HARRISON COUNTY, WV — Harrison County students are making steady progress in Math and English Language Arts (ELA). The data was shared at the October 7 Board of Education meeting by Pam Knight, Administrative Assistant for Secondary Schools and Curriculum Development.
“There are some encouraging signs of growth especially in those average scale scores that you can see.” — Pam Knight
Middle School Results
Math (countywide, longitudinal)
8th-grade cohort (now 9th): average score rose from 487 to 550 (+63). Students exceeding standards increased from 12% to 19%. About 40% remain below standard.
7th-grade cohort (now 8th): average score rose from 474 to 525. Exceeding remained at 19%. Not meeting rose from 26% to 34%.
6th-grade cohort (now 7th): average score rose from 450 to 494. Exceeding decreased to 17%; not meeting increased to 35%.
“A lot of times students when they're in the eighth grade, they um get fatigued easily. They become disengaged very quickly and um they are pretty much at the top of the line in the middle schools. So they really don't see that they really have to do very well on these tests.” — Pam Knight
ELA (countywide, longitudinal)
8th-grade cohort (now 9th): average score rose from 631 to 640. About 40% met or exceeded. Not meeting rose from 20% to 29%.
7th-grade cohort (now 8th): average score rose from 617 to 639. Not meeting fell from 24% to 20%. Exceeding held at 19%.
6th-grade cohort (now 7th): average score rose from 593 to 639 (+46). Meeting or exceeding grew from 49% to 53%; not meeting dropped to 17% (lowest among cohorts).
“These students who are currently in the seventh grade are going to be doing very very well as long as we continue to maintain our focus on what we're currently doing and um delivering interventions and literacy instruction that meets the standards for the ELA students.” — Pam Knight
Next Steps for Middle Schools
Keep targeted help for students below standards in math and ELA.
Provide more training in reading comprehension and math instruction.
Strengthen the grade 5–6 transition by sharing effective strategies.
Recognize small gains to keep students and staff motivated.
“I think the last thing, the next step is that's most important is that we celebrate the progress. And it may not be a lot, but we need to celebrate all the small steps that the students take and that the schools take and then provide them with that personalized support wherever wherever that's needed.” — Pam Knight
High School Results (PSAT & SAT)
High school data from PSAT 9, PSAT 10, and the SAT School Day show broad gains in college readiness.
Evidence-Based Reading & Writing (students meeting benchmark)
Bridgeport HS: 78 → 134
Lincoln HS: 6 → 51
South Harrison HS: 4 → 47
Robert C. Byrd HS: 10 → 93
Math (students meeting benchmark)
Lincoln HS: 6 → 16
Robert C. Byrd HS: 10 → 28
South Harrison HS: 4 → 12
Bridgeport led the county with 46% meeting both benchmarks, while RCB and South Harrison had over 40% meeting at least one.
“Still after all these years, it still goes back to heart of algebra is the area that is their weakest.” — Pam Knight
Planning and Instruction
Schools will use PSAT and SAT data to guide lessons and supports before students take the SAT as juniors.
“This data is a journey for us. It's not just a test, but it gives us a some comprehensive data that we can provide to our school leaders and our educators so that they can then start to develop that targeted instruction and help our students show that growth.” — Pam Knight
Additional Achievement
Bridgeport High School had 60 students earn the Seal of Biliteracy (German, French, and Spanish). Harrison County reported the highest percentage of successful Seal of Biliteracy students in the state.
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