Swain County school leaders told the Board of Education on Tuesday that two schools received D ratings under the state accountability system and presented NCSTAR improvement plans and interventions the district will use to try to raise student proficiency. Superintendent (name not specified) and school leaders outlined coaching, weekly assessments and grant-backed support to address reading and math gaps.

District leaders said the ratings matter because they trigger required public review and improvement planning under state guidance and because proficiency across the district (K–12) is 44 percent compared with the state’s 55 percent. The district will provide public comment opportunities and asked the board to review draft NCSTAR plans before votes in October.

School officials described where the district aims to act first: earlier, explicit reading instruction, more targeted intervention blocks, and coaching for teachers and administrators. Trina, who presented formative-assessment results, said the district switched back to the I-Ready diagnostic in grades where it provides richer detail and used in-class measures such as DIBELS/Amplify to identify specific skill gaps. Ryan, the middle-school principal, described a Golden Leaf grant paired with Marzano coaching that will support weekly short assessments, proficiency scales and rapid interventions. Ryan said the middle school’s goal is a modest, required improvement this year: an attainable proficiency increase and a higher stretch goal tied to EOG results.

Officials acknowledged limits to the assessment window: several schools experienced student absences early in the year, so some diagnostic results remain incomplete. Superintendent cautioned that subgroup and socioeconomic gaps remain large statewide and locally: “I will not make excuses. I will take ownership and so will our school system,” she said, and urged the board to review draft improvement plans before final approval. The board was told the district will post improvement plans for public comment and hold a public comment period in mid‑October and present final NCSTAR plans for board action in November.

District actions scheduled in the near term include weekly diagnostic checks at middle school levels, October coaching sessions for administrators and coaches, and an October 13 board meeting set aside to review NCSTAR plans. Board members did not vote on NCSTAR plans for East or the middle school at this meeting; the board approved the pre-K NCSTAR plan and agreed to a timeline for public comment and final approvals.

Officials said the district is combining several supports — state-funded early literacy coaching, district coaching cycles, grants (Golden Leaf/Marzano supports) and targeted interventions (Boost for K–3, I-Ready for grades 4–8) — to create wraparound support for students identified by MTSS procedures. The district emphasized that some interventions will be in-person and small-group rather than exclusively computer-based.