| By Bob Weaver
Calhoun Schools just made an impressive turn-around after Calhoun Middle-High School was critically audited in 2007 and placed on probationary status, with the school's accreditation hanging in balance.
An audit of the school in May, 2009, showed that most of the functional problems had been corrected, and the school is now fully accredited.
Calhoun Schools, remarkably made Average Yearly Progress, a feat not accomplished by many WV schools around the state.
Only three West Virginia counties made AYP for the 2008-09 school year and they were identified as Calhoun, Gilmer and Wirt, all with few schools.
Calhoun's two elementary schools generally do well in performance testing.
Calhoun, like many other WV systems, did not fare well and had some of the lowest WESTEST scores in the Little Kanawha region.
Calhoun County High School had 48.73 percent of its students proficient in math and 48.21 percent proficient in reading/language arts.
Comparing these numbers with all public high schools in the state (private schools are not listed, nor are any of the five high schools in Mingo County because of recent flooding) here is what we learn:
In math, this puts Calhoun High behind 84 WV public high schools and ahead of 23.
In reading, this puts Calhoun High behind 71 high schools and ahead of 36.
State Superintendent Steve Paine warned that the revised WESTEST has higher standards and outcomes would likely be lower.
Comparing Calhoun with other rural schools in the region, Calhoun against 13 of the 14 LKC schools (excluding private Parkersburg Catholic) Calhoun finished ahead of only St. Marys and Roane, also in both math and reading, and ahead of Braxton in reading only.
In other words, among public high schools in the LKC, Calhoun was 11th of 13 in math and 10th of 13 in reading. This was looking at Braxton County, Clay County, Doddridge County, Gilmer County, Ravenswood, Ritchie County, Roane County, St. Marys, South Harrison, Tyler Consolidated, Williamstown, and Wirt County.
In math, (percentage of students achieving proficiency) Calhoun finished 11th of 13 and behind all but Roane and St. Marys.
In reading, (percentage of students achieving proficiency) Calhoun finished 10th of 13 behind all but Braxton, Roane and St. Marys.
Superintendent Roger Propst and school board members praised administrators and teachers for the improvement, and reported that Calhoun Schools was one of only three counties in WV that achieved Average Yearly Progress (AYP) a standard set by No Child Left Behind.
Academic standards continue to be a troubling issue in school systems, despite progress and dedicated work by teachers and school officials.
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