Recently, the state of Arkansas released letter grades for each of the 1,035 schools in the state of Arkansas. Our state uses these grades as a gauge of overall school quality and, in the words of Arkansas Education Secretary Jacob Oliva, "an easy-to-understand metric for how schools are performing." Only 14% of Arkansas schools earned a higher letter grade this year than the previous year. North Heights Community School is very proud to be among that small group of schools. North Heights earned a B for the 2022-2023 school year, making us one of only five elementary schools in Southwest Arkansas earning an A or B letter grade.
So, what went into The Heights earning a letter grade of a B? Letter grades are based on something the state of Arkansas referred to as an Index Score. This score comprises three components: 1.) Weighted Achievement (based on our performance on the ACT Aspire Test in grades 3-5); 2.) Growth (which measures how students in grades 3-5 grew as compared to previous year assessments); and, 3.) School Quality and Student Success (which measures the overall quality of our school using several factors other than simply test scores).
Our students showed a huge improvement in their performance on the ACT Aspire. And, just like last year, Heights students are showing, on average, more than one grade level of growth in each school year. However, we are probably most proud of our School Quality score. When measuring the School Quality and Student Success of North Heights Community School against the rest of the state's 1,035 schools, The Heights ranks 35th in the state. We are 20th in public non-charter schools and 1st in the entire region of Southwest Arkansas. This puts us in elite company with some of the premier schools in Little Rock and Northwest Arkansas like Forest Park Elementary or Founders Classical Academies in Rogers.
While we will always hold to our conviction that innumerable great things are happening at The Heights that any letter grade metric can never measure, we are extremely proud that this year's letter grade is beginning to show the truly unique and exclusive experience we offer to our students. This year, Arkansas is moving to a new state assessment system called ATLAS. This means we will not be taking the ACT Aspire, which means we will not receive a new letter grade for the 2023-2024 school year. So, unfortunately, it won't be until 2025 that we move from a B up to an A. However, we will still be tracking our student performance and looking for improvements in reading and numeracy, as well as continuing growth in all areas. We will continue to stress the importance of attendance and rewarding students for positive behavior. And, of course, all of our students will be learning valuable success skills as a part of our MicroSociety.
We want to extend our gratitude to our Heights parents and community partners. The success we have seen reflected by this letter grade belongs to all of us. We could not have done any of this without all of you and your support. We hope you will join us in celebrating our students and staff for recognizing their hard work and dedication to making North Heights Community School a premier elementary school where we are learning today and leading tomorrow. That is The Heights Way.