How did Cleveland County Schools score this year?
Cleveland County Schools are outperforming many other schools across the state, according to data released from the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction.
The NCDPI recently released its school performance grades, which are based on end-of-course, end-of-grade and other test results.
According to the data, almost 81% of CCS schools scored a School Performance Grade of A, B, or C for the 2022-2023 school year compared to almost 66% of the state’s 2,598 public schools. According to Cleveland County Schools, this data is consistent with 2022 and similar to data from previous years prior to the pandemic.
“Teaching, learning, and student achievement are as important now as they have ever been, and our teachers and staff are working extremely hard to provide the best educational opportunities possible through continual improvement,” said Superintendent Stephen Fisher in release from the school system. “Our district continues to focus on early literacy and has incorporated new curriculum with a heightened awareness for student reading and writing.”
Fisher said as a district, they have observed tremendous growth in certain areas.
“While some of our growth can be observed in test score performance, other areas of growth, such as the expansion of college preparatory classes with Cleveland Community College and our student internship programs, are not measured with standardized testing,” he said.
Some highlights of this year’s data include a school performance grade of A for Cleveland Early College High School, the only Cleveland County School to do so, and North, Springmore, Grover and Casar elementary schools exceeding growth.
Fisher said Springmore Elementary and Grover Elementary have met or exceeded growth each of the last 11 school years.
According to the data, the majority of Cleveland County Schools received a C grade with only two schools achieving a B and one an A.
Not all the results were positive, however. Washington Elementary received a grade of F, and there were a total of 14 schools in 2022-2023 that did not meet school growth status.
“As we continue to disaggregate student performance data, we will be steadfast in our goal to cultivate excellence by meeting or exceeding growth in our schools,” Fisher said. “There is work still to be done, but I am confident that our team will continue to provide the exceptional educational experiences that our students deserve and our community expects.”
Although schools across the state suffered academic loss during the COVID-19 pandemic, the latest state test results reveal that students across the state are recovering.
According to the state board of education, there were gains across all grades, subjects and student subgroups.
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Catherine Truitt said last year’s accountability results show that schools remain on track to recover from the significant setbacks caused by COVID-19.
“It’s hard to overstate the impact of the pandemic,” Truitt said in a press release from NCDPI, “but teachers across North Carolina are working harder than ever to help students recover, and more importantly, advance in their learning. We owe them our gratitude for meeting this challenge to improve outcomes for students.”
Truitt said this is the second consecutive year of gains and although students and schools still have a way to go to catch up, they expect that progress to continue.
“As more early-grades teachers adopt literacy instruction grounded in the science of reading, students will be stronger readers as they progress through elementary school and into middle school,” she said. “We’re going to see continued improvement in those test scores and others.”
Here are Cleveland County Schools individual performance grades:
Bethware Elementary C
Boiling Springs Elementary C
Burns High C
Burns Middle C
Casar Elementary B
Cleveland ECHS A
Cleveland Innovation C
Crest High C
Crest Middle C
East Elementary C
Elizabeth Elementary D
Fallston Elementary C
Grover Elementary C
James Love Elementary C
Jefferson Elementary C
Kings Mountain High C
Kings Mountain Intermediate C
Kings Mountain Middle C
North Elementary C
Shelby High C
Shelby Middle D
Springmore Elementary B
Township Three Elementary D
Union Elementary D
Washington Elementary F West Elementary C
This article originally appeared on The Shelby Star: How did Cleveland County Schools score this year?
