In September, the Arkansas Division of Elementary and Secondary Education (ADE) published their annual school report card, revealing that Heritage High School had maintained its grade as a C school.

Since 2016, Arkansas law has required annual school report cards, which include performance data and letter grades, for each public school in the state. The grade is based on multiple factors including student attendance, graduation rates and community service. However, 85% of the grade is determined by student performance and growth on state tests.

“State testing is ultimately how we are judged,” Principal Chip Greenwell said. “85% of our school grade card comes through those high-stakes tests: 50% coming from student growth and 35% coming from student achievement.”

Unlike traditional letter grades in school, the ADE rating scale designates 73.22 and above as an A,  67.96-73.21 as a B, 61.10-67.95 as a C, 52.95-61.09 as a D and 52.94 and below as an F. Heritage’s accountability score is a 62.1, which is 1 point above the threshold for a D. (Chart on p. 2.)

Since the implementation of the school report card, Heritage has consistently received a C grade. Moreover, since 2018, the accountability score has dropped from 65.76 to 62.1, a 3.66 point decrease and now the lowest score across the district. Dropping to a D or F could mean drastic changes for Heritage students, staff and the overall community.

According to the LEARNS Act, public schools with a D or F would become eligible for intensive support from ADE and could transfer control from the local school board to a third party or the State Board of Education. With such high stakes, the administration is taking the situation seriously.

Greenwell, who is in his first year as the principal of Heritage High School, has his attention set on “day-to-day learning” and believes that will have a direct impact on the state grade.

“I’m putting a huge amount of thought and resources into improving the state grade,” Greenwell said. “We are doing a ton of things that have never been done before to improve our grade, and I’m really proud of a lot of the work we are doing.”

The most evident work is an increased focus on core classes. Over the summer, administration and staff reviewed the new state learning standards and identified the most essential targets for
student success. Now that the school year is underway, teachers whose subjects are on the state test are given a full day to collaborate and align their lessons each learning cycle. This helps teachers stay on the same page and guarantees that every student in the same course is learning the same information.

“We are all working as a team because the challenge is so great,” Greenwell said. “Academically we still need to grow in a number of areas. I am very confident that we are fostering the correct environment to ensure that we are going to move in a positive direction regarding academic growth and achievement.”

Some of the other steps he is taking include consistent award ceremonies and attendance incentive programs.

Greenwell, admin and teachers can’t improve the school report card on their own; each student has responsibility as well.

“The number one thing that students can do to start to fix the problem is come to school,” said Kate Lennon, who teaches upper-level science. “We need to get students involved. We all need to take pride in this school and know that we’re better than this.

“We’ve got such great opportunities for these kids, and it’s embarrassing that this is the
situation.”

While the staff is well aware of the school grade and its potential consequences, students interviewed by The Talon did not know the fullness of both the grade and its effects.

“I was very unaware of this information, and that makes me feel really bad for the school,” said Laney Sellers (10). “I don’t think we are a bad school, so that makes me want to work harder to help our school improve. Not just one person can make us go up to an A school; we have to all work together to improve.”

For students, teachers and community members who are concerned about Heritage’s grade falling below a C, Greenwell has encouraging news.

“I can confidently say we would have to drop our academic achievement and growth dramatically for a number of years for us to fall under intensive support,” he said in an email.