Current:Home > Contact-usNorth Carolina public school students inch higher in test scores-LoTradeCoin
North Carolina public school students inch higher in test scores
View Date:2024-12-24 00:14:44
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina’s public school students made small performance gains on standardized tests during the past school year, officials announced Wednesday. The proficiency levels are inching closer to percentages reached before the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered classrooms and led to remote learning.
The Department of Public Instruction released figures showing 54.2% of students were proficient on state exams during the 2023-24 school year, compared to 53.6% during the 2022-23 school year, The News & Observer of Raleigh reported.
The passing rate remains below the 58.8% proficiency rate during the 2018-19 school year. The first full school year during the pandemic — 2020-21 — the rate was just 45.4%, according to the newspaper.
State educators have said since 2022 that it would take time — perhaps four or five years — to rebound fully from the era of learning loss during the pandemic.
“There’s a lot of work that needs to be done,” state schools Superintendent Catherine Truitt said as the results were released at the State Board of Education meeting.
In other calculations, more individual schools met growth expectations on state exams and fewer schools were labeled as low-performing. The state uses an A-to-F grading system on schools that is largely based on proficiency rates. The state’s four-year graduation rate also ticked up slightly from 86.5% during the 2022-23 school year to 86.9% this past year, according to a department release.
Schools have spent hundreds of millions of dollars the last few years on learning recovery efforts, including tutoring and after school and summer programming. Temporary federal money toward these efforts dries up later this month, WRAL-TV reported.
Tammy Howard with the Department of Public Instruction’s accountability and testing office estimated the state is about 97% returned to pre-pandemic levels, according to the station.
“While test grades and letter outcomes cannot tell us everything we need to know about school and student success, North Carolina continues to see growth for most grades and subjects,” Howard said in the department’s release. “This is something to be proud of.”
Looking at grade-level tests, the passing rate on the third-grade reading exam was 48.6% during the 2023-24 school year, compared to 47.8% the previous year.
State leaders have said they expected early-literacy skills to improve over time as teachers become more comfortable with new reading instruction training that stresses phonics. All of the state’s elementary teachers completed the 160 hours of training this year, The News & Observer reported.
The results were released two months before voters decide who they want to succeed Truitt as superintendent. Democrat Maurice “Mo” Green and Republican Michele Morrow will be on the ballot. Morrow defeated Truitt in the March primary.
veryGood! (25369)
Related
- Early Black Friday Deals: 70% Off Apple, Dyson, Tarte, Barefoot Dreams, Le Creuset & More + Free Shipping
- Will Levis rallies Titans for 2 late TDs, 28-27 win over Dolphins
- Sarah McLachlan celebrates 30 years of 'Fumbling' with new tour: 'I still pinch myself'
- Voter turnout plunges below 30% in Hong Kong election after rules shut out pro-democracy candidates
- Cruise ship rescues 4 from disabled catamaran hundreds of miles off Bermuda, officials say
- Vanessa Hudgens Had a High School Musical Reunion at Her Wedding
- Two Georgia election workers sue Giuliani for millions, alleging he took their good names
- The US is restricting visas for nearly 300 Guatemalan lawmakers, others for ‘undermining democracy’
- Officer injured at Ferguson protest shows improvement, transferred to rehab
- Imprisoned accomplice in shooting of then-NFL player’s girlfriend dies
Ranking
- Why Cynthia Erivo Needed Prosthetic Ears for Wicked
- Man sues NYC after he spent 27 years in prison, then was cleared in subway token clerk killing
- Ranking the best college football hires this offseason from best to worst
- New Hampshire man arrested for allegedly threatening to kill Vivek Ramaswamy
- Spirit Airlines cancels release of Q3 financial results as debt restructuring talks heat up
- Did inflation drift lower in November? CPI report could affect outlook for interest rates
- Harvard faculty rallies to the aid of university president criticized for remarks on antisemitism
- How the 2016 election could factor into the case accusing Trump of trying to overturn the 2020 race
Recommendation
-
Fire crews on both US coasts battle wildfires, 1 dead; Veterans Day ceremony postponed
-
Iraq scrambles to contain fighting between US troops and Iran-backed groups, fearing Gaza spillover
-
Closing arguments start in trial of 3 Washington state police officers charged in Black man’s death
-
Battle over creating new court centers on equality in Mississippi’s majority-Black capital city
-
Supreme Court seems likely to allow class action to proceed against tech company Nvidia
-
Dutch official says Geert Wilders and 3 other party leaders should discuss forming a new coalition
-
Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton working his way into the NBA MVP race
-
US inflation likely cooled again last month as Fed prepares to assess interest rates