Most Watauga schools

reach distinction marks
By Scott Nicholson

Final school testing results confirmed that all nine Watauga County schools met expected standards of academic growth under the ABCs of Education end-of-year testing.

Preliminary results for the 2007-08 school year were released in August, with the final report issued last week by the State Board of Education. Six schools also met the standard for high academic growth, including Bethel, Blowing Rock, Cove Creek, Green Valley, Hardin Park and Valle Crucis.

However, Hardin Park Elementary School and Watauga High School, despite high scores, did not register “Adequate Yearly Progress” under a formula that tracks year-to-year testing results.

Fewer than a third of all schools in the state made Adequate Yearly Progress as measured by the tests.

On mathematics tests for grades 3 through 8, nearly 85 percent of the school system’s students met or exceeded expected proficiency. That compared to 71.4 percent statewide.

In reading tests for grades 3 through 8, nearly 76 percent met or exceeded proficiency, compared to 57.2 percent statewide.

The county’s students also exceeded statewide proficiency levels on the science tests administered in grades 5 and 8 and in the writing tests given in grades 4, 7 and 10.

Six schools–Bethel, Blowing Rock, Green Valley, Mabel, Parkway and Valle Crucis—were recognized as Schools of Distinction for 2007-08, the second-highest status category under the ABCs system, and the other two elementary schools missed School of Distinction status by fewer than 3 percent on proficiency test results.

Watauga High School students posted results well above state averages on tests in 11 academic areas, with about 79 percent of the test results having met or exceeded expected proficiency standards, compared to about 68 percent statewide.

Students at the high school also achieved the second-highest average SAT score out of the state’s 115 public school systems, with an average combined math and critical reading score of 1102, compared to the statewide average of 1007.

Two Rivers Community School in Boone, one of 95 charter schools participating in the state, had a composite score of 65.1 percent and didn’t meet expected growth and did not make Adequate Yearly Progress.

Detailed results for each school can be found online at abcs.ncpublicschools.org/abcs/.