Superintendent Dr. Eric Bracy said last year was wonderful when it came to Sampson County Schools’ test results, but believes there’s always room for improvement.
“We had a good year, but we believe that we can be even better and go further and reach higher heights at length or in great detail,” Bracy said.
The Sampson County Board of Education reviewed testing and exam results from the 2014-15 school year and improvements from the previous year for elementary and middle school student. Through presentations by education directors, changes from data from the 2013-14 and 2014-15 school years were discussed in detail.
In the Elementary school category, results were based on End-of-Grade (EOG) scores and meeting or exceeding growth. Overall the district improved from 58.4 percent (2013-14) to 64.14 percent (2014-15) when it came to proficiency. The subject areas included reading, math and science for third, fourth and fifth grades. According to the data, Clement Elementary was the only school that did not meet or exceed growth when all figures were totaled.
Along with some of the other schools, Clement’s math growth was not met in certain grade levels. Jeana Carr, director of elementary education, said school officials are addressing the issue by working with math coaches. But overall, math improved from 57.4 percent to 65.75 in the three grade levels.
Science dipped from 69.1 to 69.8 percent, while reading improved from 55.6 percent to 60.96 percent.
“Overall, I’m very pleased with the work our elementary schools are doing,” Carr said referring to the work of the teachers.
Rebecca Lockamy, director of middle school grades education, also noted growth and areas which needed improvements in grades sixth, seventh and eighth. An area of concern included a math category, but in another math category all school improved, an increase from 83 percent to 93 percent. They were also a little better after summer school.
“If all of you would sit down and take that eighth grade math test, you would find it extremely difficult,” Lockamy said. “It’s a difficult test to take.”
Lockamy also mentioned other programs being used to improve math scores in schools throughout the district.
For middle schools, science EOGs decreased from 72 percent to 69 percent, while reading slipped from 51 percent to 49 percent.
In the composite category for all subjects, Hobbton Middle School and Midway Middle School did not meet growth. Roseboro-Salemburg Middle School and Union Middle School met growth.
Following the presentations, Chairman Dewain Sinclair thanked the school officials for their work when it comes to educating students in the county. During the meeting, Bracy alluded to how a lot of school continued to meet composite goals.
“We’re working hard and we got some good things going and we got some good things in place,” Bracy said. “We’re just proud of the wonderful work of our staff.”
The superintendent also mentioned how the “rubber meets the road” in the classrooms with teachers.
“We believe we’ll be even better than last year,” Bracy said.