NC Test Results Fail to Excite

Flat. That’s the best way to generally describe recent results of North Carolina students and schools on annual performance and growth tests.  Over the next few weeks, there will be more opportunities to drill down in the data. Still, the message will be the same: over the past five years, there is very little improvement in student achievement. In fact, in some areas there have been slight declines in student achievement. Some important numbers from yesterday’s release:

• 35.7% – the percentage of students in grades 3-8 who score at the “college and career readiness” (Level 4 or above) level in both math and reading.  2017 figure was 35.5%
• 45.9% – The percentage of students who demonstrate grade level proficiency (GLP) for both reading and math. This represents no change from 2017.
• 55.9% – Despite the creation of the new Read-to-Achieve program, designed to improve reading scores by the end of Grade 3, the percentage of students demonstrating Grade Level Proficiency in Reading at the end of Grade 3 has declined; from 57.8% (2017) to 55.9% (2018)
• End-of-Course Subjects -The percent of students scoring at Grade Level Proficiency for End-of-Course tests in Biology, English II and NC Math I was mixed. Scores for Biology increased (56.1% (2017) to 58.3% (2018). However, scores for English II and NC Math I showed declines from the previous year of .08 % and 6.9% respectively.
• ACT Composite Scores – 57.9 % Percent of 11^th grade students met the UNC System minimum admission requirement of an ACT composite score of 17.  This marks the second year these scores have declined.
• School Accountability Growth Results: 45.7 percent of all NC schools met expected growth measures, a decline from 47.4 percent in 2017. Moreover, 27 percent of schools exceeded expected growth, while 27.3 percent of schools did not meet expected growth.
• School Report Cards: The distribution of schools receiving A, B, C, D and F grades, largely stayed the same.  35.6 percent of schools garnered A & B grades, 42.2% of schools received C grade, 18.6% of students received D grades.

There is not a lot to get excited about. Only more to fuel the ongoing discussion on needed reforms.

Comprehensive test results can be found here.