Board approves Sampson Middle School improvement plan aimed at steady gains in reading, math and special education

The Clinton City Schools Board of Education on Oct. 16 approved Sampson Middle School's school improvement plan, a multi-year strategy school leaders said is intended to lift the school out of its Targeted Support and Improvement (TSI) designation by raising proficiency and student growth across subjects.

Sampson Middle School Principal Dr. Tony Fason told the board the team set cautious, measurable goals and built the plan around regular data review: "We are headed in the right direction," he said, describing recent subgroup gains and a focus on teacher-led data conversations.

The plan sets an elementary-to-middle school frame of specific, subject-level targets. Seventh-grade ELA lead teacher Chenoa Acosta said the school's ELA target is a 5-percentage-point increase (from a reported 44.1% grade-level reading proficiency to a target of about 49.1%) and described classroom and curriculum steps to reach it: expansion of AVID instructional strategies, focused vocabulary work using Frayer models, daily quick-write journals, use of HMH curriculum resources and regular i-Ready assignments for standards mastery. "Our goal is a 5% increase," Acosta said.

Math coordinator Hannah Wise Brown told the board Sampson Middle aims to raise overall mathematics proficiency to 52.5% by 2026. The math strategy centers on biweekly, data-driven PLCs, common assessments, focused note-taking, and targeted intervention and enrichment during scheduled intervention/enrichment (I&E) periods. Brown detailed small-group instruction, I-Ready professional development and project-based enrichment activities as core tactics.

Science teacher Perry Gillespie said science teachers will increase the number of aligned common assessments, expand hands-on labs and focus on vocabulary application; he highlighted additional supports for multilingual learners, including the Flashlight 360 tool for science vocabulary and language scaffolds.

Eddie King, who leads services for students with disabilities (SWD), explained why the school set a smaller SWD proficiency target (about a 3-point increase). He told the board that when students meet proficiency consistently they may be exited from special-education classifications, which changes subgroup counts; instead, the school will track "meeting or exceeding predicted growth" as a primary success measure and expand a resource math class, consistent inclusion scheduling, monthly data dives and parent/student data conferences.

AVID coordinator Angelique described schoolwide roll-out of AVID strategies (Cornell notes, agendas, focused note-taking and AVID Weekly readings) to build student agency and repetition for retention that teachers will reinforce across content areas.

Board members asked about parent engagement and whether the chosen 5% targets were sufficient. Dr. Fason and other presenters said parent contact is built into required IEP meetings, report-card conferences and Title I nights; presenters described teacher and administrator expectations that parents be informed when students fall below benchmarks. On the size of the targets Fason said the team chose achievable goals to allow for early success and ongoing momentum.

The board approved the plan after a motion and second and asked that any additional questions or clarifications be submitted to Dr. Fason or Dr. Linda Carr before the district files the plan with the state in Raleigh.

What the plan includes and next steps: teachers will use common assessments and weekly lesson planning feedback, the district will continue professional development for i-Ready/HMH and AVID, expanded small-group instruction and targeted interventions during I&E, a continuing resource math class for select SWD students, monthly data dives with students and families, and tracking of growth metrics used by the state. The plan will be filed with the state; the board approved it and requested final clarifications before submission.