Bertie reports strong ABC scores

Published 7:31 am Saturday, August 14, 2010

WINDSOR – The academic news for Bertie County Schools continues to be good.

Last week, the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction released information from the ABC Accountability model and Bertie County Schools received solid information.

Earlier this month, the school district learned that six of nine schools met Adequate Yearly Progress goals. The three other schools missed the mark by only one target area.

The ABC testing results showed Bertie High School met both expected growth and high growth. The school completed the testing year with a performance composite of 66.9 percent. The performance composite is the number of students scoring level 3 or above on End of Grade tests.

The scores for Bertie High School include both the scores from grades 11 and 12 on the main campus and those of the ninth and tenth grade, located on the campus of the Bertie Ninth Grade Academy, which is commonly known as Bertie Preparatory High School.

G. Fisher Mitchell is principal of the high school and Trey Peele is principal of the academy. The duo has been responsible for leading the academic transition there.

Bertie Middle School also met both expected and high growth under Principal Sandra Hardy. The school had a performance composite of 65.4 percent.

Also meeting high growth were four of the county’s elementary schools. Aulander Elementary, Colerain Elementary, West Bertie Elementary and Windsor Elementary each earned that honor.

In Aulander, Principal Elaine White’s school had a performance composite of 60.9 percent while Colerain Elementary reached 65.6 percent under Principal Fannie Williams.

In his second year at West Bertie Elementary School, Principal Wayne Mayo led his school to a composite of 62.6. At Windsor, now retired Principal Renee Duckenfield helped her school reach 60.3 percent.

The Bertie Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) High School met expected growth during the year. The school has a performance composite of 88.7 percent, the highest of any in the district.

Bertie STEM was also the only school in Bertie County to be designated a School of Distinction. Schools of Distinction are schools that made at least expected growth and had at least 80 percent of their students’ scores at or above Achievement Level 3.

Bertie Academy, which last year was the umbrella under which the school district’s alternative schools worked, met expected growth during the year. The school had only a 10.8 performance composite, however.

The Bertie Early College High School did not meet expected or high growth during the year. Principal Bobby Occena’s school, however, has the second-highest performance composite of any school in the district at 87.6 percent.

Bertie County Schools had six Schools of Progress, according to the ABC accountability model. Schools of Progress are schools that made at least expected growth and had at least 60% of their students’ scores at or above Achievement Level 3.

Those six schools are Bertie High School, Bertie Middle School, Aulander Elementary School, Colerain Elementary School, West Bertie Elementary School and Windsor Elementary School.