NC school test scores move closer to pre-pandemic levels. How far behind are they?
North Carolina’s public schools are making incremental gains as they try to return to pre-pandemic achievement levels.
New statewide test scores released at Wednesday’s State Board of Education meeting show that 54.2% of students were proficient on state exams during the 2023-24 school year. That’s up from 53.6% the prior year and the post-pandemic low of 45.4% in the 2020-21 school year.
But the passing rate is still well below the 58.8% mark from the 2018-19 school year. State education leaders have repeatedly said it will take time to fully recover from pandemic learning loss.
“We are proud of the steady progress reflected in this year’s state test scores,” State Superintendent Catherine Truitt said in a news release Wednesday. “This progress highlights the hard work and incredible dedication of educators and students across the state.
“The data in the accountability report provides us with a clear picture of what’s going well in our schools and what areas need additional support. This year’s data shows us that we’re headed in the right direction in most areas, but that we must remain committed to advocating for additional support for our teachers.”
The test results will likely become part of this fall’s heated election campaigns.
Republicans have cited the academic struggles in public schools to promote measures such as increasing funding for private school vouchers. Democrats have cited the test scores to argue more money is needed to support public schools.
Is there a ‘diploma integrity’ problem?
The uptick in state performance included an increase in the high school graduation rate, more schools meeting growth expectations on state exams and fewer schools being labeled as low performing.
The state also saw more schools receiving an A, B or C performance grade and fewer receiving a D or F grade.
The state’s four-year graduation rate rose to 86.9%, up from 86.4% the prior year. The Class of 2024 consisted of students who had begun their high school career in 2020 receiving mostly virtual instruction due to the pandemic
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There had been concern that the graduation rate would drop this year because one in six freshmen weren’t promoted to the 10th grade after the 2020-21 school year.
But Truitt said Wednesday it’s “shocking” how graduation rates are increasing at the same time students of color have low proficiency rates on state exams. She called it “unacceptable” how the majority of Black and Hispanic students are attending failing schools and are receiving “a substandard education.”
“What does it say about the students who are graduating?” Truitt said at the state board meeting. “We have a diploma integrity problem.”
Reading results mixed
The results show there’s still significant room for improvement.
The passing rate on the state’s third-grade reading exam rose to 48.6%. It had been at 47.8% the previous year.
Last year’s third-grade students started kindergarten in 2020 receiving limited amounts of in-person instruction. Some kindergartners received only remote instruction until the latter half of the 2020-21 school year.
State leaders say they expect early literacy skills to increase over time as teachers become more comfortable using their LETRS science of reading training.
LETRS, which stands for “Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling,” stresses phonics when teaching students how to read. All of the state’s elementary teachers completed the 160 hours of training this year.
But the state also saw drops in reading in fourth- and seventh-grades. Truitt, who lost in the Republican Primary to Michele Morrow, said state lawmakers should focus next year on providing appropriate training for middle school and high school teachers.
“As a state, we have invested an incredible amount of time and effort into teaching our elementary students essential literacy skills using the science of reading,” Truitt said. “But many of our literacy supports fall off after third grade, and this year’s data shows us that focusing on elementary students, specifically kindergarten through third grade is not enough.”
The state exam passing rate for elementary school students is only 50.1% for reading and 54.6% in math.
Can you compare scores over time?
In addition to still being below 2019 levels, passing rates are much lower than they were 20 years ago.
In 2004, 91% of students in Wake County and 81% of students in North Carolina passed state exams.
At the time, the John Locke Foundation had argued the state exams were too easy. The conservative think tank had pointed to how students could pass some state exams by getting as few as a third of the questions right.
Test scores dropped in 2006 and 2007 when the state revised the exams. They dropped even further in 2013 when the exams were revised to reflect Common Core standards in reading and math.
The state Department of Public Instruction has cautioned against comparing current results with those from many years ago when the exams and the curriculum standards were different.
Caution against overreliance on test scores
Multiple state board members cautioned Wednesday against placing too much focus on the new test results and the school performance grades. The grade is largely based on passing rates on state exams, so high-poverty schools on average have lower grades than affluent schools.
“Overreliance on tests and school performance grades can misrepresent school quality and mask both the growth and achievement of our students as well as the challenges and the obstacles they face,” said Eric Davis, chair of the state board.
Proposals to overhaul the school performance grading system have died in the General Assembly.
Davis said that the performance grades can “destructively misrepresent school performance.” He said test scores should be viewed alongside other factors, including school climate and a school’s relationship to the community.
“Let’s keep all this in mind and resist using test results to demean and punish public schools,” Davis said.
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This story was originally published September 4, 2024 at 10:16 AM with the headline "NC school test scores move closer to pre-pandemic levels. How far behind are they?."
