Rutherfordton Elementary

09/04/2026

09/03/2026

This week’s is especially exciting as we welcome Eva Humphries, our new Strategic Growth and Development Coordinator for the RCS Education Foundation!

This new position was made possible through a Capacity Building Grant from Dogwood Health Trust, an investment designed to help strengthen the Foundation’s capacity to grow partnerships, expand resources, and create even more opportunities for RCS students and educators.

As a proud RCS graduate who chose to return home to Rutherford County, Eva brings a special connection to this work, and a passion for giving back to the schools and community that helped shape her.

We’re excited to see the partnerships, opportunities, and impact ahead!

Welcome home, Eva!

09/01/2026

TRANSPARENCY TUESDAY | When North Carolina releases annual school accountability results, one of the most visible measures is each school’s School Performance Grade. It provides an overall assessment of performance outcomes from the previous school year by combining two measures: student achievement and academic growth.

ACHIEVEMENT represents 80% of the School Performance Score, and GROWTH represents the remaining 20%.

The resulting School Performance Score is converted to a letter grade:

A: 85–100 | B: 70–84 | C: 55–69 | D: 40–54 | F: Below 40

Because achievement accounts for four-fifths of the calculation, the overall grade is influenced much more heavily by how students performed than by whether they met or exceeded expected academic growth. The School Performance Grade provides a useful summary of performance, but it does not tell the whole story.

08/31/2026

MYTH BUSTING MONDAY |

MYTH: School accountability, student achievement, and academic growth are interchangeable terms.

FACT: They describe related, but distinctly different, parts of North Carolina’s school accountability system.

STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT tells us how students performed against the state’s academic standards. It is based on state assessments and reflects the extent to which students demonstrated grade-level or course-level proficiency.

ACADEMIC GROWTH tells us how much progress students made based on their prior academic performance. A school can have high achievement and not meet expected growth, or lower achievement while exceeding expected growth. Those results aren’t contradictory. They answer different questions.

SCHOOL ACCOUNTABILITY brings these and other measures together to evaluate and report school performance across content areas and assessments.

The State Board of Education is expected to release 2025–2026 school accountability results soon. As those results arrive, remember:

Achievement tells us how students performed. Growth tells us how much progress they made. Accountability brings those measures together to describe school performance.

Understanding the results means knowing which question each measure answers.

08/30/2026

Rocket Families, our latest weekly update is ready! As we head into Week 4, please take a few minutes to catch up on what’s happening at RES, including the launch of our Second Step SEL curriculum, Fall Picture Day, the upcoming Labor Day holiday, and a few reminders to help us keep the school year off to a great start.

Check it out here:
https://bit.ly/RocketFamilyWeeklyUpdate083026

Thank you for staying connected and for your continued support of our Rocket Family! 🚀

Rutherfordton Elementary

08/28/2026

We are so lucky to have Ms. Tiffany Smith leading STEAM learning at RES! 🚀❤️

STEAM is so much more than a class—it gives our students opportunities to think critically, solve problems, collaborate, take risks, learn from mistakes, and turn their ideas into something real. These are skills that will serve our Rockets far beyond the classroom!

Ms. Smith makes those opportunities possible for EVERY student in our building, Kindergarten through 5th grade. Planning meaningful, hands-on experiences across six grade levels is no small task, and she brings so much creativity, energy, and enthusiasm to it!

We are incredibly thankful for Ms. Smith and for the curiosity, confidence, and love of learning she helps build in our Rockets! 🚀🔬💡⚙️

08/27/2026

TESTIMONIAL THURSDAY

A passion for Career and Technical Education is a passion for preparing students for what comes next.

This week, we’re highlighting how CTE provides RCS students with hands-on experiences, valuable credentials, career-ready skills, and clear pathways to the workforce, college, and beyond.

It’s about helping students discover their strengths, explore their possibilities, and prepare for their future.

08/26/2026

🚀 THANK YOU, TRELLEBORG GROUP! 🎒✏️📚

We are incredibly grateful to our friends at Trelleborg Group in Rutherfordton, North Carolina for their generous donation of school supplies to Rutherfordton Elementary!

Our Rockets were excited to help accept the supplies, but even more meaningful was the opportunity to see firsthand what it looks like when a local business chooses to invest in the students and schools in its community. ❤️

These supplies will go directly into the hands of our students and classrooms, helping ensure our Rockets have the tools they need to learn, grow, and succeed.

Thank you to the Trelleborg team for supporting Rutherfordton Elementary and for being such a wonderful community partner. We appreciate you helping us Launch Excellence Together! 🚀

Rutherford County Schools, NC

08/26/2026