The news for Anson County’s public schools was bleak when the N.C. Department of Public Instruction released its 2014-15 School Report Cards on Wednesday.
Of the county’s 11 schools, only Anson Early College and Ansonville Elementary received B scores, on a scale of A through F. All others received D or F grades, except for Peachland-Polkton Elementary, which earned a C.
The General Assembly requires every public school in the state to receive an A through F performance grade.
“The grades are based on standardized end-of-grade tests in reading and math for grades 3-8, science in grades 5 and 8, and end-of-course tests in three high school subjects,” the executive summary of the N.C. DPI report states. “High schools are also evaluated on their graduation rate, ACT and ACT WorkKeys results and percentage of students who complete Math III.”
According to the DPI, “the grades were based on a 15-point scale with an A equal to 85 to 100, B equal to 70 to 84, a C equal to 55 to 69, a D equal to 40 to 54 and an F equal to less than 40.”
The grades were as follows:
Anson County Early College: B – 70
Anson Academy: N/A
Anson High School: D – 50
Ansonville Elementary: B – 70
Anson Middle School: D – 42
Wadesboro Primary: F – 35
Lilesville Elementary: D – 43
Morven Elementary: D – 45
Peachland-Polkton Elementary: C – 59
Wadesboro Elementary: F – 36
Anson New Tech High School: D – 46
In addition to their D or F grades, Anson High School, Anson Middle School, Wadesboro Primary and Anson New Tech did not meet expected growth standards. Only Ansonville exceeded its growth, and all other schools met growth expectations.
However, Anson County Schools Superintendent Michael Freeman prefers to look at the positives from the report. “When schools with a growth status are viewed by the grade levels they serve, Anson County had 71 percent of our elementary and middle schools meet or exceed growth,” he said. “At the high school level 50 percent of the schools met growth.”
Student grade-level proficiency or above in reading (grades 3-8) remained at 56.3 percent in 2014-15 and moved up to 52.2 percent in mathematics (grades 3-8) at the state level. Anson County saw tremendous improvement overall for grades 3-8 reading with an increase from 29.7 percent last year to 40.3 percent this year. Math also realized an overall increase from 25.5 percent to 34.3. These levels of growth are considered to be statistically significant.
At the high school level, Anson County made great strides in the Math I proficiency level moving from 6.6 percent up 26.5 points to 33.1 percent proficient, Freeman pointed out. English II also saw improvement from 29 percent to 33.5 percent.
High school level school performance grade calculations include additional indicators in addition to the End of Course tests. They are also graded based on the percentage of high school juniors who score a minimum 17 on the ACT College exam. “We had 35.7 percent proficient in this area,” Freeman said. “On ACT WorkKeys, 23.7 percent of Senior Concentrators earned a Silver Certificate or higher and more than 95 percent met the Math Course Rigor requirement of students who successfully passed Math III.”
Freeman also pointed out that graduation rates are improving. “Our community should be pleased to know that our high school graduation rates continue to increase annually, providing greater numbers of students an earned diploma preparing them for college or entrance to the workforce,” he said. “All four of our high schools maintained or had improvements in their Graduation Cohort Rates. Two of the four had a greater than 95 percent graduation rate and a third school also out-performed the state’s 85.4 percent with a graduation rate of 90 percent.
As indicated when the N.C. DPI first began using the A-F grade scale earlier this year, there is a correlation between poverty and low grades. “Schools with greater poverty earned fewer A’s and B’s and earned more C’s, D’s and F’s than schools with less poverty,” the executive summary states.
State Superintendent June Atkinson expressed concerns that schools with high percentages of students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds were more likely to receive D or F school performance grades. “We know that students who come from these circumstances often make significant academic growth each year, but they often begin school behind their more economically advantaged peers and may have more obstacles to overcome,” she said.
“The school letter grades released today are another stark reminder that the resources our students need to succeed have continually been disregarded,” N.C. Association of Educators president Rodney Ellis said in a statement. “The failure to address poverty’s impact on student achievement is clearly evident in the outcomes announced today, and is no surprise. The chances a child has for success should not depend on where you live or how much your family earns. In a surplus budget year, lawmakers have an opportunity to improve the lives of our students by investing in public education. Instead of going through an exercise to point out which schools have wealth and which have high poverty, we should focus on keeping teacher assistants in the classroom, professional pay for all educators to keep and attract the best, and modern textbooks and technology. We can’t risk losing a generation of students.”
Freeman expressed those same concerns: “It is unfortunate that school systems like Anson County, which are making progress are not allowed to earn a higher grade based more heavily on growth,” he said. “Anson County Schools does a wonderful job serving the students of our community and will continue to analyze data to determine ways, whether instructionally, physically or emotionally, to better meet the needs of all students and to help those students realize their dreams for the future whether career or college-oriented.”