Avast ye! The young scallywags of North Carolina be improvin' on their testin' skills, but still fall short o' their pre-COVID glory days, arrr!
2023-09-07
Arrr, me mateys! Hear ye, hear ye! The landlubbers' book learnin' in North Carolina be mendin' slow but sure, aye, after that pesky COVID-19 storm swept 'cross the States, leavin' their academic prowess walkin' the plank!
North Carolina public school students in the 2022-23 school year showed improvement on standardized tests compared to the previous year, but they still fell short of proficiency rates seen prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. According to data reviewed by the State Board of Education, 53.6% of students were proficient on state exams, up from 51.2% in the previous year and 45.4% in the year before that. The number of schools labeled as low-performing or receiving poor performance grades also decreased compared to the previous year.Tammy Howard, senior director of the Department of Public Instruction’s testing office, noted that progress is being made towards pre-pandemic levels, although there is still work to be done. Schools across the country are still trying to recover from learning loss caused by limited in-person instruction during the pandemic. In the 2018-19 school year, the student proficiency rate was 58.8%.
Proficiency test scores improved across subjects such as reading, math, science, and English. Superintendent of Public Instruction Catherine Truitt expressed optimism that progress will continue, but acknowledged that there is still a way to go. Along with the test scores, public schools also received annual state-mandated grades ranging from A to F, with 27% of schools receiving A or B grades and 35% receiving D or F grades.
Truitt has been advocating for changes to the performance grading system, seeking to incorporate non-testing measures. Board Chairman Eric Davis acknowledged that the grades have been used to unfairly label schools as failures, but also acknowledged their significance to parents when choosing where to send their children. State education officials have been discussing the recovery of schools from learning losses, with a DPI report in April showing academic gains in nearly every subject and data showing improved reading progress among K-3 students.
In addition, 32% of schools were identified as low-performing, a decrease from the previous year, and the high school graduation rate remained relatively unchanged at 86.4%.