Dear Sun Valley Community, 

Public school accountability is a standard practice in North Carolina.  Transparency regarding school performance began in the early 1990’s.  The North Carolina School Report Card of each school provides parents with information about student performance, teacher experience, and school safety. Data are provided at the school, district, and state levels to enable parents to compare the performance of their student’s school with other schools across the district and state.

Legislation (G.S. §115C-83.15) passed during the 2013 long session of the North Carolina General Assembly provides an additional measure of school performance in the form of School Performance Grades. Beginning with the 2013–14 school year, the annual North Carolina School Report Cards display a letter grade of A, B, C, D or F for each school in the state.

The School Performance Grades are based 80 percent on our school’s achievement score (student proficiency) and 20 percent on students’ academic growth. At Sun Valley Middle School, our achievement score for the 2023-24 school year is based on how well our students performed in Grades 6–8 Mathematics, Grades 6–8 English Language Arts/Reading, Math I, and Grade 8 Science. 

The purpose of this letter is to inform you that Sun Valley Middle School received an overall School Performance Grade of D for the 2023-2024 school year.   We are committed to improvement, and it is our goal to increase our School Performance Grade next year and also exceed growth related to state accountability. This takes time, teachers and parents working together, and the most important element - our students. We all must work together as co-collaborators for success to occur. 

It is important to remember that just as no one single score or grade tells the whole story of a student, neither does it tell you everything about the performance of a school or the opportunities that our school provides. At Sun Valley Middle School, we also offer student interest clubs to increase talent and interest.  We also received Lighthouse distinction as a Leader in Me School. 

We hope you will closely follow your student’s academic progress and work with his or her teachers to help ensure academic success. Working together as a team, we can improve not only how well our students perform individually, but how our school performs as a whole. There is nothing more important to administrators and teachers at Sun Valley Middle School than ensuring that students are ready for the next step in their academic career. I look forward to partnering with you in this process as hope lights the way. 

Thank you for sharing your child with us.  If you have any questions or concerns regarding our School Performance Grade and how we plan to improve, please don’t hesitate to contact the team of administrators at 704-296-3009.

Sincerely,

Brian Patience, Ed.D.