Beverly Woods wins National Blue Ribbon award
Elementary school one of three honored in the state
Beverly Woods Elementary is one of only three schools in North
Carolina to be named a National Blue Ribbon School for 2015 by the U.S.
Department of Education.
The designation was given to 335 schools nationwide, based on
overall academic excellence or progress in closing achievement gaps
among student subgroups. In North Carolina, Chocowinity Primary School
in Chocowinity and Rock Ridge Elementary School in Wilson also were
honored.
“I am thrilled that Beverly Woods has been recognized for the
extraordinary work being done to close the achievement gap across
subgroups at the school,” said Superintendent Ann Clark. “Thanks to the
work of dedicated teachers, support staff, administrators and parents,
Beverly Woods Elementary is producing amazing results in literacy and
math.”
Education Secretary Arne Duncan told the winners in a video message
(www.ed.gov/nationalblueribbonschools) that they represent excellence in
vision, implementation and results, “and we want to learn as much as we
can from you.”
A recognition ceremony will be held for the winning schools – 285 public
and 50 private – Nov. 9-10 in Washington, D.C.
“We are honored to be named a National Blue Ribbon School and
believe our success comes from a strong culture of collaboration between
home and school,” Principal Caroline Horne said. “Our teachers are diligent
about meeting each child’s individual needs and are skilled at differentiating instruction and monitoring student
growth. Our vision is to maximize a student’s potential and provide them with a strong academic and characterbased foundation.”
More than 8,000 public and private elementary, middle and high schools have received the award in the 33year history of the National Blue Ribbon Schools Program. Winners are recognized as Exemplary High Performing
Schools or Exemplary Achievement Gap Closing Schools, based on all student scores, subgroup student scores
and graduation rates.
Schools are nominated by the top education official in every state, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the
Virgin Islands, the Department of Defense Education Activity and the Bureau of Indian Education. Private schools are nominated by the Council for American
Private Education. Only 420 schools may be nominated to apply for the award.
CMS graduation rate improves, school performance mixed
District pursues comprehensive strategy to address literacy
The graduation rate in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools rose to 88 percent
in 2015, exceeding the state average of 85.4 percent, according to data
released today by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction
(NCDPI). The graduation rate increased nearly three percentage points from
2014 and more than 18 percentage points since 2010.
The graduation rate also increased for all subgroups. For white students,
the rate rose to 93.7 from 93.0 a year earlier. Asian students’ rate increased
to 92.2 from 87.3. For black students, the graduation rate increased to
86.5 from 82.6, and for Hispanic students, the rate increased to 79.4 from
74.3. Graduation rates also rose year-over-year and over the six-year period
for students with disabilities, students with limited English proficiency and
economically disadvantaged students.
“We are pleased to see our graduation rates continue to exceed the state
average and improve for all subgroups of students,” said Superintendent Ann
Clark. “The increase to 88 percent means 288 more students graduated last
year than would have if the graduation rate had remained at 85.1.”
CMS has made targeted and systemic efforts to help more students
achieve a diploma. These efforts include: the Graduation Success Initiative,
which helps CMS identify who is at risk of failure to graduate; enhanced
credit-recovery options; a focus on school attendance; and enhanced
accountability at the school and district levels.
“Our work is not done,” Clark added. “In collaboration with our amazing
community partners, we will continue to be intentional about every student
and push toward our goal of having all students graduate.”
The state also released results for End-of-Grade (EOG) and End-ofCourse (EOC) testing. Overall, the percentage of CMS students testing
at college- and career-ready levels increased in all tested areas except
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English II, which decreased 2.4 percentage points versus the prior year. The
percentage of CMS students testing at college- and career-ready levels also
declined for third and seventh grade reading and third grade math when
compared to the prior year. CMS exceeded state results overall and in every
EOG and EOC tested areas.
NCDPI also reported that 130 of 158 CMS schools (82.3%) met or
exceeded growth targets for 2014-2015. This exceeded the state average of
74.9 percent.
“We are making progress in some areas but our progress is incremental
and prior literacy efforts have not yielded the results we want,” said Clark.
“We are committed to improving literacy outcomes for all students and we
are pursuing a comprehensive literacy strategy with the same intentionality
we used to increase our graduation rates.”
The district’s literacy strategy includes: building the instructional capacity
of all teachers; improving school literacy initiatives through Instructional
Leadership Teams (ILTs) and Professional Learning Communities; enhancing
data use to assess real time student learning needs and inform instruction;
and launching the North Star Reading Partners Program which pairs CMS
employees with third and seventh grade students who are not reading on
grade level and seniors at risk of not graduating on time.
Beginning in the 2013-2014 school year, NCDPI assigned School
Performance Grades to each school. The grades are based 80 percent on
proficiency (the percentage of students in the school at or above grade level
in a specific subject) and 20 percent on growth (the rate at which students
in the school learned over the past y X\