Shining Rock earns a C; fails academic growth test

Sep. 5—When North Carolina school test scores for the 2021-22 academic year were released last week, Shining Rock Classical Academy emerged with a C, but didn't meet expected academic growth for the year.

Head of School Josh Morgan said meeting growth — or showing students demonstrated a year's worth of progress over a year of instruction — is one of his top priorities for the coming year.

The main takeaway from the test scores across the county, he said, is that Haywood residents should be happy with all the public schools in the county.

"Compared to what was happening around the state, we look really, really good," Morgan said. "Every school in Haywood received a C or better, and there aren't many counties that can say that."

He said schools in neighboring counties such as Jackson or Buncombe fared far worse, even at schools that had been high performing in the past.

The school test scores are a way to measure whether students are learning what they should in the classroom to prepare them for college and/or careers. The required state tests are administered to students in grades three through eight in reading and math, and in certain high school courses.

In addition to each school receiving a letter grade between A and F, student achievement levels can be analyzed down to individual student proficiency in each classroom ranked at four different levels — Level 3 shows sufficient understanding of the course material but that additional support may be needed for career and college readiness, while levels 4 and 5 indicate students are on track to be career and college.

The final level is "not proficient," indicating a student does not have sufficient understanding of the material. Each school is tracked according to the proficiency levels and ranked accordingly.

Academic growth

In Shining Rock's case, the overall achievement score was 54.9, about 10 points lower than that of Haywood County Schools, but above the state average of 51.4.

For Morgan, the salient score is the one for expected growth, which the charter school didn't meet this year. The school growth score compares students in the school with where they were the previous year to determine whether they made one year of progress during the education year.

To meet expected growth standards, schools need to fall between 2 and -2 on a growth index. Schools exceeding a 2 surpass the growth requirement.

Shining Rock's school growth index was -6.9. There were three schools within the Haywood County Schools system that didn't meet growth expectations — Bethel Elementary School (which had a B performance grade) scored -2.51; Hazelwood Elementary, -2.09 and Waynesville Middle School, -2.06.

"We like seeing our growth standards met," Morgan said, "and will really focus our energies on meeting those next year. When you have growth, proficiency follows."

There was a lot of change during the past academic year at Shining Rock, none of which Morgan blames for the lower-than-hoped-for test scores.

"I don't like making excuses," he said. "There were a lot of issues getting into our new building with a lot of instructional tools delayed. It was a huge transition year."

Shining Rock's enrollment has been growing since the school first started in 2015 with about 225 students. By 2021, the number had practically doubled. Last year the governing board began serving high school students.

Shining Rock saw a large growth spike during COVID, with about 100 or so more students being tested for the 2021-22 academic year in contrast with the previous year, Morgan said.

"Some of those kids came to us from other districts, some from home school settings, just a variety of places," he said. "We had to address some gaps, but that is true for everywhere."

What the data shows

A larger issue that Morgan sees is the way the state approached the testing issue. Initial communications indicated the state would be making adjustments in how scores were calculated given the class disruptions during COVID, something that didn't happen.

It was through numerous phone calls to get to the bottom of a bewildering case where a student scored in the top 15% statewide, but still failed the state test that Morgan said he discovered the answer.

"What I found was a gross disconnect between the academic side of DPI (the N.C. Department of Public Instruction) and accountability side of DPI," Morgan said. "The tests are set at a higher standard than what the curriculum is set at. That meant teachers had to go above and beyond what is in the curriculum for students to do well."

Morgan said he's thankful for the high quality of teachers across the county, which be believes is the reason there are no D or F schools in Haywood.

"I'm glad we got a C given the way the state did the test scores," Morgan said.

In addition to test scores, the state data tracks the number of students considered to be economically disadvantaged (EDS,) something that often correlates with lower performing schools.

The percentage of EDS students at Shining Rock is listed at 35.5, while other schools in Haywood track at a much higher rate. For instance, Bethel Elementary, Canton and Clyde schools are in the upper 40s, while Hazelwood Elementary and Waynesville Middle are in the lower 40s.

Morgan said the Shining Rock student population tracks closely with the county's demographics, and he attributes the lower EDS rate to not having a federal school lunch program where students make application for free or reduced meals.

Shining Rock does subsidize lunches for those in need, he said, but has a harder time getting the lunch forms back that demonstrate a financial need.