How are NC schools doing? New report says better than most think

North Carolina education leaders told state lawmakers on Tuesday that public schools are performing far better than the state’s rating system would suggest.

The state’s A-F school performance accountability system gave 42% of public schools a D or F grade last school year — nearly double the pre-pandemic percentage. The grade is mainly based on how many students passed state exams.

But in a report presented Tuesday, the state Department of Public Instruction says North Carolina schools are doing just as well as several other states which have far fewer schools with D and F grades. Education officials say it shows that the state’s performance system needs to be overhauled.

“The NAEP (National Assessment of Educational Progress) data affirms that North Carolina schools are performing considerably better than their state performance grades otherwise suggest,” Deputy State Superintendent Michael Maher told the N.C. House K-12 Education Committee.

The DPI report comes as the state and nation are recovering from COVID-19 pandemic learning losses. Student test scores dropped sharply, and critics have pointed to the lower scores to say that public schools are failing as they’ve backed programs such as expanding access to private school vouchers.

NC comparable to other states

Every North Carolina public school gets an A through F grade. The formula in elementary schools and middle schools is based 80% on passing state exams and 20% on growth scores showing how much students have improved. High schools also factor things such as graduation rates into their grade.

In the 2021-22 school year, 46.5% of elementary schools, 52% of middle schools and 23% of high schools received a D or F grade.

For the new report, DPI compared North Carolina to five other states that issue A-F grades to schools: Arizona, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. The percentage of schools in those states that got a D or F grade last school year ranged from 6.1% in Florida to 25% in Louisiana.

DPI then looked at how those states did compared to North Carolina in the NAEP exams, which are given every two years to samples of students in each state.

Florida performed statistically higher than North Carolina in 4th-grade reading and math but the same in 8th-grade reading and math. The four other states either performed the same or worse than North Carolina in 4th and 8th grade.

“The preponderance of data will show you that North Carolina schools are either on par or better than these comparison states using the same benchmark data, yet we’re assigning Ds and Fs at far greater rates,” Maher said.

Changing how schools are graded

The report comes as State Superintendent Catherine Truitt, a Republican, is leading an effort to change how schools are graded.

“There is a general pervasive feeling for pretty much everyone who works in public education that our current accountability and testing model, a.k.a. the 80-20 model, is not sufficient for defining school quality and student success,” Truitt told lawmakers.

DPI has formed an advisory group that has been researching how to modify the system. Truitt said any new system would still include school testing and growth data.

But Truitt said that other measures need to be included. Ideas that have been discussed include adding:

▪ Percentage of graduates who either have confirmed acceptance in a post-secondary institution, enlisted in the military, or are employed.

▪ Percentage of students who participate in at least one extracurricular activity.

▪ Percentage of students who demonstrate the seven durable skills defined in the NC Portrait of a Graduate, a list of what the state says graduates need.

▪ The percentage of students whose absences exceed 10% of days enrolled.

Will the state back a change?

“We need to include more than just student testing that takes place one day in the year,” Truitt said.

DPI plans to present to state lawmakers in February a proposal for a new school accountability system. It would be up to legislators to approve any changes.

Over the years, there’s been bipartisan support in the House to change the school grading formula. But the legislation has stalled in the Senate.

“For too long in North Carolina, the debate has just been how much of a percentage we’re going to give one thing or another, and this team has been willing to ask bigger questions of what we hope for our children and what we hope for our state,” said Rep. Ashton Wheeler Clemmons, a Guilford County Democrat.