09/02/2026
NCDPI released testing and accountability data for the 2025-2026 school year on Wednesday, September 2. Jackson County Public Schools is pleased to announce that all schools on the regular accountability model earned “Met” or “Exceeded” growth status last school year. Blue Ridge School and Jackson County Early College exceeded growth. Blue Ridge Early College, Cullowhee Valley School, Fairview School, Scotts Creek School, Smokey Mountain Elementary School, and Smoky Mountain High School all Met growth.
Each school also receives a letter grade that is based on an 80/20 calculation of proficiency and growth. JCPS had four schools increase their School Performance Letter grade from the prior year: Cullowhee Valley, JCEC, Scotts Creek and SMHS. JCEC earned a SPG of A and SMHS earned a SPG of B. Four schools received a School Performance Grade of C: Blue Ridge School, Cullowhee Valley, Fairview and Scotts Creek. BREC received a grade of D and Smokey Mountain Elementary received a grade of F. Jackson Community School received a Progressing Rating based on the State Alternative Accountability School Model.
As a district, JCPS increased the overall EOC Proficiency rate by 5.9 percentage points, with Biology increasing by 13.6 percentage points and NC Math 3 EOC proficiency score by 9.7 percentage points. JCPS also increased Grades 3-8 math EOG proficiency scores and Grades 5 & 8 science by more than 1 percentage point each.
All NC 11th grade students complete the ACT in March each year. The UNC System minimum college entrance requirement is an ACT Composite score of 17. JCPS had over 60% of 11th grade students meeting this criteria. JCEC had 100% of students score 17 or above. As a district, JCPS is 6.1 percentage points higher than the state average on ACT.
JCEC increased their School Performance Grade by 17 points from the previous year and BREC increased their School Performance Grade by 10 points. Cullowhee Valley, Fairview and SMHS all increased their School Performance Grade by more than 3 points from the previous year.
BREC and Scotts Creek increased their math grades 3-8 School Performance Grade by more than 10 points from the previous year. Cullowhee Valley increased their math grades 3-8 School Performance Grade by 5 points from the previous year.
JCEC NC Math 3 EOC and English II EOC proficiency rates are greater than 93.0% and NC Math 1 EOC increased by more than 20 percentage points from the previous year. SMHS increased their EOC NC Math 3 proficiency rate by 20 percentage points and EOC English II proficiency rate by 2.9 percentage points from the previous year.
