By Marcia Barnes
Staff Writer
Clay County Schools Board of Education received reports on all four Hayesville schools on the campus at Yellow Jacket Drive on Monday, Jan. 27.
Also, news of what is taking place at the construction site of the new Hayesville Intermediate School was reported by Superintendent Melissa Godfrey.
Principals of all four schools presented reports on student test results from the beginning of the 2024/2025 school year to mid-year. Heather Plemmons, Hayesville Primary School Principal prefaced the primary school report saying that as a school, the decision was made to no longer use funds for the iReady “My Path” and the two data pieces used for evaluation now are iReady Reading and Math and mClass which is a phonics based reading diagnostic.
In an overall reading and math comparison, kindergarten through second grades displayed normal to above normal growth in learning. In the kindergarten iReady data review from the beginning of the school year to mid-year, reading progress toward typical growth was 45 percent; in math, 56 percent.
First grade iReady data review in reading showed 28 percent progress toward typical growth; math, 40 percent. Second grade iReady data showed 77 percent progress toward typical growth; math, 57 percent.
Plemmons said, “First grade is not quite there, second grade is doing well.”
The goal set for mClass comparisons in Phoneme Segmentation Fluency at Hayesville Primary School was to have 70 percent of students be at or above grade level. The mClass comparison from the beginning of the year to mid-year for kindergarten was 68 percent of students on grade level. First grade students are at 87 percent on or above grade level. Second grade students showed the greatest area of overall improvement at or above grade level in decoding on nonsense words.
Karissa Teague, Hayesville Elementary School Principal reported on growth and improvement for third grade students showing the iReady color chart. Teague said, “Our greens are getting bigger and our orange is getting smaller which is exactly what we want. We started the year with 16 percent of about 45 students and now, for the middle of the year we have 84 students performing at mid-level or above grade level.”
Teague said that they have also had to make some changes to adjust to a move of their instructional coach this year and restructured the master schedule so that fourth and fifth graders can be together in groups to increase their instructional support. The iReady charts mid-year data showed growth at every grade level at Hayesville Elementary School and Teague said that math is something teachers are intentionally working at.
Dr. Tiffany Clapsaddle, Hayesville Middle School Principal said that overall levels show growth in the right direction. Regarding math testing for middle school students, Clapsaddle said that IXL Math has two different tests, one for diagnostic and one shows the level of math.
“We have increased one area of testing to help students by increasing the time per question from three minutes to six minutes,” Clapsaddle said. Regarding ELA scores which test students’ reading level, the ELA tests reading levels, reading strategy, vocabulary, writing and grammar.
“We are also looking at adopting a new reading curriculum and looking at different things to incorporate into every day, every lesson,” Clapsaddle said. The beginning of year to middle of year report given by Clapsaddle was clear and thorough for each grade level at the middle school and Clapsaddle, who accepted the position as principal at the beginning of the 2024/2025 school year, emphasized the importance of acknowledging students who are doing their best. “They’re trying,” Clapsaddle said.
Stacey Overlin, Hayesville High School Principal said that even though it is not required at the high school, they are adopting a reading curriculum. First semester English II proficiency rate is almost 71 percent; Math III, 79 percent. Overlin said that Work Keys testing is a functional test from ACT Corporation and focuses on work skills and questions like how much carpet would you need for this house?
Overlin said that he is looking forward to this semester and wanted to thank the board for setting an environment at the high school where teachers can teach and students can learn.
A complete Beginning of Year to Middle of Year reporting for all Hayesville schools can be viewed at YouTube, Clay County Schools Jan. 27 meeting.
Progress on the new Hayesville Intermediate School has had some interruptions due to the recent snow, however, Godfrey said that all of the interior finishes have been finalized.
The next regular board meeting will be held at 6 p.m. Monday, Feb. 24.