BY MATT LAMB
Insider Staff Writer
The numbers are in, and after breaking into the top 10 last year in statewide grade level proficiency (GLP), Moore County Schools has continued its upward trajectory, finishing the 2024-2025 school year as the seventh-highest performing public school district out of 115 in the state.
Each year, key members of the Central Office staff analyze the data, comparing student and school level key outcomes through various measurements, including graduation rates, ACT results, grade and end-of-course performance, and career and technical education credential attainment, all against the backdrop of the Moore County Schools’ strategic plan.
To the satisfaction of the Board of Education, Deputy Superintendent Jamie Synan and Planning, Accountability and Research Director Kate Faw recently briefed school board members in detail.
“To say that I continue to be proud and fired up on the work that our school district continues to do would be an understatement,” said Superintendent Tim Locklair. “Our entire employee team that’s contributed to another year of continuous improvement — there’s a lot here to celebrate.”
GLP is based on student performance on end-of-grade assessments in both math and reading in grades three through eight, fifth- and eighth-grade science, and high school end-of-course exams in English Two, Math One, Math Three and Biology. The GLP scores are based on the percent of students who score at or above an achievement level of three on a scale of five.
District-wide GLP performance, collating all tested areas, is currently at a five-year high, with a composite score of 63.7, outperforming the state average by 8.7 percentage points.
In math, district scores were above the state average in all grades and subjects, except in Math Three, where MCS was a half a percentage point below the state average.
As for English Language Arts, which measures students’ understanding of grade level standards through activities such as identifying themes and comparing story genres, the district was well above the state in all measured grade levels, ranging from 5.6 percentage points to 13.4 percentage points above the state average.
Third-grade reading scores are often seen as a strong predictor of future academic success, but it was also the district’s lowest-performing composite score at 59.8. However, based on Lexile data, which measures students’ ability to read and understand text, 88 percent of MCS third-grade students are reading at or above grade level.
Additionally, according to Read to Achieve scores, which also measure reading proficiency and progress, 82 percent of high school students are reading at or above grade level.
As for science, despite a recent change in state standards, MCS outperformed the state average by 11.8 percentage points in fifth grade, 10.6 points in eighth grade and 12.9 points in Biology.
“I’m not here to bash the state, but there wasn’t a lot of great support because of the timeline of how this all got rolled out,” said Locklair. “This is a re-normed test. It’s a different test with different standards, so the goal line got moved from where the first down is; that marker got moved. So, I’m awfully proud of our teachers and awfully proud of the hard work here. This shows the quality of work we’re doing here in the district.”
Board member Amy Dahl added, “As a current science teacher who is trying to deal with the new state standards and the really stark lack of support from the state in trying to apply those standards, these teachers really deserve our respect.”
The ACT measures college readiness in four areas: English, math, reading, and science, with an optional writing section. Students across the state take the assessment as high school juniors. Based on the North Carolina University System’s benchmark score of 17, the district outperforms the state average by almost 13 points, with a 66.6 percent achievement rate.
For students on career readiness tracks, CTE (Career and Technical Education) credentials represent mastery in a specific area of study. In the 2024-2025 school year, MCS students earned 4,751 credentials, an increase from 4,646 the previous year.
Additionally, the WorkKeys Assessment is administered to high school seniors who have completed a CTE course of study. The tests analyze proficiency in applied math, graphic literacy and workplace documents, and are broken down into bronze, silver, gold and platinum levels. Last year, 63.7 percent of students in the district who took the WorkKeys Assessment scored at or above the silver level, compared to 59.8 percent statewide.
On graduation rates, nearly 90 percent of all Moore County Schools students complete high school in four years, compared to a state average of 87.7 percent. 1.8 percent of students in the district drop out before completing high school.
As the numbers shake out, Moore County Schools is ranked seventh out of 115 districts in the state in GLP. That number represents a steady rise from 23rd in 2021, 18th in 2023 and 10th last year. It’s worth noting that, in the 2024-2025 school year, factoring in federal, state and local funding, Moore County Schools ranked 109th in per-pupil funding. Only six districts received fewer dollars per student than MCS.
“I like to say, we played the long game. We committed to doing the hard work; it’s not easy work,” said Locklair. Over time, we’ve incrementally improved our performance of our students, and we continue to be committed to doing that. (I’m) just so proud of the work, the commitment, ‘The Moore County Schools Way.’”
Contact Matt Lamb at (910) 693-2479 or mlamb@thepilot.com.
