Northampton ABC scores rise
Published 8:56 am Tuesday, August 10, 2010
JACKSON — Six of the seven public schools in the Northampton County have met academic growth standards for the 2009-2010 school.
A press release sent Friday from Northampton County Schools announced the news that of the seven schools in the district, three achieved High Growth status while three achieved expected growth status.
“The EOG (End-of-Grade) and EOC (End-of-Course) information is great news and evidence that our teachers, principals and students are working hard, with the support of parents, to ensure that good teaching and learning is happening in Northampton County Schools,” said Schools Superintendent Dr. Eric C. Bracy. “Overall, we are excited about the growth in many areas of the schools’ data.”
The preliminary results were released Thursday from the Department of Public Instruction.
EOG and EOC test results revealed that Northampton County Schools showed double digit improvements in many tested areas.
According to the release, ABCs accountability program sets growth and performance standards for each elementary, middle and high school in the state. The results are based on the number of students passing end-of-grade and end-of-course tests and students’ academic progress over time.
Some of the greatest gains were seen on the high school level. At Northampton County High School-East, 70.4 percent of students in grades 9-12 were proficient in EOC tests, up from 54.5 percent in 2008-09. Northampton County High School-East also achieved High Growth status for the second consecutive year.
Northampton County High School West STEM had 69.7 percent of students in grades 9-12 scoring proficient on EOC tests, whereas in 2008-2009, only 36.5 percent of students were proficient. Northampton County High School West STEM met their expected growth for the first time since the 2005-2006 school year.
Both high schools earned school of progress status.
Central Elementary School had 62.1 percent of their students scoring proficient and Willis Hare Elementary had 60.1 percent, leading both to earn High Growth status. Gaston Elementary had 56.7 percent of their students scoring proficient. Gaston Elementary and Squire Elementary achieved Expected Growth status.
Conway Middle School was the only school that did not meet academic growth goals. Fifty seven percent of students’ test scores at Conway were at or above grade level.
Other Testing Highlights of 2009-2010 were:
6th Grade Math at 81.6%, a 10.4 percentage points growth
6th Grade Reading up 13 percentage points
Algebra I at 67.9%, a 24.4 percentage points growth
Algebra II at 60.7%, a 32 percentage points growth
Geometry at 68.8%, a 48.5 percentage points growth
English I at 70.9%, a 23 percentage points growth
US History at 77.3%, a 28.4 percentage points growth
Civics & Economics at 70.1%, a 15.9 percentage points growth
Biology at 75.1%, a 26.9 percentage points growth
Physical Science at 77.8%, a 18.7 percentage points growth