Press Release
September 12, 2017
Madison County Schools

Madison County Schools Academic Performance Among the Best in North Carolina

School accountability data was recently released by the State Board of Education for the 2016-17 school year.  Student achievement results in the Madison County Schools continued to improve and are among the highest in North Carolina.  Out of 115 school systems in North Carolina Madison County Schools ranked 15th.  In the Western Region Madison County Schools ranked 5th.

“What great work our students and staff are doing to produce such a high quality return,” said Superintendent Jim Causby.  “Considering the high level of poverty in our county it is remarkable to see such high student achievement.  Ranking 15th highest in North Carolina and 5th highest in the Western Region is the highest in the history of Madison County Schools and I am so proud of the hard work of everyone involved with our school system.”

School performance grades, required by state law, are based primarily on overall proficiency rates on the state’s standardized end-of-grade and end-of-course tests, and to a lesser extent, the growth students make during the year.  Eighty percent of the grade is based upon the percentage of tests earning a score considered grade-level proficient.  Twenty percent is based on growth.

In Madison County Schools, 67 percent (4 out of 6) of our schools scored an A or B last year, compared to 35.8 percent of traditional public schools statewide.  Madison Early College High School earned an A grade.  Brush Creek Elementary School, Hot Springs Elementary School and Mars Hill Elementary School all earned a B grade.  Madison High School and Madison Middle School both earned a C grade.  The school system had no schools earning a D or F grade.

The graduation rate also continued to improve.  The four-year cohort graduation rate for Madison County Schools increased to 88 percent in 2016-17 from 85.6 percent in 2015-16.  The state four-year cohort graduation rate for 2016-17 was 86.5 percent.

The North Carolina Department of Public Instruction has posted a variety of data reports on its website.  Those can be accessed at www.ncpublicschools.org/accountability/reporting/.