By Jared Putnam
Staff Writer
Learning gaps have been almost unavoidable for most schools since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. In the vast majority of cases, the best that educators can realistically hope to do is lessen the impact of the reduction in face-to-face learning.
In that regard, Clay County Schools appear to be faring relatively well.
EducationNC recently compared 2020-21 year-end student test scores among North Carolina schools, showing an average drop of 13 points as every district in the state lost ground in overall proficiency from the last tests administered at the end of the 2018-19 school year. Clay County Schools averaged a 9-point drop — a figure that outperformed the majority of North Carolina districts and ranked well among those within the western portion of the state.
"We lost ground like everyone else, which is very understandable considering the circumstances of last year and how much face-to-face instructional time we lost," Clay County School Superintendent Dale Cole said. "With that said, our students didn't lose as much ground as many other students across the west. That is a testament to the outstanding dedication of our teachers and principals."
North Carolina schools did not conduct state tests during the 2019-2020 school year due to the pandemic, making this the first available comparison in two years.
According to the data compiled by EducationNC, Clay County's most recent test results indicate that 49.8 percent of students are performing at Level 3 and above, which is considered grade-level proficient. Having slightly less than half of students performing at grade level might not sound like a notable achievement based on the raw numbers, but that figure places Clay County Schools 30th out of 117 districts within the state — within the top 26 percent.
Union County Public Schools topped the list with 63 percent of students performing at Level 3 and above, while a handful of state school districts featured less than 20 percent of students functioning at grade level. Cole further broke down the data within the western portion of the state, though, he acknowledged that portions of his numbers don't make for a perfect apples-to-apples comparison since some schools are K-8 or K-12.
Hayesville Elementary ranked inside the top five among a group of 18 elementary schools in the western region, suffering a drop of 11.6 points. Hayesville Middle School lost the least amount of ground among true middle schools with a drop of 9.8 points, while Hayesville High School was third in the region with a decline of 8 points, trailing only Murphy High and Swain County High.
The superintendent said the educational challenges were "as difficult as it gets" during the previous school year and praised both school staff and parents for their efforts.
"We have a great team, and they took on the challenge," Cole said. "I also have to say that the success we had last year was also the result of parents serving as learning and motivational coaches for their children at home.
"Doing that sounds way easier than it actually is, and I want to commend our parents for finishing a long day at work and being willing to set aside time to check their children's work and provide them with motivation as needed. We could not have done this without their help."
Cole said he planned to present the data during the upcoming board of education meeting on Monday, Sept. 27.