Wilkes County Schools

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3000 Series - Educational Programs » 3420 Student Promotion and Accountability

3420 Student Promotion and Accountability

  1. Purpose

The Wilkes County Board of Education believes that students should progress to the next level of study only after they are proficient in their knowledge and application of the current curriculum level. A multi-tiered system of support provides the structure within which all efforts of Wilkes County Schools are aligned to ensure that the academic, behavioral, and social/emotional needs of all students are a high priority in order to be promoted to the next level of study as described in this policy.

  1. Student Promotion Standards

The superintendent shall establish standards and a process for determining a student's readiness to progress to the next level of study.

Promotion for Grade K-8

The standards will be based, in part, upon proficiency in reading and math. The standards and process must provide multiple criteria for assessing a student's readiness to progress to the next level of study, such as standardized test scores, formative and diagnostic assessments, grades, a portfolio, or anthology of the student's work. The standards and process will incorporate all state law and State Board of Education policy requirements, including those for the assessment and promotion of third grade students as described in G.S. 115C-83.6 et seq. and State Board of Education Policies KNEC-002 and -003.

  1. Wilkes County Schools Student Accountability and Promotion Standards

Grades K-5 Local Promotion Standards

  1. Students in grades K-5 shall be placed by the principal at the grade level for which each child is best adjusted academically, socially, emotionally, chronologically, and physically. Students are expected to demonstrate at least one year's growth for each year of instruction.
  2. For K-2, these decisions shall be based on mastery of grade-level skills as measured by North Carolina K-2 Literacy and Mathematics assessments that correspond to the current statewide instructional standards for each grade, teacher assessment, and other local and state-recommended and/or required assessments.
  3. For 3-5, promotion decisions shall be based on mastery of skills as measured by teacher assessment, North Carolina End of Grade Tests, and other local and state recommended assessments including but not limited to reading and math diagnostic assessments. Students who do not score at Level III or above on the first administration of EOG tests may be retested in accordance with State Board of Education policy.
  4. Regular and punctual attendance is critical to student success. As such, students should be in attendance 80% of the days they are enrolled. Students who fall under this threshold may have a MTSS Intervention Plan in place that strategically addresses attendance concerns.
  5. A student may be retained no more than once in grades K-5. The principal will make the final grade placement decision.

Grades 6-8 Local Promotion Standards

  1. Students in grades 6-8 should pass five courses:  one of which must be language arts, one of which must be mathematics, and one of which must be science or social studies. Final promotion decisions shall be based on mastery of grade-level skills as measured by teacher assessments, North Carolina End of Grade Tests, reading and math diagnostics, and other local and state-recommended assessments.
  2. Regular and punctual attendance is critical to student success. As such, students should be in attendance 80% of the days they are enrolled. Students who fall under this threshold may have an MTSS Intervention Plan in place that strategically addresses attendance concerns.
  3. Students who do not score at Level III or above on the first administration of EOG tests may be retested in accordance with State Board of Education policy.
  4. A student may be retained no more than once in grades 6-8. The principal will make the final grade placement decision.

Grades 9-12 Local Promotion Standards

  1. Students entering grade 10 must have a minimum of six (6) units of course credit earned in grade 9.
  2. Students entering grade 11 must have a minimum of thirteen (13) units of course credit earned in grades 9 and 10.
  3. Students entering grade 12 must have a minimum of twenty (20) units of course credit earned in grades 9, 10, and 11 and be in a position to graduate at the end of the regular school year.
  4. To receive credit for a high school class, students must have a passing overall average (60% or above) in the course and should meet the school system's attendance requirement. EOC exams will count for 20% of the final grade. In years where a new test is being implemented and the scores will be delayed, WCS will use the raw scores to convert to a percentage correct to be used as 20% of the student's final grade. If no raw scores are available, teachers will use the average of the two quarters as the final exam grade.
The Superintendent shall ensure that the promotion standards are used by teachers and school administrators in assessing each student's readiness to progress to the next level of study. Principals have the ultimate authority to grade, promote, and retain students based upon the standards approved by the Wilkes County Board of Education and the State Board of Education.
 
To reduce the number of students who do not meet promotion standards, the board directs school administrators and teachers to address the needs of students who are not making adequate academic progress as required by policy 3405, Students at Risk of Academic Failure.

  1. Diploma Standards

To receive a North Carolina high school diploma, a student must complete the requirements set forth in policy 3460, Graduation Requirements.

