Neither the Rowan-Salisbury School System nor Kannapolis City Schools will be making honor roll this year based on the school performance grades released by the State Board of Education Thursday.

Each school was assigned a letter grade on an A through F scale. This is the first year a letter grade has been assigned to schools. Districts will not be assigned a letter grade.

Rowan-Salisbury’s individual school grades ranged between Bs and Fs, and all Kannapolis City grades all fell in the C to D range.

East Rowan and Carson high schools, Rowan County Early College and Bostian Elementary Schools received Bs.

China Grove, Cleveland, Shive, Enochville, Faith, Millbridge, Morgan, Mount Ulla, Rockwell and Woodleaf elementary schools; China Grove and West Rowan middle schools and Salisbury, South Rowan and West Rowan high schools received Cs.

Overton, Koontz, Granite Quarry, Isenberg, Hanford Dole, Hurley, Knollwood and Landis elementary schools; Corriher-Lipe, Erwin, Knox, North Rowan and Southeast middle schools and North Rowan High School received Ds.

North Rowan Elementary is the only school that received an F.

Henderson Independent High School did not receive a school performance grade because it is an alternative high school.

In Kannapolis, A.L. Brown High School and Forest Park, Fred L. Wilson, Jackson Park and Shady Brook elementary schools each received a C school performance grade.

Kannapolis Intermediate, Kannapolis Middle and Woodrow Wilson Elementary schools each received a D.

These grades are based on achievement and growth – 80 percent and 20 percent respectively.

Performance grades are calculated “by using a composite method based on the points earned by a school on all the tests measured for that school,” according to the Department of Public Instruction.

Elementary and middle school performance is based on math, English language arts and reading and science end of grade test scores as well as Math I and biology test scores if applicable.

High school performance is a compilation of math, English, biology and ACT scores, as well as math course rigor, ACT WorkKeys and the school’s graduation rate.

Growth is determined by whether or not a school achieved at least one year of academic growth in a school year.

In the Rowan-Salisbury School System, East Rowan High School, North Rowan Middle, Millbridge Elementary and Rockwell Elementary exceeded growth expectations.

Bostian, Overton, China Grove, Cleveland, Koontz, Shive, Enochville, Faith, Hanford Dole, Hurley, Knollwood, Morgan, Mount Ulla and Woodleaf elementary schools; Erwin, China Grove, Corriher-Lipe, Knox and West Rowan middle schools; Carson and Salisbury high schools and Rowan County Early College met expectations.

Granite Quarry, Isenberg, Landis and North Rowan elementary schools; Southeast Middle School and North Rowan, South Rowan and West Rowan high schools did not meet growth expectations.

In Kannapolis, Forest Park and Fred L. Wilson elementary schools exceeded and Jackson Park, Shady Brook and Woodrow Wilson elementary schools met growth expectations. A.L. Brown High School, Kannapolis Intermediate and Kannapolis Middle schools did not meet growth expectations.

This year, the letter grades are weighted on a 15-point scale, meaning that an A is 85 to 100 points, a B is 70 to 84 points, a C is 55 to 69 points, a D is 40 to 54 points and a D is less than 40 points. Next year, a 10-point scale will be used.

Across the state, 64.5 percent of schools received either Cs or Ds, according to a press release from Kannapolis City Schools.

Schools receiving a “D” or “F” grade will be required to send a letter home to parents,

Both Rowan-Salisbury Superintendent Dr. Lynn Moody and Kannapolis Superintendent Dr. Pam Cain have expressed frustration with the state’s grade calculation method.

At Rowan-Salisbury’s last school board meeting, Moody said she would rather the weighting focus more on growth and less on achievement, and that performance grades are inconsistent from state to state.

“There is great argument about this calculation,” she added.

“From an educational perspective, student growth is a much better measure of how well a school is doing than standardized test results,” Kelly Burgess, Kannapolis’ director of student assessment said in a press release. “Research consistently shows that standardized tests say much more about students’ economic background than they do about how much children are learning.”

She added that the schools are still recovering from new benchmarks set by the state for end of grade tests. The new criteria have caused test scores to dip at nearly all schools.

Cain agrees that student growth should be a bigger factor in the letter grades. However, she also says Kannapolis City Schools will work to improve overall achievement.

“Our children come from different backgrounds, ability levels, and cultures, and they consistently make growth,” she said in a press release. “However, we know our scores are not where we want them to be.”

“Our new strategic plan addresses our needs and focuses on improving literacy, math, and science. As we implement the plan, I believe we will continue to see success in academic growth and begin to achieve higher performance grades,” Cain added.

“We are not pleased at where we are at,” Moody said at the last Rowan-Salisbury board meeting. “We have a wide range of scores here.”

She acknowledged, however, that the district is also in its first year of implementing its new strategic plan and that the plan may take a year or two before they start seeing a measurable difference. Moody said a dip is to be expected when new learning initiatives are implemented in a school system.

Last October, both school boards passed resolutions that called for an overhaul of the letter grade system and recommended an alternative grading system that would put more weight on student growth. Twenty-nine other school boards adopted similar resolutions.

For additional information and the North Carolina School Report Cards and the School Performance Grades, visit the N.C. Department of Public Instruction’s website at www.ncpublicschools.org.