Schools 'seem to be plateauing': 10 takeaways from NC's school grade results
North Carolina public schools released their annual school performance grades and graduation rates at Wednesday's State Board of Education meeting. Here are 10 takeaways from the report:
1) More than a third of NC schools earned As and Bs
More than a third of North Carolina’s 2,537 public schools earned As and Bs for 2017-18 under the state’s annual school performance grade accountability measurement, with nearly three-quarters meeting or exceeding expectations for academic progress, according to the state education agency. About 22 percent of the schools received a grade of D or F.
All North Carolina public schools, including charter schools, have received A through F letter grades since 2013-14, when the General Assembly passed legislation requiring it. Schools are also judged on whether their students exceeded, met or did not meet academic growth expectations during the year.
But this year's results can't be compared to previous years, according to the agency. Due to changes to the state’s accountability measurements required under the federal Every Student Succeeds Act, school grades, growth results and graduation rates for the 2017-18 school year are not comparable to past performance.
Schools are now accountable for the progress of non-English speaking students in mastering English skills and are subject to a number of other changes affecting school performance grades, growth calculations and the graduation rate.
In terms of the performance of individual students on state end-of-grade and end-of-course exams, however, calculations for determining rates of grade level proficiency and college and career readiness are unchanged from past years.
2) School grades continue to correlate closely with poverty levels
Among schools where more than 81 percent of students come from low-income families, 69 percent of the schools received a D or F. In schools with poverty rates between 61 and 80 percent, 45 percent of the schools received a D or F.
Conversely, in schools with poverty rates less than 20 percent, only 1.7 percent of schools received a D or F; schools between 21 and 40 percent poverty, 3.6 percent received a D or F. Schools with lower levels of poverty are more likely to earn As and Bs.
3) NC's graduation rate is 86.3 percent
North Carolina's graduation rate is down slightly from 86.5 percent the previous school year, marking the first time in more than 10 years that the rate has dropped. But state education officials say slight changes in how the rate is calculated mean the numbers are no longer comparable. In 2005-06, the state's graduation rate was 68.3 percent.
4) The numbers 'seem to be plateauing'
State Superintendent Mark Johnson praised school employees for their work but expressed concern about schools' overall results.
"Teachers are working hard. Principals are working hard. It's not teachers and principals that are the problem. It's the system they're confined in," he said. "What really worries me … we really seem to be plateauing … We seem to be in a situation where some years we go up, some years we go down. When we look at the past years, for the past even decade, you just see that we are in a plateau."
Johnson said the state should continue focusing on personalized learning and new school models, such as the state's Restart program, which gives some of the lowest-performing schools more flexibility to make changes.
5) Grades 3-8 students made 'steady gains in math'
Statewide in 2017-18, students in grades 3-8 together continued to make steady gains in math performance, with 48.1 percent achieving the college and career readiness standard (exam scores of level 4 or 5), up from 43.1 percent in 2013-14; and 56.1 percent meeting the grade level proficiency standard (scores of 3, 4 and 5), up from 51 percent in 2013-14.
In reading, the percentage of students in grades 3-8 achieving the college and career readiness standard increased to 46 percent, up from 44.7 percent in 2013-14, and 57.3 percent meeting the grade level proficiency standard, down slightly from 57.5 percent in 2016-17.
6) Middle schoolers gained in reading and math, but elementary results were more mixed
By the performance of individual grades statewide, middle school students in 2017-18 generally gained in both reading and math, particularly seventh and eighth graders.
Third graders saw an improvement on math exams, with higher percentages of students meeting the college and career readiness and grade level proficiency standards, but their performance on reading exams was down on both standards from the previous year: 45 percent met the college and career readiness standard, compared to 46.1 percent in 2016-17; 55.9 percent met the grade level proficiency standard, compared to 57.8 percent in 2016-17.
7) High schoolers improved in biology but saw declines in English II and Math I
Among high school students, performance improved on the end-of-course exam in Biology, for both the standards, but achievement rates for both standards dipped in English II and Math 1.
8) Fewer schools and districts are underperforming
The state superintendent said he was encouraged by a decline in the number of low-performing schools and districts from the previous year.
"The fact that fewer schools and districts are underperforming is positive news in this year’s accountability report," Johnson said. "We thank teachers and school leaders for their hard work and hope that more effective support from DPI will continue to improve those numbers."
Low-performing schools are identified annually as those that receive a school performance grade of D or F and do not exceed growth expectations. Low-performing districts are districts where the majority of schools received a low school performance grade and have been identified as low performing.
For 2017-18, 476 schools were identified as low performing, down from 505 in 2016-17, and seven districts were low performing, down from 11 in 2016-17. The number of recurring low-performing schools fell from 468 in 2016-17 to 435 in 2017-18.
9) 27 percent of schools exceeded academic growth expectations
In terms of growth achieved by schools this past year, 27 percent exceeded expected growth, 45.7 percent of schools met their expected performance and 27.3 percent fell short of their expected result.
The school grades are based primarily on overall proficiency rates on the state’s standardized end of grade tests, and to a lesser extent, the growth students make during the year, irrespective of performance level. Eighty percent of the grade is for the percentage of tests earning a score considered grade level proficient; 20 percent is for growth, measured by a statistical model that compares each student’s predicted test score, based on past performance, against his or her actual result.
10) Long-term goals broken down by race, ethnicity, poverty, etc.
Also reported this year were data on the interim progress that North Carolina schools are making to reach long-term, 10-year goals, a new reporting requirement under the federal Every Student Succeeds Act. The state has overall goals tracking all students and individual groups of students broken out by race, ethnicity, poverty, language acquisition and learning disabilities.
The goals reflect the percentage of students achieving college and career readiness (academic achievement levels 4 and 5) on the end-of-grade and end-of-course assessments. The long-term goals are intended to reduce the achievement gap between high-performing and low-performing subgroups.
Additionally, 10-year goals for the four-year graduation rate and English learner progress were set. Interim and long-term goals are also set for each school, with their expected progress – interim and long term – based on the state’s rate of improvement.
For the first year of interim goals, in 2017-18, two of 10 subgroups (including all students in all groups combined) met interim progress goals for grades 3-8 reading and math and for English II (10th grade reading). For Math 1 (counted as 11th grade math), all groups met their interim goals except black students, economically disadvantaged students and students with disabilities.
In terms of schools and counting the group that includes all students, 34.9 percent of elementary and middle schools met their interim goals in reading and 38.5 percent in math. Among the all students group in high schools, 29.1 percent met their interim goals for reading and 45.2 percent for math.
In addition to other changes required under the federal ESSA law, the state will also report school performance grades for each subgroup within a school when at least 30 students are counted within all tested grades or subjects. Subgroup grades will be reported to the State Board of Education at its Oct. 3 meeting.