  1. Appeals of Promotion Decisions

  1. A parent may request a promotion appeal for students in Grades K-8. All appeals must be made in writing to the child's principal. A committee will be established at the district level to hear appeals regarding retention decisions. The purpose of the appeals committee is to determine if the child is working on grade level or, in the case of students with disabilities or students with limited English proficiency, making adequate progress to be successful at the next grade level. The committee will consist of an administrator and two teachers not working daily with the student being retained. At least one of the committee members will be from the exceptional children's department if a student with a disability is being considered in an appeal. In instances where a language barrier is present, communication in the native language will be available. The retention appeals committee will make its recommendation to the student's principal who has the final say in promotion decisions. All appeals must be completed by July 1.
Persons requesting appeals for retention may provide the following documentation:
  • Student work samples
  • Other test data
  • Information supplied by parents
  • Comparison of growth in student achievement from the previous year
  • For students with disabilities, information included in the Individualized Education Program (IEP)
  • For students with Limited English Proficiency, LEP Plan
  • Other information that verifies that a student is performing at grade level
  • Documentation of attendance at tutoring sessions
  • Previous retention at other grade levels
  1. Appeal to the Superintendent
Within five workdays of receiving the principal's written decision to promote or retain a student, the student's parents may appeal the decision to the superintendent.
The superintendent may overturn the principal's decision only upon a finding that the principal's decision was arbitrary and capricious (i.e. without a rational basis) or was otherwise an abuse of discretion.
The superintendent must render a decision within 10 work days of receiving the appeal. The superintendent may support the principal's decision, remand it back to the principal for consideration of additional issues, or reverse the decision.
The superintendent's findings must be in writing and must be provided to the parents.
  1. Appeal to the Board of Education
The superintendent's decision to promote or retain a student may be appealed to the board in accordance with the procedures set forth in subsection E.5 of policy 1740/4010, Student and Parent Grievance Procedure.

  1. Literacy Interventions

  1. Reading Camps
The board will provide reading camp opportunities as required by law at no fee for students entitled to this intervention under state law. The superintendent or designee shall encourage parents of eligible students to enroll their students in a reading camp. To the extent resources permit, the board will offer fee-based reading camp opportunities for students in eligible grades who are not entitled to attend at no cost. Annually, the board will establish criteria for priority enrollment in its fee-based reading camps and will set the attendance fee at an amount not to exceed the statutory limit. The superintendent or designee shall notify interested parents of the application procedure for the fee-based reading camps.
  1. Individual Reading Plans
Beginning in the 2022-2023 school year, an Individual Reading Plan (IRP) will be developed in accordance with state law for any student in kindergarten through third grade demonstrating difficulty with reading development based on the results of either (1) the first diagnostic or formative assessment of the school year or (2) the first diagnostic or formative assessment of the second semester of the school year. The student's teacher shall notify the parent or guardian that the student has demonstrated difficulty with reading development and that an IRP has been developed for the student. The notice provided must include all other information required under G.S. 115C-83.6B(b) and should be in the parents' native language when appropriate foreign language resources are readily available.
  1. Digital Children's Reading Initiative
The school system will provide access through the school system website to available resources from the Department of Public Instruction's Digital Children's Reading Initiative as required by law. Printable activities from those resources will be provided in hard copy to students who do not have digital access at home.
  1. Approval of Literacy Intervention Plan
By the established deadline each year, the superintendent or designee shall submit to the Department of Public Instruction for approval a plan for the literacy interventions the school system will offer in the following school year, as required by G.S. 115C-83.6A.

  1. Promotion Standards for Students with Disabilities

To the extent possible, students with disabilities must be held to the same promotion standards as all other students. However, for students who take alternative assessments in lieu of the end-of-grade (EOG) or end-of-course (EOC) tests, promotion decisions must be based on criteria recommended by the IEP team. The school principal has the ultimate responsibility for promotion of students in accordance with federal, state, and local regulations.
All intervention strategies and other opportunities, benefits, and resources that are made available to students without disabilities must be made available to those students with disabilities who are subject to the student promotion standards. Such opportunities must be in addition to the special education services provided to the student.

