Robbinsville – Graham County Schools test scores from the last school year have been released, clearly demonstrating that in terms of education, the pandemic had consequences.
The good news first: Robbinsville High School received a C letter grade, met growth expectations, and with a graduation rate of 92.9 percent, well surpassed the state average of 86.2 percent.
But Graham County’s other schools – Robbinsville Elementary and Robbinsville Middle – received D letter grades and did not meet growth expectations, according to statewide data provided by the school district.
Elsewhere in the region, Andrews Middle and High schools received Cs and met or exceeded growth expectations and while Andrews Elementary School got a D, it met growth. Murphy Elementary and Middle schools received Cs and met growth, while Murphy High also met growth and got a B. Swain East Elementary got a D but met growth, whereas Swain West Elementary got a C and did not meet growth. Swain Middle got a D and did not meet growth, and Swain High School got a C and met growth.
Compared to the state scores as a whole, Graham County fared poorly in testing for English Language Arts and Math, but compared to school districts with similar demographics and poverty levels, the county was well within the pack.
The percentage of economically-distressed students in Graham County Schools is 65.8 percent at Robbinsville Elementary, 61.4 percent at Robbinsville Middle, and 43.5 percent at Robbinsville High.
The differing poverty rates between the schools comes from a variety of factors, including younger parents with less wealth in the lower grades, older parents of high school students having more time to build wealth, and higher dropout rates among more impoverished students.
About 85 percent of 405 schools in North Carolina with poverty rates similar to Graham County received Ds and Fs for their school testing scores, said Kevin White, accountability director at Graham County Schools, who briefed the school board about the performance numbers at the board’s monthly meeting last week.
“We’re not in this boat alone,” said Robbinsville Elementary School Principal Jaime Hooper, “but it’s the boat we’re in.”
The updated test scores are not yet available on the N.C. Department of Public Instruction website.
For Robbinsville Elementary School, the D was unusual. It consistently earns a C grade and has met academic growth expectations the two previous years and four out of the past six years.
Robbinsville Middle School typically earns a C letter grade and last received a D in the 2018 school year. Its academic growth has been a mixed bag since 2014, exceeding expectations in 2014, meeting expectations in 2015 and 2019, but did not meet growth expectations in 2016, 2017 and 2018.
Robbinsville High School has received Bs and Cs over the same period, and mostly meets growth expectations although exceeded expectations in 2016 and did not meet expectations in 2015.
Rolling challenge
Graham County’s lower test scores were not due to lack of effort, White said.
Challenges caused by COVID-19 were felt across the board, from administrators scrambling to run schools with an increasingly sick teaching staff, to teachers trying to educate children remotely with untested systems and poor internet connectivity, to parents in a rugged, rural county trying to get their children engaged in school while often having to hold down jobs of their own, to young learners who were at the center of it all.
“You can’t point fingers, but you can point fingers, too – the pandemic,” said School Board Member Pam Knott.
Schools Superintendent Angie Knight said she and her staff are meeting with education consultants dispatched from the state to address Graham County’s lower test scores, and Hooper said math and English Language Arts curriculum upgrades planned last year were implemented this school year and should show results.
High schoolers had already learned the basics, and even though they faced the same challenges as lower grades during the pandemic, they at least already knew how to read, write and solve equations. They may have even had a few field trips under their belts.
But for sixth graders, for example, the last “normal” school year they experienced was when they were in second grade. For elementary school and middle schoolers, the COVID-19 epidemic left gaps in their education. They will be playing catchup for the rest of their time in public school.
“We’re going to work very hard to make sure our students get the very best education we can,” Knight said.
That includes resumed field trips to expose children to culture, history, arts and other areas.
“We’re not happy with where we are,” Hooper said, adding that the school district started making decisions last year that will put the education of Graham County’s children in a good place moving forward.