Beech Tree News Network

There were some changes this year to the state accountability system.  The newest incarnation uses a star system, with 1 to 5 stars signifying where a school is in relation to other schools.  Across the state, schools are coming to grips with where they are and charting a path to where they’d like to be. The stars come from a combination of measures given different weights:  

• Reading and Math are given a weight

• Social Studies, Science and Writing are given a separate weight

• Academic growth over one year is given its own weight

The Morgantown Patriots were awarded 2-stars (734 schools were awarded 2-stars) within this new system.  As disappointing as that sounds, we’ve improved across the board from a year ago. Our overall reading scores jumped nearly 7 percentage points and our math scores rose 6.5.    Our writing scores increased 14% and we decreased our growth gaps between different types of learners. All of these things are cause for celebration.  

We’ll take the stars we earned, and we’ll continue to work for the stars we want.  It will take a commitment from teachers to implement new strategies, parents to hold their children accountable for their own learning, and students who are willing to work towards mastery of the grade level standards they need to be successful.  We are happy with our progress, but we are not content with our performance. Making smart choices, Effort every day, and Staying safe at school...That’s the MES Way.