For the third year in a row, Manteo High School received high growth. The news came from the Dare County Schools Accountability Report for 2015-2016, which MHS has been a part of this report for the past five years.

Each fall, the state’s Department of Public Instruction releases reports on schools. These reports assess two different types of growth, the first one includes Math I, English II and biology. The second one is based on teachers individual classes. This year, Manteo High School earned an 81 (B), a six point increase from the previous school year.

The school’s score is one of the largest increases in the district. The report includes a chart showing predicted growth for the school year. The score is used to predict the student’s knowledge from the beginning of the year to the end of year. The chart showed that MHS exceeded the predicted growth provided in the report.

Principal John Luciano was pleased with the results.

“[I was] very pleased, [but there is always] room for improvement,” Luciano said.

Luciano credits the improvement to intervention, benchmark testing and hard-working teachers. Based on his experience with the report for the past five years, he also believes the report is very reliable.

Staff members were just as excited as Luciano about the school’s high growth.

English teacher Kassie Mount said, “There are awesome things happening here at MHS, and the growth that we’ve shown is a testament of that. I’m proud to have such hard-working colleagues and students!”

The faculty and administration hope to see this trend continue this school year and in the future. To ensure success, the faculty has been focusing on programs and activities to incorporate and use in the classroom.

“[This year we are] going to use more reading programs in English and more interactive notebooks in biology,” Luciano said. “[We are going] to concentrate on students who are struggling in math on Saturdays and open the library after school for additional English support.”