Swain County High School (SCHS) is the only high school in the district. The high school has experienced principal leadership change four times in the past five years and assistant principal change three times in the past four years. Traditionally, the school system has a wealth of community support. The system uses local parent and teacher surveys to provide feedback. Teachers also participated in the North Carolina Teacher Working Conditions Survey. The North Carolina Teacher Working Conditions Survey (TWCS) provides data to schools and districts about whether schools have the supportive environments necessary for them to be successful with students. The feedback also allows for the comparison to other schools across the state. The survey
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The data indicates that nearly 90% of the faculty agrees with this statement. Further analysis showed that 30% strongly agree with this statement. SCHS has a strong tradition of excellence in athletics and extra-curricular activities such as band and the performing arts, which is where we see a large amount of support both in attendance and financial contributions. One area SCHS would like to see change is the same level of support be given to academic success. In the current SIP, a goal was added to specifically address this paradigm shift in the school community and the broader community. The data also revealed another area of concern, less than 50% of the faculty felt parents were influential decision makers in this school (26 percentage points lower than the state). While other data indicated teachers were trying to communicate with parents and providing useful information parents were not engaged in their child’s education. Several factors support this disconnect with parents. Swain County is notorious for its high drop-out rate, high unemployment rates and is considered high poverty. Parents who want to be involved often can’t, because they have to work to make ends meet. As a district, Swain County School’s is working on an initiative to change this apathetic culture of both the parent and the child. Parent portal is making this better for some students and parents, however there are still many who do not have internet access in their
The data indicates that nearly 90% of the faculty agrees with this statement. Further analysis showed that 30% strongly agree with this statement. SCHS has a strong tradition of excellence in athletics and extra-curricular activities such as band and the performing arts, which is where we see a large amount of support both in attendance and financial contributions. One area SCHS would like to see change is the same level of support be given to academic success. In the current SIP, a goal was added to specifically address this paradigm shift in the school community and the broader community. The data also revealed another area of concern, less than 50% of the faculty felt parents were influential decision makers in this school (26 percentage points lower than the state). While other data indicated teachers were trying to communicate with parents and providing useful information parents were not engaged in their child’s education. Several factors support this disconnect with parents. Swain County is notorious for its high drop-out rate, high unemployment rates and is considered high poverty. Parents who want to be involved often can’t, because they have to work to make ends meet. As a district, Swain County School’s is working on an initiative to change this apathetic culture of both the parent and the child. Parent portal is making this better for some students and parents, however there are still many who do not have internet access in their