  1. Multilingual Learners

Students of limited English proficiency must meet the same accountability standards as all other students. All interventions, remediation, benefits, and resources that are made available to other students will be made available to students with limited English language proficiency. In accordance with federal law, English language proficiency cannot be the factor that determines that a student has not met student accountability performance standards.
Any student who is struggling to meet the academic demands of a course will go through the MTSS model in order to provide intervention and support for that student. Any teacher or administrator that deems it necessary to deny credit for a course will need to complete the required documentation provided by the ESL/ML department as required by WCS Policy 3400.
Each Multilingual Learner (ML) student's English proficiency level, grade level, and educational background, as well as language background for bilingual programs, must be considered to determine which Multilingual Learner program services are appropriate for Multilingual Learner students. To provide appropriate and adequate Multilingual Learner program services based on each student's individual needs, and to facilitate transition out of such services within a reasonable time period, a school district may have to provide more support for a Multilingual Learner services for the least English proficient Multilingual Learner students than for the more proficient ones.
All students identified as Multilingual Learners must be assessed using the WIDA Screener at initial enrollment. All students are tested for English Language Proficiency annually using the ACCESS during the LEP testing window.
Multilingual Learners must meet the same standards as all students for high school graduation. Wilkes County Schools will provide focused intervention for these students until they have met statewide promotion standards and high school graduation requirements up to age 21. This intervention will involve extended, supplemental instructional opportunities that include assistance in the development of English language proficiency.

  1. Credit by Demonstrated Mastery

The superintendent shall provide opportunities for students in grades 9 through 12 to earn course credit by demonstrating mastery of course material without first completing the regular period of classroom instruction in the course. Students in grades 6 through 8 may earn credit by demonstrated mastery for high school courses offered in middle school. To earn credit by demonstrated mastery, students must demonstrate a deep understanding of the content standards and application of knowledge through a multi-phase assessment, in accordance with standards established by the State Board of Education and any additional standards established by the superintendent.

  1. Credit Recovery

Students who fail a high school course may retake parts of the course through credit recovery to earn credit for the course. Credit recovery delivers a subset of the blueprint of the original course in order to specifically address deficiencies in a student's mastery of the course and target specific components of a course necessary for completion. A pre-assessment of the student's understanding of the course material will be administered at the beginning of the course and the credit recovery will be tailored to meet the needs of the individual student. The length of a credit recovery course is dictated by the skills and knowledge the student needs to recover and not a fixed length of seat time.
Any EOC exam associated with the credit recovery course may be administered no later than 30 days upon completion of the credit recovery course. The credit recovery will be graded as pass or fail and will not impact the student's grade point average. The original grade for the course will remain on the student's transcript.
The superintendent shall develop procedures addressing the implementation of credit recovery opportunities across the school system.

  1. Repeating a Course for Credit

  1. Repeating a Previously Failed Course
As provided in State Board of Education policy CCRE-001, high school students who fail a course for credit may repeat that course. To take advantage of this option, the student must repeat the entire course. Beginning with the 2015-16 school year, when a student initially fails a high school course and successfully repeats the course for credit, the new course grade will replace the original failing grade for the course on the student's transcript and in calculations of the student's GPA, class rank, and honor roll eligibility. The superintendent may develop procedures for students to indicate their intent to repeat a course for credit under this paragraph and may establish any other rules as necessary and consistent with State Board policy.
  1. Repeating a Course for which Credit was Earned (Grade Replacement)
The board recognizes that high school students may need to repeat a course for which they have earned credit in order to increase their understanding of the course content, to improve skill mastery, or to meet postsecondary goals. Students may repeat a course for which they have previously earned credit, subject to the following preconditions and any other reasonable rules established by the superintendent:
  1. the student must have earned a letter grade of C or lower in the course on the first attempt;
  2. the student must make a written request to repeat the course;
  3. the principal or designee must approve the request;
  4. there must be space available after seats have been assigned to students who are taking the course for the first time or repeating a previously failed course;
  5. the course to be repeated must be a duplicate of the original class and must be taken during the regular school day at a high school in this school system;
  6. upon completion of the repeated course, the new course grade will replace the student's original grade on the student's transcript and in calculations of the student's GPA, class rank, and honor roll eligibility, regardless of whether the later grade is higher or lower than the student's original mark;
  7. Students repeating a course for credit shall receive a grade and take the associated End-of-Course (EOC) assessment. Those students who have already scored at Level 3, 4, or 5 on the associated EOC assessment may elect either to retake the EOC or use the previous passing EOC score as at least 20% of their final grade. If the student retakes the EOC, the higher of the two scores will be used in the calculation of the final grade.
  8. credit towards graduation for the same course will be given only once;
  9. a course may be repeated only one time; and
  10. students may repeat a maximum of four previously passed courses during their high school careers.

