by Kate Evans
State assessment exams have shown Morgan County Schools achieved improvement on the West Virginia assessment and proficiency standards for public school students.
State scores also show the school system reduced chronic absenteeism, raised its graduation rate and improved in its on-track-to-graduation and post-secondary achievement percentages for the Morgan County Balanced Scorecard.
Morgan County Schools Superintendent David Banks shared the results with the school board last week and praised students and school staff for delivering the improved test scores after a system-wide effort to raise skill levels.
Balance Scorecard indicators
Each West Virginia school district along with each of their schools is issued a Balanced Scorecard annually based on academic indicators of academic achievement, academic progress, English learner progress and graduation rate as well as student success indicators of attendance, behavior, on-track to graduation and post-secondary achievement.
The Morgan County Balanced Scorecard results can be found on the West Virginia Department of Education (WVDE) website. County school proficiency data is available on the WVDE Zoom dashboard.
The 2024 Morgan County Schools Balanced Scorecard measures county school academic performance and student success indicators. It is compared to the West Virginia 2024 State Schools Balanced Scorecard that has the average of all West Virginia school districts academic performance and student success indicators. The Balanced Scorecards are compiled by the West Virginia Department of Education.
State exam proficiencies
Morgan County reading proficiency scores climbed 7% from 36.3% to 43.3%. Math proficiency also rose more than 7% from 26.98% to 34.48%. Science proficiency jumped around 8% from 21.7% to 29.6%.
Superintendent Banks said he was very pleased with the results and praised students, teachers and administrators for their hard work. Banks gave the Balanced Scoreboard and West Virginia state assessment exam presentation at the September 17 Morgan County School Board meeting.
Banks said that district English language proficiency and math proficiency both went up by 7%. Science proficiency rose by 8%. He didn’t think that any other school districts came close to Morgan County’s growth last year. Morgan County was very successful in both academic achievement and academic progress, he noted.
Banks said that the county is very close to the state percentages in every category. End of year chronic absenteeism fell to 22% in 2024 from 28% in 2023.
Paw Paw High School’s graduation rate has been 100% for nine years now. Berkeley Springs High School’s graduation rate was 95.5%. Banks said he is very proud of Paw Paw High Schools graduation rate.
By School
Warm Springs Intermediate School student proficiencies on the 2024 state assessment tests increased from 45.1% to 48.8% in reading/English language arts. They rose from 44.5% to 47.1% proficiency in math and went from 32.3% proficiency to 35.7% in science.
Paw Paw Elementary’s reading proficiency dropped from 43.2% to 34.2%, but their math proficiency rose from 31.8% in 2023 to 39% in 2024. Science proficiency increased to 19.1% from 0% this year.
Pleasant View Elementary students reading proficiencies rose from 33.3% to 40.7% this year and climbed from 37.5% to 40.7% in math proficiency on the exams. Science proficiency jumped from 18.6% to 31.6%.
Paw Paw High School‘s English language arts proficiency declined slightly from 36.8% to 35.3%, but their math proficiency increased from 15.8% to 29.4%. Science proficiency increased from 19.2% to 21.1%.
Berkeley Springs High School’s English language arts proficiency average rose to 44.7% in 2024 from 27.7% in 2023. Their math proficiency increased from 14.5% to 21.1% and science proficiency climbed from 13.9% to 30.1%.
Warm Springs Middle School’s English language arts proficiency increased from 31.4% to 40.2% this year. Their math proficiency average jumped from 16% to 26%. Science proficiency increased from 20.8% to 25%.
Highlights
Banks said Warm Springs Intermediate Schools proficiencies were trending upwards. Warm Springs Middle School had a large increase in English language arts and math proficiencies.
Berkeley Springs High School had a huge jump in English language arts proficiency (28% to 45%) that’s rarely seen, he said. They also had a large increase in science, as did Pleasant View Elementary.
Paw Paw Elementary showed a large increase in science and math. Paw Paw High School has seen lots of growth since the 2022-2023 school year, Banks said. Banks noted that in smaller schools, one kid can make all the difference in test scores.
School board vice-president Laura Smith congratulated all the staff and students for their success on the state exams. School board president Aaron Close felt that kids took the testing more seriously last year.
“Our kids are able to do it,” Close said.
