All five members of the Tyrrell County Board of Education attended the annual N.C. School Boards Association conference in Greensboro from Nov. 15-17.

Dr. Will Hoffman, Tyrrell Schools superintendent, reported that the county school board heard messages from the North Carolina Principal of the Year Melody Chalmers, principal of E.E. Smith High School in Fayetteville, and from Mark Johnson, the recently elected Superintendent of Public Instruction who will take office in January.

Board members also attended a variety of breakout sessions, including “Exploring the EVAAS Public Reporting” where participants explored the difference between achievement data and the academic growth data of students over the course of a school year.

SAS EVAAS (Education Value-Added Assessment System) for K-12 is a customized software system that examines the impact of teachers, schools, and districts on the learning of their students in specific courses, grades, and subjects.

The State Board of Education has selected EVAAS as the statewide model for measuring student growth when common assessments are administered (for example, the End of Course and End of Grade assessments).