course tests across the state, student proficiency rates ranged from 34.2 percent proficient on eighth grade mathematics to 59.1 percent proficient on eighth grade science.
Results from the state’s new assessments align more closely to the National Assessment of Educational Progress results, generally considered to be the Nation’s Report Card of record for public schools. NAEP’s 2013 results also were released today and are available online at ncpublicschools.org.
“We are not content with the current results, but we are up to the challenge of the new READY Accountability standards. RRGSD will continue to work diligently to meet and or exceed student achievement standards,” stated RRGSD Board Chair Jay Carlisle. “We encourage parents, teachers and administrators to consider more than these tests when judging how their schools are performing. We will continue to focus on helping children become lifelong learners and ready for 21st century careers.”
RRGSD will provide individual student score reports for parents to review within 30 days. Because standards were new in 2012-13, there is no impact on students or schools. There also are no school grades or designations during this transition year.
