Schools welcome growth in student achievement

Johnston County schools bested the state in the latest round of standardized testing, but room for improvement remains, particularly in Smithfield and Selma schools.

Released last week, the new report cards assess schools on two big measures – how students perform on certain tests and the learning gains, or growth, they make from one year to the next.

The state uses the testing and growth results to generate A-F letter grades for schools. Last week marked the second time the state has assigned letter grades, and they cover the 2014-15 academic year.

Each school’s letter grade has two components – test scores, which account for 80 percent of the grade, and student growth, which makes up the remaining 20 percent.

The letter grades are on a 15-point scale, so a score of 85 and above is an A, for example. For the first time, schools can earn an A-plus if they don’t have significant achievement or graduation gaps between student groups.

Johnston beats average

In Johnston, 81 percent of schools received a C or better, compared to 72 percent of schools statewide. Johnston also logged a four-year graduation rate of 88.7 percent, which marked the highest rate in the county’s history and outperformed the state average by 3.3 percentage points. As recently as 2006, the statewide graduation rate was 68.3 percent.

But while Johnston compared favorably to the state, its 2015 report cards reflects a mixed bag when compared to the year before. For example, this past school year, 22 of the county’s schools posted gains in the number of students performing at or above grade level, also called proficiency. But 18 schools saw a drop in that same number.

In most cases, the increases and decreases in proficiency were small, which helps explain why most schools received the same letter grade this year as they did the year before. Only eight schools saw their letter grades change from last year to this year. Of those, three posted higher letter grades, while five saw their grades fall.

In the face of lower test scores in the last two years, state officials emphasized school growth, a measure of how much students learn from year to year. Specialized software tracks that growth.

In Johnston, 78 percent of schools met or exceeded growth expectations, compared to 72.3 percent across the state. That number was 77.2 percent at Johnston’s elementary schools, or 0.5 percentage points below the state average; 85 percent at middle schools, for 16 percentage points above the state; and 82 percent at high schools, or 13.6 percentage points above the state.

Johnston Superintendent Ed Croom said he was pleased to see Johnston outperform the state on almost every measure, but much work remains to be done, he said.

“I don’t think there’s an educator in the district that’s satisfied where we are, but we are very proud of the growth that we have seen,” he said.

Smithfield, Selma lag

Of the nine Johnston schools that earned below a C, two-thirds were in Smithfield and Selma. That includes Selma Middle, which fell from a D the previous year to receive the county’s only F. Outside of Smithfield and Selma, Johnston’s other under-performers were Benson Elementary, Cooper Elementary in Clayton and North Johnston Middle in Micro.

The concentration of low-performing schools in the center of the county remains a concern, said Susan Lassiter, chairwoman of Concerned Citizens for Successful Schools, which formed three years ago in response to drastic drops in test scores and school spirit at Smithfield-Selma High.

Lassiter applauded Wilson’s Mills Elementary for improving to a B from a C, and she said it was encouraging to see that many of the schools around Smithfield and Selma met or exceeded growth expectations. But that did not include SSS, she said, which has not met growth goals for a number of years.

Around the entire county, the percentages of students performing on grade level ranged between 50-69 percent at most schools. Around Smithfield and Selma, most schools ranged in the 30-49 percent range.

The growth rates are encouraging, Lassiter said, but it’s tragic to see such a low ratio of students achieving at grade level.

“Far too many of our children in this county, and particularly in the Smithfield-Selma area, are not getting sound basic educations,” she said.

This story was originally published September 4, 2015 at 7:07 AM with the headline "Schools welcome growth in student achievement."