Amid their determination to improve North Carolina's public school system, state leaders pointed to the ABCs of Public Education test results--the state's highest in the initiative's six-year history--as a highlight of success at all grade levels.
After evaluating end-of-grade tests for third through eighth graders and end-of-course tests for high school students, 43 percent of the schools were named Schools of Excellence or Schools of Distinction, the highest classifications. This year, $101 million will be awarded as bonuses to the faculty and staff of the nearly 70 percent of schools exemplifying high or expected improvement.
"[The money] was appropriated by the legislature," said Kay Williams, director of communications and information for the Department of Public Instruction. "They feel it's very important for teachers and other staff members to be rewarded."
The ABCs test is designed to achieve North Carolina's three-pronged goal of strong accountability, emphasis on basic and high educational standards, and maximum control for schools and school districts. Other than examining solely academic test scores, the ABCs prioritize school improvement as well. Several factors are compared to previous years to determine a school's improvement: scores on the end-of-year and end-of-course tests, the percent of students showing grade level competency, the number of students taking advanced and college-level courses, and the dropout rate.
Eighteen schools were labeled low-performing, and five of them--all high schools--will receive help from the state's assistance teams. Assistance teams include professional educators and university professors who are assigned to conduct a needs assessment judging criteria such as community involvement, staff members, leadership strength and teacher training to determine how to most effectively bring a school out of the low-performing category.
"One of the first things teams do is talk to principals to find out the schools' particular needs regarding resources, volunteers and mentors," Williams said.
In addition to the assistant teams sent to the high schools, Phil Kirk, chair of the North Carolina Board of Education, said while currently there is more focus at the elementary level, future initiatives should place emphasis on high school education. "We can't neglect any part of the equation," he said.
Officials are quick to point out the impact early education has on high school performance. One example is the high school dropout rate.
"If students are better prepared early on, they'll have more self-esteem and stay in school," Williams said.
The state's official dropout statistics will be released in October, but predictions show a potential 30 percent decrease in dropouts throughout the state. This statistic, however, still leaves room for concern.
"There are way too many, minority students particularly, dropping out," Williams said, adding that counseling and working with parents are two ways the state plans to combat this problem.
For now, officials are focused on the improvement they have made. Kirk links the ABCs to improved SAT scores. "We're ecstatic about the improvement in SAT scores and we think one of the reasons for improvement is that we've been able to get more students to take advanced classes," Kirk said.
Bert L'homme, associate superintendent of curriculum for Durham public schools, said the county is now trying to target some of its high schools' weaknesses.
"I think that we definitely would like to see improvement in our social studies curriculum at our high schools," he said. "We've known this information for quite some time and we're working with each social studies teacher to make sure they're finishing the curriculum before the end of the school year and that the students have practice answering the kinds of questions that are on the end-of-grade test."
Overall, county officials were happy with Durham's showing on the ABCs. "We were delighted with our performance," L'homme said. "I think that we passed the state average but that's not a concern of ours. Our concern is making sure every child learns to read, write and do math at grade level."
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.