For the fourth year in a row, Union County Public Schools seniors, on the average, scored higher than seniors taking the SAT on both the state and national level. The 2008-09 scores released August 25, 2009, showed a combined math and verbal score for UCPS to be 1029, up five points from last year. North Carolina seniors scored 1006 and national scores were 1016.
Out of the 2,170 UCPS seniors in the 2009 graduating class, 63.6 percent took the SAT Reasoning Test at some time during their high school years through March 2009. The state SAT participation rate was 63 percent; nationally 46 percent. If a student took the test more than once, only the most recent score was used in reporting a school district’s scores.
These outstanding scores come on top of the recent news that the 2009 UCPS graduates were awarded a record-breaking $51.1 million in scholarships.
As outstanding as these accomplishments were, the good news for academic growth and performance goes beyond the exemplary accomplishments of the Class of 2009.
UCPS ranks number one among the eight largest school systems in the state with the percentage of schools making the federal No Child Left Behind Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) having 40 of its 49 schools, or 81.6 percent, achieving 100 percent of the target goals set by NCLB.
Earlier this month the state ABCs test scores were released and showed that UCPS ranked among the highest in the state. Almost one-third of all UCPS schools were designated Honor Schools of Excellence, the highest designation possible. This means that at least 90 percent of their students scored at or above grade level (Achievement Level III), met or exceeded the expected growth and made Adequate Yearly Progress. Statewide, only 4.9 percent of the 2,515 public schools were designated Honor Schools of Excellence.
The UCPS Graduation Rate also climbed from 77.2 percent last year up to 80.7 percent in the 2008-09 school year. When asked why Union County Public Schools is performing at such a stellar level, Superintendent Ed Davis said, “
“I really think the primary reason for these successes, aside from the obvious work that has gone into obtaining these results, is the culture of high expectations for student achievement that exists in every facet of the school district.”
This culture has been developed at the top level and has been filtered down to the schools until it has reached the individual student. The UCPS mission is Preparing All Students to Succeed and this can never be accomplished if you do not first of all have a culture that believes that every student can succeed and is expected to succeed.”
This article was provided courtesy of the Communications Office of the Union County Public Schools.
2009 MonroeScoop.com