  1. Reporting Requirements

  1. Superintendent's Report to the Board
At least on an annual basis, the superintendent shall provide the board with the following information for each school:
  1. aggregate student performance scores on state-mandated tests and any other standardized tests used by a school or the school system;
  2. the number and percentage of third grade students exempt from mandatory third grade retention by category of exemption as listed in state law.
  1. Report to the North Carolina State Board of Education and Department of Public Instruction
Pursuant to statutory requirements and standards established by the Department of Public Instruction, all required information regarding student performance will be provided annually to the State Board of Education and the Department of Public Instruction.
  1. Publication on the School System Website
Information about the reading performance of first, second, and third grade students will be posted on the school system website in accordance with state law.

  1. Resources

Consistent with the objective of improving student performance, the board will provide schools with maximum flexibility in the allocation of state funds. School personnel are expected to budget financial resources in a manner that will meet the standards established in this policy. The board will consider requests to transfer funds from other funding allotment categories to intervention strategies as part of the school improvement plan submitted by school officials. All funds will be used in a fiscally sound manner in accordance with policy 8300, Fiscal Management Standards.

  1. Notification to Parents

The superintendent or designee shall provide information regarding promotion standards to all students and parents. In addition, if a kindergarten, first grade, second grade, or third grade student (1) is demonstrating difficulty with reading development or (2) is not reading at grade level, the student's teacher shall provide the student's parents timely written notice advising that if the student is not demonstrating reading proficiency by the end of third grade, the student will be retained, unless exempt from mandatory retention for good cause. Parents are encouraged to help their children meet the promotion standards and will have opportunities to discuss the promotion standards and procedures with teachers and the principal. Information provided to parents should be in the parents' native language when appropriate foreign language resources are readily available.
The teacher of a student who does not meet promotion standards must notify the student's parents that the student has failed to meet the standards for progression to the next level of study and must provide the parents with information concerning retesting, intervention, review, and appeal opportunities. When a student is to be retained, the principal shall provide the student's parents written notice of the retention and, if the student will be retained in accordance with G.S. 115C-83.7(a) for failure to demonstrate reading proficiency, (1) written notice of the reason the student is not eligible for a good cause exemption as provided in G.S. 115C-83.7(b) and (2) a description of proposed literacy interventions that will be provided to the student to remediate areas where the student has not demonstrated reading proficiency. Teachers shall provide parents of students retained under G.S. 115C-83.7(a) at least monthly written reports on student progress toward reading proficiency. The evaluation of a student's progress will be based upon the student's classroom work, observations, tests, assessments, and other relevant information.

  1. Children of Military Families

As required by the Interstate Compact on Educational Opportunity for Military Children (G.S. 115C-407.5), G.S. 115C-407.12, and policy 4155, Assignment to Classes, school administrators have the authority to exercise flexibility in waiving course or program prerequisites or other preconditions for the placement of children of military families, as defined in policy 4050, Children of Military Families, in courses or programs offered by the school system.
 
 
 
 
Legal References:  G.S. 115C-36, -45(c), -47, -81.5, -83.2, -83.3, -83.6, -83.6A, -83.6B, -83.7, -
83.7A, -83.8, -83.9, -83.10, -83.11, -105.21, -174.11, -288(a), -407.5, -407.12; S.L. 2021-8; State
Board of Education Policies CCRE-001, KNEC-002, KNEC-003

 
Cross References:  Student and Parent Grievance Procedure (policy 1740/4010), Goals and Objectives of the Educational Program (policy 3000), Dual Enrollment (policy 3101), Evaluation of Student Progress (policy 3400), Students at Risk of Academic Failure (policy 3405), School Improvement Plan (policy 3430), Graduation Requirements (policy 3460), Extracurricular Activities and Student Organizations (policy 3620), Assignment to Classes (policy 4155), Fiscal Management Standards (policy 8300)
 
Other Resources:  Guidelines for Testing Students Identified as English Learners (N.C. Department of Public Instruction), available at https://www.dpi.nc.gov/districts-schools/testing- and-school-accountability/testing-policy-and-operations/testing-students-identified-english- learners; Read to Achieve Implementation Guide, available at https://www.dpi.nc.gov/districts- schools/classroom-resources/early-learning-read-achieve/k-3-literacy
 
Adopted:  May 17, 2004
 
Revised:  December 5, 2005, June 7, 2010, June 4, 2012, December 3, 2012, November 4, 2013
January 13, 2014, January 7, 2019, May 4, 2020, August 5, 2024, February 3, 2025