Five Johnson County schools have been named Four Star Schools, and most of the bragging rights go to Center Grove.
The Indiana Department of Education named its Four Star Schools for the 2017-18 school year on Friday. Center Grove High School, Center Grove Middle School Central, Center Grove Elementary School and Sugar Grove Elementary School all earned the honor. In Greenwood schools, Westwood Elementary School was named a Four Star School.
“You’re only as good as each year,” Westwood Elementary Principal David Ennis said. “It doesn’t change the hard work the teachers are doing each and every year. It’s nice to be recognized but I don’t get too high on it. I give the teachers and students all the credit in the world in getting it but other schools are working really hard to achieve things and that doesn’t (just) come in the form of ISTEP success.”
In order to qualify as a Four Star School, schools must achieve an A grade on the state’s accountability system, 95 percent of students must take the ISTEP English/language arts and math exams and the percentage of students who pass those exams must be better than 75 percent of schools in the state, according to the department of education.
The state accountability system considers the graduation rate, test scores and student improvement from year to year.
“We want to make sure there’s a viable curriculum for students in every course and that teachers know when students have mastered content,” Center Grove High School Principal Jeff Henderson said.
“We want to make sure the classroom environment is consistent among teachers of the same subject and that results in better strategies. The teachers discuss what goes well in their classroom, but none of it is possible without the hard work and dedication of the kids.”
The number of Four Star Schools in Johnson County is down two from the previous year, when Clark Elementary School and Maple Grove Elementary School both qualified. Greenwood Community High School qualified for the 2016-17 school year.
