School grades just one step in improving schools
Published February 13, 2015
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Superintendent June Atkinson[/caption]
by June Atkinson, NC Superintendent of Public Instruction, printed in News and Observer, February 12, 2015.
Regarding the state’s first round of A-F School Performance Grades released last week:.
These grades provide a quick look at school quality across our state, but looking at the grades is just a first step. Look deeper and we will see interesting trends that verify what many of us have known for years. Teachers are doing a good job. Many teachers are doing an outstanding job.
With approximately 70 percent of our schools showing academic growth at the expected or higher level, we see the value that teachers are bringing to each school day. With a grading formula that heavily values performance and under-values growth, it is hard for schools to earn high grades if their students are behind their peers in preparedness and performance. That is why I would like to see a grading model that values growth and performance equally.
North Carolina has shown a commitment to public school accountability for at least the past 20 years. The new School Performance Grades are the latest chapter. So what have we learned over the years when it comes to improving student achievement, especially in schools serving students in poverty?
• Teacher continuity matters. A high teacher turnover rate is damaging. Ongoing professional development is an important factor in retaining quality educators.
• When more students have access to quality preschool, we are more successful in closing gaps and reducing the need for exceptional children’s services.
• We will need a different school calendar if we are to effectively address the summer loss of reading and math achievement. Holding reading camps for third-graders is a step in the right direction. I’m grateful to the General Assembly for funding camps for third-graders, but this effort needs to be expanded to serve kindergarten, first- and second-grade students as well.
• A coherent, planned and individualized system of assistance is what is needed to turn around struggling schools. A little help here and little help there will not get the job done. There are schools that have many low-income students and still earned A’s, B’s and C’s. These schools tend to be themed schools, early colleges and schools with smaller, specialized learning environments.
• All students need a support system that addresses physical and emotional needs. All children can be successful. Some children need more help and more support.
All of North Carolina will suffer, not just the children, if we keep grading and talking without taking action.
JUNE ATKINSON
February 13, 2015 at 1:43 pm
Richard Bunce says:
Ms Atkinson, the majority of students in the traditional government school systems in NC are not proficient at basic skills.
February 14, 2015 at 3:48 pm
Rip Arrowood says:
Says who?
February 15, 2015 at 2:29 pm
Richard Bunce says:
Says the many assessments conducted by the government school systems even with teaching to the test and outright cheating. Says parents and employers and post secondary education officials.
February 16, 2015 at 10:33 pm
Curt Budd says:
Sorry but these are outright lies. The "majority" do pass these tests. You guys need to recheck your numbers. All of the subgroups Mr. Hauck quotes are struggling. And this definitely is NOT a new phenomenon. Poverty and low test scores have been linked for decades.
Were you aware that just a few short years ago schools competed for bonus money based on performance and growth from end of course tests. And over time so many PUBLIC schools started achieving these goals that NC discontinued the program because they couldn't afford to pay so many bonuses?? Were you aware that what's passing/failing on and end-of-course test keeps sliding up and down depending on the latest whims of whichever group is in charge?
Would just once all of you that complain offer real "hands-on" solutions? Mr. Bunce, I know that you feel parental choice will solve every issue in education, even though parents already have the choice to either move to a district with a high-performing school or get jobs that allow them to pay for their private school of choice. And Mr.Hauck it's a noble idea to allow these struggling subgroups to get money to go to "better" schools be they public or private. But what are you going to do with the other 99%?? Everyone can't attend THAT school. Let's find solutions to help every school where they are at, so that as many students as possible can enjoy the benefits!
February 17, 2015 at 11:19 am
Richard Bunce says:
No they are outright facts the government education industrial complex refuses to acknowledge. Parental choice will not solve every government education problem... it will open the education opportunities for parents and their children to seek out education entities beside the substandard near education monopoly thrust upon them by the government. It is these new education entities that will solve the government only education problems.
February 15, 2015 at 10:30 pm
Tom Hauck says:
Thank you for an interesting column, Ms. Atkinson.
I think the Legislature has done a great thing in requiring a letter grade for each school. Many more people are now interested and talking about the schools.
One thing I do not understand is many people suggest that the school grade be determined more on the student progress than on the one test. My question is how can one determine the student's progress without a test to determine that progress? Another item I find confusing is that we are told most of the kids are making great progress during the school year -- but if that is so why cannot they pass the test and prove it.
Rip Arrowood asks who says that most of the kids in the government schools are not proficient at basic skills. The answer is that the kids do -- through their passing of the End of Grade Tests. The majority do not pass their tests. For example, American Indians (38.4%); Blacks (37.0%); Hispanics (45.7%); ED or Economically Disadvantaged or poor (41.4%); Limited English (17.4%); Disabled (20.6%) pass their tests. That is not a good record.
By the way, why is only now that the "experts" are tying poverty to passing the tests? What have the experts been doing all these years to not know that -- and more importantly -- do something about it?
Another item we hear is that a letter grade of D or F will hurt the self-esteem of the teachers and the students at that school. How is passing the kids so that they eventually dropout or graduate without knowing how to read good for their self esteem?
If all these people who insist that all children must go to a public school then they have the moral obligation to teach all the children, not just the Whites, Asians and Gifted. If they do not want that obligation, then let the children go to a school that will teach them.
February 17, 2015 at 10:02 pm
Tom Hauck says:
Again, thank you Ms. Atkinson for a great column that has engendered so many comments. What I find frustrating is there are comments such as "poverty and test scores have been linked for years".
To be clear, a bare majority (55.9%) of North Carolina students passed their 2013/14 tests. The year before (2012/13) the result was 32.0% (Yes only 32.0%) of all the students passed their End of Grade tests.
Why is it that we, and the people condemned to these poor schools, continue to accept their condemnation so quietly?
Thankfully Darrell Allison at www.pefnc.org and his team, along with the North Carolina Republican lawmakers have finally taken action to begin to change the situation with more charter schools and scholarships to private schools.
