Report Card For The County Schools
Recently the State Board of Education issued Report Cards for the 145 school systems throughout the state. This is the first one since 2019 due to COVID.
How did the Cherokee County School System grade and what are they being graded on? WEIS Radio visited School Superintendent Mike Welsh to go over the report. Each system is graded on academic achievement, academic growth, graduation rates, college and career readiness rates, and chronic absenteeism which is defined as a student missing 10 percent of the school days.
Mr. Welsh told us about the report and what it means for the school system:
Overall, the Cherokee County system scored 84 which, according to Mr. Welsh, is like the system getting a B. This is an improvement from an 81 three reports back to the 84 on the current report. This is about the state average and he said the goal is to improve in order to get an A. Welsh said this report also indicates what areas they need to work on to improve the scores.
Some of the highlights on the Report: Cedar Bluff achieves 100% graduation rate, highest academic growth gains in system with an overall score above state average.
Centre Elementary had the lowest chronic absenteeism, greatest overall improvement since last report.
Centre Middle achieved high academic growth and reduced chronic absenteeism.
Cherokee County High improved the College and Career readiness rate with fewer chronic absentees.
Gaylesville experienced high academic growth and reduced chronic absenteeism.
Sand Rock had the highest college and career readiness rate increase which is a 16% increase since the last report card with consistent academic growth.
Spring Garden had the highest college and career readiness rate in the system, improved overall score on the last two report cards with an overall score above the state average.
Mr. Welsh said while academic achievement and proficiency rates show much improvement, the school system will continue to strive to improve achievement on all student assessments. He said their greatest opportunity for improvement lies in reducing the number of chronic absentee issues. Improving attendance will not only help earn the system points on the report card but can drastically improve student learning and academic performance.