State report cards for each public school and overall districts in Alabama are in, and the 41 campuses that make up Baldwin County Public Schools (BCPS) have earned an overall score of 86.
…
This item is available in full to subscribers.
Please log in to continue |
State report cards for each public school and overall districts in Alabama are in, and the 41 campuses that make up Baldwin County Public Schools (BCPS) have earned an overall score of 86.
"I think overall we're extremely pleased with the growth and the direction our county's going with academics," Joe Sharp, assistant superintendent of secondary education, told Gulf Coast Media.
Rockwell Elementary School had the highest overall score in the county with a 97, according to data from the Alabama Department of Education. Fairhope East Elementary and Spanish Fort Elementary both had the next-highest scores in the county with a 96 each. Fairhope Middle School and Stonebridge Elementary earned the third- and fourth-highest scores with 95 and 94, respectively.
The Baldwin County school that saw one of the biggest improvements from last year was Daphne Elementary with an 11-point score increase as it went from 78 to 89. Elsanor School saw a 10-point increase from 80 to 90. Pine Grove Elementary had a score increase with an 8-point rise to 80. Summerdale School and Magnolia School tied with a 7-point increase each.
Becky Turner, elementary curriculum coordinator, said elementary schools seemed to have some of the bigger improvements because they went by a three-step plan.
"They maintained their focus on those areas that they knew they had to improve," Turner said.
Daphne Middle School had a 7-point decrease as it went from a score of 86 in 2023 to 79 this year. Elberta Middle School also saw a 7-point decrease going from 91 in 2023 to 84 this year.
According to the State Accountability Technical Guide by the State Department of Alabama, factors in the overall report card score for a school include academic achievement, academic growth, progress in English language proficiency, graduation rate, college and career readiness (CCS) and chronic absenteeism.
The weight percentage of these factors can vary among secondary and elementary levels and whether certain demographics are present. For example, schools that have too few English Language Learner (ELL) students enrolled do not have English language proficiency as a factor in their overall score.
Sharp said the main goal for the next school year will be to "stress the importance of coming to school" to lower rates of chronic absenteeism, which means a student has missed 18 or more days of school.
"You know, sometimes we battle some things because we live near the beach, and it's easy to take a day off and go to the beach," Sharp said, "but (we'll) try to partner with our parents and make sure they understand the importance of having their students in schools every day so our teachers have an opportunity to work with them and increase student achievement."
Since the state restarted reporting school and district scores after the COVID-19 pandemic, BCPS maintained its score of 86 that it also received in 2023 after jumping from an 85 in 2022.
Tom Hartner, secondary curriculum coordinator, said high school proficiency percentages are in the "top 25-30% of all high schools in the state" this year.
According to a presentation Hartner gave to superintendents, district-wide 11th-grade students' ACT scores ranked 14th in ELA and 18th in math and in science among other state districts' ACT scores.
The county's overall score reflects the average weighed from all 41 county schools. The other two districts in Baldwin County, the city districts in Gulf Shores and Orange Beach, for comparison, are comprised of an elementary, middle and high school and elementary and middle/high school, respectively. Both scored a 95.
According to the Department of Education's score chart, BCPS has 30,587 students enrolled across all schools. For comparison, Gulf Shores City Schools has 2,566 students, and Orange Beach City Schools has 1,192. All districts are growing rapidly, reflecting Baldwin County as being the fastest-growing county in the state.
Sharp said the rapid growth was something that made scoring student progress difficult as many of the newly enrolled students did not grow up going to school in Baldwin County.
"We're really responsible for a kid's academics who was maybe educated in Mississippi or Texas or New Jersey," Sharp said. "So that's somewhat hard because you're not sure who's walking through your doors everyday as we're enrolling kids."
According to the BCPS website, the school system has over 4,000 employees, making it "the largest employer in Baldwin County." The website also states their buses travel more than 10,000 miles a day, carrying 14,000-plus students daily.
The Alabama Department of Education reports of the 41 Baldwin County School’s scores from this year and last year are listed below:
