SALISBURY — The Rowan-Salisbury School System (RSS) just announced the release of the school report card grades for the 2023-2024 school year, as provided by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (NCDPI). Those grades serve as one measure of school performance and offer certain insights into the progress and achievements of Rowan County schools.

The current formula used by NCDPI for assigning report card grades allocates 80 percent weight to student proficiency and 20 percent weight to student growth. While proficiency in all areas is essential, RSS believes growing students year over year is the key to improving overall school achievement.

“When scores were released last year, we knew we had work to do,” RSS Superintendent Dr. Kelly Withers said. “We could not continue to allow the pandemic or other obstacles to dictate the narrative of learning in RSS. We knew that RSS schools were not failing our students. We’ve always measured the educational growth of our students, but we knew that we needed to adjust our alignment to accurately reflect the work of our students and teachers.”

As a result of the district’s focus, five RSS elementary schools added 20 or more points to their growth score this year. Hanford Dole added 25.1 growth points, China Grove and Landis each added 25 growth points, Granite Quarry added 29.1 growth points, and Isenberg added 20.4 growth points. In addition, Millbridge Elementary added 14 growth points, West Rowan Elementary added 9.5 growth points, and Salisbury High added 7.9 growth points.

Beyond the growth scores, four elementary schools moved up a letter grade on the NCDPI report card. China Grove, Granite Quarry, Isenberg and Shive each demonstrated overall growth. As a district, RSS saw an increase in third-grade reading scores, improving overall elementary reading scores for the first time since 2015-2016, and all elementary math and science overall scores increased in proficiency as well.

“The movement forward we are seeing in our elementary students’ scores provides evidence that our efforts to focus on standards-based instruction and engaging learning experiences are working and students are growing by RSS and state metrics alike,” Withers said.

Additionally, RSS middle schools showed overall proficiency growth in sixth- and eighth- grade math and in Math 1. Math 1 scores in particular demonstrated an 87 percent proficiency, which means that 87 percent of all middle schoolers in RSS scored a three or higher on the math 1 End-of-Course test. In high schools, RSS showed an overall proficiency growth in math 3, English 2 and biology. The high school graduation rate in RSS is 88.2, which continues to be above the state average of 86.9.

The following are the school report card grades for RSS schools for the 2023-2024 school year:

• Grade B — Rowan Early College
• Grade C — Bostian, Landis, Millbridge, Mt. Ulla, Rockwell, and Shive Elementary schools; Jesse C. Carson and East Rowan High schools.
• Grade D — China Grove, Granite Quarry, Isenberg, Morgan, and West Rowan Elementary schools; Summit K8 Virtual Academy; China Grove Middle School; West Rowan, North Rowan, Salisbury, and South Rowan high schools.
• Grade F: Hanford Dole, Hurley, Knollwood, Koontz, North Rowan, and Overton Elementary schools; Corriher-Lipe, Erwin, North Rowan, Southeast, and West Rowan middle schools; and Henderson Independent.

“We have an incredible climb ahead of us to get all schools where we know they can be, but we are confident if we continue the work started last year we will continue to see gains in student achievement,” Withers said. “Our goal has always been that every student is successful. We want our community to know that our schools are preparing students for their next steps.”

Schools that improved growth this year and moved up a letter grade were: China Grove (“Exceeds”), Granite Quarry (“Exceeds”), Isenberg (“Exceeds”), Millbridge (“Exceeds”), Hanford Dole (“Meets”), Landis (“Meets”), and Salisbury (“Meets”). Schools that continued to “Exceed Growth” were: Bostian, Mt. Ulla, and Rowan County Early College.