CMS produces its worst reading, math scores on record in nation’s report card
Student performance in reading and math slid sharply in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools since the start of the pandemic, and the district has lost progress it made toward closing achievement gaps, according new data released Monday.
CMS posted its worst scores on record in the 2022 National Assessment of Educational Progress, known as the nation’s report card. The percentage of students displaying at least basic reading and math skills is now lower than in 2003, when CMS began participating in the NAEP district-level assessment.
The district also saw achievement gaps between white and Black and Hispanic students grow by double-digits since 2003.
CMS leaders acknowledged to The Charlotte Observer the district followed state and national trends in seeing low scores, but they highlighted its performance among other public school systems across the country.
North Carolina’s reading and math scores on the NAEP exams also dropped — to the lowest levels in three decades. The state’s racial and socio-economic achievement gaps on the exams widened in several areas, too.
This is the first Nation’s Report Card since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic examining math and reading achievement in grades 4 and 8. NAEP is not a test of all students, and Charlotte-Mecklenburg and Guilford County are part of a nationwide program of 26 urban districts.
A representative sample of students is selected to answer test questions.
Data bright spot
Like pre-pandemic data, CMS’ average scores outperformed or matched most large school districts in every measure except for eighth-grade reading. But its test score declines were also sharper than most other districts.
“The scores are a fresh reminder of the pandemic’s profound effect on students across America,” CMS board chair Elyse Dashew told The Charlotte Observer. “In CMS, too, the impact was devastating, even while our students outperformed national and state averages. We must double down in our commitment as a board, district, and community to provide children with the necessary resources and support to recover from this historic interruption in learning. I have no doubt that if we continue pulling together as a community, with strategically aligned resources and support, our children will bounce back.”
For fourth-grade math, 34.5% of CMS students achieved proficiency, compared to 48.8% in 2019. For fourth-grade reading, 32.8% of CMS students achieved proficiency, compared to 38.5% in 2019.
For eighth-grade math, 29.5% of CMS students achieved proficiency, compared to 41.5% in 2019. For eighth-grade reading, about 29% of CMS students achieved proficiency, compared to 32.1% in 2019.
Across North Carolina, 35.4% of fourth-grade students achieved math proficiency in 2022, and 32.3% of fourth-grade students achieved reading proficiency.
In math, 25.4% of eighth-grade students across the state achieved proficiency, while 25.7% of eighth-grade students achieved proficiency in reading.
CMS sees positives
Frank Barnes, the district’s chief accountability officer, told the Observer on Monday CMS held its spot among the highest performing districts despite record declines across the state and country.
Barnes said:
▪ Across the test areas CMS performed at or above the national public average, above the state average and above the large city average in the percent of students at or above proficient on NAEP assessments;
▪ CMS was among the five top performing urban school systems in reading grade 4 (5th), reading grade 8 (4th) and mathematics grade 4 (5th) in the percent of students at or above proficient on NAEP assessments;
▪ CMS was the top-performing urban school district in the nation in mathematics grade 8 (1st) in the percent of students at or above proficient on NAEP assessments.
“It will take multiple years for students locally and nationally to recover from the pandemic,” Barnes said. “Though CMS has room to grow and improve, our NAEP performance still was among the nation’s leading urban school systems.”
Barnes did not address the widening achievement gaps.
Pandemic’s effect
The sliding scores in CMS and North Carolina come after heated debate over the use of remote instruction during the peak of the pandemic — an issue also near the forefront of CMS school board elections. Some districts and states were faster than others to resume in-person instruction while others stayed with online classes longer because of COVID-19 concerns.
Several studies, including from the Brookings Institution, have shown extended periods of remote instruction had crippling impacts on learning. During the early stages of the pandemic, CMS was slower to return to in-person instruction than some surrounding districts.
CMS school board member Jennifer De La Jara cautioned against using remote learning as the only cause of worsening racial disparities.
“Let’s remember that families of color disproportionally chose to stay in remote learning during the first year of the pandemic because they were keenly aware of disparate health outcomes,” she said. “I’m not going to question the tough decisions people had to make for their family’s safety but rather I’m going to find ways to support them.”
Decades of CMS gains lost
Black fourth graders in CMS had an average reading score that was 44 points lower than white students in 2022 — a wider performance gap than in 2003 (33 points), wiping away progress the district made toward closing achievement gaps.
Hispanic students had an average score 50 points lower than white students, widening the gap 35 points from 2003.
In 2022, 64% of white students scored at or above the proficient level in reading, 18% of Black students scored at or above the proficient level and 17% of Hispanic students scored at or above proficient. Students performing at or above proficient on NAEP assessments demonstrate solid academic performance and competency over challenging subject matter.
The CMS gaps widened significantly since 2003 in math, too. The performance gap between Black and white students widened by 28 points since 2003. It widened by 24 points between Hispanic and white students.
In fourth grade math, 67% of white students in CMS were proficient, compared with 19% of Black students and 19% of Hispanic students.
Eighth grade performance gaps weren’t significantly different from those in 2003.
In eighth grade reading, 49% of white students in CMS attained NAEP proficient, compared with 16% of Black students and 20% of Hispanic students. Neither of those performance gaps were significantly different from those in 2003.
In eighth-grade math, 61% of white students were proficient, compared with 14% of Black students and 16% of Hispanic students.
A national snapshot
Nationally, data released Monday show the largest score declines in math at grades 4 and 8 since initial assessments in 1990 and how deeply the pandemic impacted student learning.
“Let me be very clear: these results are not acceptable,” said Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona. “We need to continue to approach the task of catching all of our students up with the urgency that this issue warrants.”
Average scores in math and reading for both fourth- and eighth-grade students declined starkly since 2019, the last time students were assessed. Nationally, students experienced the steepest declines ever in math, especially among eighth-grade students.
Eighth-grade average math scores dropped by eight points, and 38% of eighth-grade students are performing below the basic achievement level in math. No state or jurisdiction posted gains in math in either grade, nor did any of the 26 participating TUDA districts, according to a news release.
“This must be a wake-up call for the country that we have to make education a priority,” said Beverly Perdue, former governor of North Carolina and chair of the National Assessment Governing Board, which sets the policies and achievement levels for the Nation’s Report Card. “The eighth graders who took NAEP last spring are in high school today. We must invest in education so resources and supports are in place to accelerate student learning and close gaps that predated — but were exacerbated by — the pandemic. Otherwise, students will graduate and enter college and the workforce without the skills and knowledge we need to be globally competitive.”
This story was originally published October 24, 2022 at 6:00 AM.
