JOHNSTON COUNTY, N.C. — You won't find Melissa Hubbard cooped up in her office.
What You Need To Know
According to the Department of Public Instruction's latest data, Johnston County is the most improved school district in North Carolina
Last year, the county had 14 low-performing schools
This year, that number dropped to five
The Archer Lodge Middle School principal is a people person who prefers being right where the action is.
"We've got to have that connection with our students. They've got to know that we care and that we're there to support them through no matter what," Hubbard said.
Hubbard and her administrative team have walked through over 1,200 classrooms in the past year. Keeping track of those numbers is a district-wide effort to push for higher engagement and learning standards.
"I want my students, my teachers, to see that I'm invested in what's going on," she said.
The hard work has paid off. Hubbard says there was no prouder moment than seeing this year's school performance data and learning her school was no longer a grade "C" school.
"I had told my admin team. I had said the stars would have to align completely perfect for us to be an "B" and when those results came out I was ecstatic," Hubbard said.
Math was the school's highest area of growth with 64% proficiency. Hubbard says the school reviewed data from end-of-year exams with a fine-tooth comb to understand which individual students needed extra help, so they could give them the right push.
"We have to be there for them in all aspects of the day, instruction, the social emotional, just being there for them. And I love it when they get it," she said.
As Hubbard continues celebrating her school and district's accomplishments, that doesn't mean the work stops here. This principal is competitive by nature and says this year is all about rising to new challenges.
"Hey, we did great, but we got to keep going up. We can't just be status quo with where we're at. The kids are our future, and if we don't prepare them, if we don't do our part, then we failed them," Hubbard said.
Right now, Hubbard says the school ranks 12th out of 2,532 schools when it comes to academic growth.
This week, leaders in education also began discussing how to accurately redesign school performance grades across the state.
Right now, the grades are based on a formula that is 80% proficiency, meaning test scores, and 20% growth.
N.C. Superintendent of Public Instruction Catherine Truitt said she's wanted to redesign this model since taking office last year. Truitt said the model is not an accurate reflection of what school quality means or what student success is.
For instance, she said not all students are expert test takers.
"As any parent will tell you that one test that occurs one day of the year is not indicative of the 95% of work the student has done over the course of the year or the semester," Truitt said.
The N.C. Department of Public Instruction said it will not be changing the scale, meaning there will still be letter grades. However, what is being discussed is if the agency can better determine what makes up a letter grade to reflect school performance.
Whether that's internships, parent engagement, high school graduation and much more.
Once they have the new model, Truitt says they plan to share it with the state board, then it will head to the legislature for the long session this January.
According to DPI's latest school performance data, since the 2018 to 2019 school year, Johnston County is one of three school districts in the state that met or exceeded grade level expectancy on end-of-grade tests or end-of course tests.
The other districts were Clay and Perquimans counties.
In 2019, 59% of students statewide were proficient in their grade-level exams. During the pandemic, in 2021, it went down to 45%. And in 2022, it jumped back up to 51%.