Robbinsville – Like many school districts across the state, Graham County Schools has seen a decline in test scores, due to circumstances brought forth by the COVID-19 pandemic.
With the release of statewide assessment data from the 2020-21 school year, Graham County Schools has come in with 35 percent of students scoring level three or above and 19.6 percent of students scoring level four or above. The state average was 45.4 percent of students at level three or above and 29.6 percent at level four or above.
N.C. State Superintendent of Public Instruction Catherine Truitt has said this year’s scores will not count, but have been released so districts can know where more work is necessary.
Graham County Schools Superintendent Angie Knight said a lack of broadband infrastructure in Graham County was at least partially to blame for the low scores.
“Of course we’re disappointed with the results, but during the pandemic – when 35-40 percent of children don’t have reliable Internet – we’ve just had to piece together the education program,” Knight noted.
Knight said she knew that the district would need to put in substantial work to improve. She said that Graham County Schools already had strategic plans in place for improvement.
“We’re going through things we’ve never gone through before and we’re just hoping we’re not ever going to have to go back in to fully remote learning,” Knight said. “Anytime our kids are not in front of us, I feel like we’re not giving them everything we can, so we’re going to try as hard as we can to stay face-to-face, so we can educate our kids in the strategies that we know work when they’re here and try to make up some of the gaps.”
Knight said the district was looking toward a more rigorous curriculum, especially in the elementary grades.
“This year, we have literacy coaches in place and math coaches,” Knight said. “We’ve got a huge amount of beginning teachers – like they’re new to the profession, coming in kind of lateral entry.
“We’re trying to support all the new teachers, but we’ve got the literacy and math coaches in place to work on the rigor of the curriculum and make sure it’s aligned very well.”
She also said further tutoring and improvement would be offered through the 21st Century learning grant, which supports after school and summer programs for students.
“We have a very solid intervention program at the elementary school that I think was really working, and then the pandemic hit,” Knight said. “We’re eager to see that come back in place, because we were seeing scores actually rise before the pandemic hit, so we’re in the process of rebuilding that again.”
Knight also emphasized that in a school district as small as Graham County’s, a seemingly small number of students could have a major impact on test scores.
“We’ve got so few kids per grade level that sometimes the difference in two kids passing the test is the difference in a huge percentile,” Knight said.
One place the district did succeed was in its four-year graduation rate, which at 92.1 percent, was higher than the state average of 88.6 percent.
“I think that is something that speaks volumes,” Knight said. “We have a very caring staff from preschool to 12th grade. By the time we get them to high school, we’ve got a good graduation rate.
“If they’ve not had a good foundation in elementary school, then they’re not going to graduate.”
SCORES BY SCHOOL:
Robbinsville Elementary School
Level 3 or above: 33.5 percent
Level 4 or above: 15.6 percent
Robbinsville Middle School
Level 3 or above: 37.4 percent
Level 4 or above: 24.1 percent
Robbinsville High School
Level 3 or above: 35.3 percent
Level 4 or above: 24.1 percent