New Hanover has over forty public schools with about 25,000 students; this year, six had report card scores of A, 13 have Bs, 11 have Cs, and 7 have Ds.
Only two schools, Freeman Elementary and the Career Readiness Academy at Mosley, had failing grades. These scores are mainly (80%) based on proficiency on end-of-year tests. The remainder is based on student growth on these tests.
The highest-performing schools – with ‘A’ grades – are Ogden Elementary, Masonboro Elementary, Wilmington Early College, Sea-Tech High, Isaac Bear, and Wrightsville Beach Elementary.
NCDPI categorizes schools’ growth metrics as ‘not met,’ ‘met,’ and ‘exceeded’ growth. They determine this based on EVAAS, an algorithm from the software company SAS that calculates a teacher’s impact on student learning throughout the year.
Sixteen schools exceeded growth, 16 met growth, and eight didn’t. Those who didn’t meet growth were Wrightsboro Elementary, Holly Tree Elementary, Roland Grise Middle, Noble Middle, New Hanover High, Isaac Bear, Ashley High, and Laney High.
This year's report shows strong improvement at Forest Hills Global Elementary and Williston Middle.
Compared to last year’s final grades, Forest Hills and Williston went from an F to a D. Forest Hills’ growth score improved from not meeting expectations to meeting expectations. Williston’s growth score improved from not meeting expectations to exceeding.
Both are Title 1 schools, which means they receive additional federal funds to support students from low-income families.
In contrast, both Eugene Ashley High and Roland-Grise Middle, which are not Title 1 schools, saw their report card scores dropping from B to C, and their growth expectations decreased from meeting expectations to not meeting expectations.
At Tuesday’s New Hanover County school board meeting, interim superintendent Dr. Christopher Barnes said of the coming data release, “We know two things: the work our teachers and students put into growing and demonstrating that growth is monumental, and we celebrate each and every one of you and all the students as well, however, we also know that not all growth can be measured by standardized tests, and school success is about more than just strictly academics.”
Below is a spreadsheet of school and demographic scores.
Index:
- All - All students
- AMIN - American Indian
- ASIA - Asian
- BLCK - Black
- HISP - Hispanic
- MULT - Two or more races
- WHTE - White
- EDS - Economically Disadvantaged Students
- ELS - English Learners
- SWD - Students with Disabilities
*Editor’s Note: This original article didn’t include Isaac Bear as achieving an ‘A.’
