The North Carolina Department of Public Instruction Wednesday released the Moore County Schools’ performance grades and other accountability measurements for the 2022-2023 school year.
“This year, we had 22 schools assessed with Connect! Virtual Academy being new in 2022-2023,” said the school district in a press release. “Of these schools, one received an A grade; six received a B grade, the same as 2021-2022; 11 received a C grade, two more than 2021-2022; four received a D grade, the same number as in 2021-2022; and no schools earned a F grade. Overall, nine schools improved by one letter grade.”
*Schools receiving an A performance grade are: Pinehurst Elementary.
*Schools receiving a B performance grade are: Highfalls Elementary, McDeeds Creek Elementary, Pinecrest High, Sandhills Farm Life Elementary, West End Elementary, and West Pine Middle.
*Schools receiving a C performance grade are: Cameron Elementary, Carthage Elementary, Connect! Virtual Academy, New Century Middle, North Moore High, Southern Middle, Southern Pines Elementary, Union Pines High, Vass-Lakeview Elementary, West Pine Elementary, and Westmoore Elementary.
*Schools receiving a D performance grade are: Aberdeen Elementary, Crain’s Creek Middle, Elise Middle, and Robbins Elementary.
The district saw an increase in proficiency in 2022-2023 in most testing categories; the few exceptions showed minimal declines. Moore County Schools outperformed the state of North Carolina in all 18 tested areas. Sixteen schools met or exceeded growth, up from 14 schools in 2021-2022.
“Prior to the pandemic, in 2018-2019 our overall composite score was 61.1. In the first year after the pandemic, 2020-2021, our proficiency had dropped 9.2 percentage points to 51.9. This year, our data shows we’ve almost fully recovered from the pandemic with current proficiency at 60.3.” said Deputy Superintendent, Mike Metcalf. “In addition, we continue to exceed the state proficiency. It is clear that the work of our teachers and staff are moving us in a very positive direction.”
While previously classified as low-performing, Cameron Elementary, Southern Pines Elementary, and Westmoore Elementary dropped the designation because they raised their school performance grade to C. In addition, Southern Middle School, after earning a C grade, is no longer considered a recurring low-performing school because they have not been low-performing for two of the previous three years.
The district had four schools categorized as low-performing schools, which are schools that have a letter grade of D and a growth status of met or not met. Those schools are: Aberdeen Elementary, Robbins Elementary, Crain’s Creek Middle, and Elise Middle.
Dr. Tim Locklair, superintendent of schools, stated, “We could not be more proud of the work of our entire employee team and the growth of each of our students. For the first time in our district’s history we have an A school and overall we continue to demonstrate improvement in both growth and proficiency. Additionally, we no longer have any “F” schools. Our focused efforts will continue, but we are very happy with the progress and excited about our continued growth this school year.”
The four-year high school cohort graduation rate for the class of 2023 was 91.8 percent and continued to remain above the state average of 86.4 percent.
The percentage of 11th graders who had a composite score benchmark of at least 19 was 46.4 percent, slightly higher than the previous year. Schools exceeded the state ACT composite score average of 41.1 percent.
While the EOGs (end-of-Grade) and EOCs (end-of-course) measure student proficiency on curriculum standards, the tests also generate a student Lexile score. While not included in the state accountability release, the Lexile bands measure how many students are reading below, at or above grade level in grades 3-8 and at the end of English II in high school, most often a 10th-grade level course. Those results showed the percentage of students reading at or above grade level in 10th grade at 87 percent.
Elementary and middle schools’ performance grades are based on proficiency scores in reading and math in grades third through eighth and in science in grades fifth and eighth in what are referred to as EOG exams. High school performance grades are based on results from EOC exams in English II, NC Math 1, NC Math 3, and Biology, as well as other performance indicators such as the Cohort Graduation Rate and the percentage of career and technical education graduates who earn a silver certificate or higher on the ACT WorkKeys assessment. The final school performance grades are based on a school’s achievement score (80 percent) and students’ academic growth over one year (20 percent).
Data Highlights
Four-year graduation rate has remained above 91 percent since 2018-19:
| 2018-19 | 2019-20 | 2020-21 | 2021-22 | 2022-2023 |
| 91.0% | 93.5% | 92.3% | 92.2% | 91.8% |
*Moore County Schools out-performed the state of North Carolina in its four-year graduation rate of 91.8 percent compared to 86.4 percent respectively.
*16 of 22 schools met or exceeded expected growth.
*Grade level proficiency rose 3.7 percentage points from 56.6 in 2021-2022 to 60.3 in 2022-2023, outperforming the state proficiency of 53.6.
*Moore County Schools students demonstrated gains in 14 of the 18 tested areas; performance gains ranged from 0.5 percentage point to 12.4 percentage points.
*African American students demonstrated gains in 14 of the 18 tested areas.
*Hispanic students demonstrated gains in 12 of the 18 tested areas.
*Economically disadvantaged students demonstrated gains in 14 of the 18 tested areas.
*Students with disabilities demonstrated gains in 11 of the 18 tested areas.
*87 percent of students who took the 10th grade English II EOC are reading at or above grade level as measured by the EOC Lexile reading level.
*Moore County Schools decreased the number of schools with a school performance Grade of an “F” from two to zero, with those schools making double-digit gains in their respective school performance grades.
Contributed.
