Champions for Youth!  Department of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Schools Make the Grade!

Schools in the Department’s youth development centers recently found out they are making the grade when it comes to their students passing the End of Grade tests administered by the State of North Carolina.  The students at four schools met or exceeded expectations for academic growth.

In addition, Swannanoa’s school was recognized for having high growth which means the school not only met their achievement goals, it also met all three of its goals in its school improvement plan. Three other Department schools, Dillon, Dobbs, and Samarkand, also met at least two of their goals in their school improvement plan.   These goals included outcomes such as improved student attendance, increased parental involvement, increasing school safety, and increased community involvement.  Our hats go off to the education staff and all the other staff members at these youth development centers for being “Champions for Youth.” 

This accomplishment is especially impressive when you consider that students entering the Department’s youth development center schools read on a 5th grade level, or on average four to five grade levels behind where they should be performing.  Looking at these statistics it would be easy for our staff to make excuses about how these kids are incapable of learning; instead our staff roll up their sleeves everyday and perform as “Champions for Youth.”