From February 6, 2015

This week I have been at the NC Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development conference. It is always a good time and I get to hear great speakers from different schools. It is inspiring and inspirational and I take notes that resonate with me that you will likely hear in the form of PrincipalRamblings in the coming weeks. While I get to be inspired, I have also heard the rumblings throughout the past few days about the NC School Report Cards that were released yesterday. You will be hard pressed to find a principal or superintendent in the state that will support the new school letter grades.  This is the first year of the grades and Greene Central finished with a C for last year. The problem is with how the grades are calculated. 20% of the grade comes from student growth on EOCs and 80% comes from proficiency on EOC exams. We find it very contradictory that the state places such a high value on growth for Standard 6 for teachers (Standard 8 for me) and only values it as 20% of what a school can achieve and only for three subjects. When you apply this formula on the 15 point grading scale you get the following breakdown among the 2565 schools in the state (including charter and non-traditional schools).

A - 132 (5.15%)

B - 582 (22.69%)

C - 1003 (39.10%)

D - 561 (21.87%)

F - 146 (5.69%)

No Grade - 141 (5.5%)

When you compare Greene Central to the comprehensive high schools from our surrounding counties you get the following:

GCHS - C

Jones - C

Lenoir - 1 C, 2 Ds

Pitt - 5 Cs, 1 D

Wayne - 1 B, 3 Cs, 2 Ds

Wilson - 3 Cs

The discussion that results from these letter grades can go one of two ways. We can use them to continue a discussion about what is wrong with schools and our state system or we can counter them with evidence and artifacts of what is right. I want to focus on what is right and I urge you to do the same. Our system has once again placed upon us the need to be our own cheerleaders and that is exactly what we need to do. Continue to promote your work and the work of your students, because we know that it is great. 

I heard a quote yesterday at the conference that I believe summarizes exactly what we do well.  "Our task is to provide and education for the kind of kids we have. Not the kind of kids we used to have, or want to have, or the kind that exists in our dreams."  You all do that well, and to me, that deserves an A.