NC receives poor rating in new Alliance for Excellent Education report

Three years after the passing of the Every Student Succeeds Act, North Carolina doesn't have a lot to show — the state is either underperforming or neglecting its accountability, according to a new report by the Alliance for Excellent Education.

Under the ESSA, states are required to implement equity-oriented support for students, including historically underserved subgroups of students to ensure their equal access to education.

Replacing the previous No Child Left Behind Act, ESSA advocates for a wider flexibility for state institutions and schools.

U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos said she wants a higher quality education for all in a 2017 letter delivered to chief state school officers after the department updated enforcement procedures.

"States, along with local educators and parents, are on the frontlines of ensuring every child has access to a quality education," DeVos said in the letter.

According to a recent report assessing individual states’ implementations of the bill released by the Alliance for Excellent Education, North Carolina received a red rating for not including student subgroups in all school ratings.

In the report, subgroups include historically underserved and minority students.

In the 50 states the Alliance for Excellent Education evaluates, North Carolina is one of 12 states that did this. 

Terry Stoops, vice president for research and director of education studies for the John Locke Foundation, questioned whether identifying the issue will amount to any real change.

“The real question is not so much as how we report it, but the bigger question is will the scores and rates that we’re reporting allow North Carolina to improve student performance," Stoops said.

As indicated in another report by the Alliance for Excellent Education, North Carolina did poorly in the inclusion of student subgroups. Unlike New Jersey, which gives fifty percent weight to subgroup students’ performance, North Carolina doesn't consider the performance of subgroups when calculating the overall rating of schools.

According to the same report, it is more difficult to trigger the state’s intervention because of its definition of “consistently underperforming students.” North Carolina also used a sample size of 30 students to rate its schools, which doesn't break apart the student body into smaller subgroups.

Lindsay Dworkin, director of policy development and state government relations at All4Edu, said North Carolina is not alone in its issues. 

“This will be for many states the first year, this '18-19 school year, that they are really running their new accountability system and creating their list of identified schools,” Dworkin said.

Stoops said North Carolina may still be expecting revisions to the plan. The state will administer a test in smaller increments throughout the school year rather than at the end of the school year as an interim assessment, which he said is promising. 

“Unfortunately, it’s still a pilot program. But as long as ESSA gives us opportunity to pilot innovations like that, it will give us enough room to advance student achievement,” Stoops said.

city@dailytarheel.com