North Carolina is beginning to work on improvement plans for schools labelled “low-performing” after the release of last year’s test results. State leaders hope to learn from success stories — including one area school district.
Cleveland County reduced its number of low-performing schools from nine to two last year. For the first time in four years, none of the district’s four middle schools were low performing.
In a presentation to the state Board of Education on Wednesday, Chris Bennett, the district’s executive director of middle schools and accountability, pointed to a collaborative environment across school buildings.
He said Cleveland County set district-wide standards driven by data, evidence-based practices and new common math and reading curricula. But individual schools were still granted flexibility and autonomy.
“We’ve talked quite a bit about urgency versus panic," Bennett said. "Panic gets us nowhere. If we have a sense of urgency for the 10 months we have students in front of us, we will certainly find success.”
State data shows 260 schools left low-performing status last school year — but 210 schools entered low-performing status, for a net loss of 50 low-performing schools.
There are 685 low-performing schools in North Carolina compared to 735 last year.
