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Education
School Standards & Testing

With the implementation of the ABCs of Public Education, the Excellent Schools Act, charter school legislation, and other reforms, North Carolina lawmakers have put education at the top of the priority list. But even after some recent progress, repeated problems with the state testing program and the continued poor performance of N.C. students on reputable tests — particularly among minority youngsters — suggest that more fundamental changes are needed.

Improvement — To Mediocrity

North Carolina’s end-of-grade and end-of-course tests, used as the basis for ABC bonuses and sanctions, put its schools in the best light. In 2000-01, 72.5 percent of students in grades 3 through 8 scored at grade level in reading and math, up from 53 percent in 1993. That’s a significant gain, reflecting the value of creating statewide tests and reporting the results. The ABC model offers a valuable structure within which to pursue reform.

Unfortunately, the state’s tests are flimsy guides to student achievement. State officials were embarrassed in 2001 to discover that their new math tests were absurdly easy to pass — a product of poor judgment and a flawed system of field testing. The problems go far beyond this one episode. To achieve “grade level” often means that students need not get even half the questions right, so they can expect to pass simply through educated guessing. Most questions on math tests do not involve computation. Spelling and grammar don’t count on most writing tests. And while both state tests and the well-respected National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) use four levels of achievement, the performance necessary to earn Level 3 on state tests is lower than the NAEP’s Level 2. In other words, North Carolina’s expectations are too low.

A related concern is that while state tests have shown improved reading skills since 1994, NAEP scores show little or no gain, and even a slight decrease in reading proficiency in the 4th grade. Similarly, from 1993 to 2001 the state administered the Iowa Test of Basic Skills to a sample of 5th and 8th graders. The large upward trend on state tests was not mirrored in the Iowa Test results, which showed a more modest gain during the period (alarmingly, the state dropped the Iowa Test last year). On the other hand, North Carolina has realized major improvements on NAEP math tests and are at or slightly above the national average in most NAEP subjects.

Although the state’s schools have improved, they still have a long way to go. According to recent NAEP tests, nearly 40 percent of our 4th-graders lack basic reading skills, while 30 percent of 8th-graders can’t do basic math. If North Carolina were a country, our scores would be below those of most European and Asian countries. Furthermore, fewer than 60 percent of high school students graduate on time, the rest dropping out or falling far behind their peers. If the average performance of N.C. public school students is mediocre, the situation faced by our minority students can rightly be called a crisis. About 60 percent of black 4th-graders can’t read at a basic level, while 58 percent of black and 43 percent of Hispanic 8th-graders lack basic math skills.

In an effort to provide parents and taxpayers with a comprehensive and comprehensible way of gauging the performance of North Carolina public schools, the Locke Foundation’s North Carolina Education Alliance issues letter grades each year to school districts based on four measurements: 1) percentage of students passing state tests, 2) average scores on state tests, 3) graduation rates, and 4) average SAT scores. For the 2000-01 school year, nearly half of the districts received a D or F and only 7 received Bs. The statewide average was a C-.

Declining Productivity

The biggest challenge facing North Carolina public education is low productivity. What gains have occurred in recent years have come at great cost to taxpayers. Over the past decade, per-pupil spending in North Carolina grew at about twice the rate of inflation, much of it to hire new teachers and pay them more. In 2000-01, our public schools spent an average of nearly $6,800 per pupil. But there is no merit pay for individual teachers, no real way for principals to hire and retain whom they wish, and little competitive pressure placed on the public school monopoly . More money alone will not yield better results. Careful studies for the John Locke Foundation in 1997 and 1998, as well as those by other researchers, show no correlation between per-pupil spending and test scores. Moreover, students improved on state tests at roughly the same rate before and after costly and far-reaching reforms enacted in 1996, as the graph below reveals, calling into question their effectiveness.

Recommendations

1. The state’s end-of-year and end-of-course tests should be replaced with an independent, field-tested, and credible national test of student performance such as the Iowa Test of Basic Skills. ABC reporting should be revised to give schools letter grades so that parents can track not just growth but also objective performance of their students and schools. North Carolina should also set a goal of at least half of students showing proficiency and 90 percent testing at the “basic” level as defined by reputable national tests such as the NAEP.
2. In addition to measuring, reporting, and rewarding overall growth in school test scores, the ABC system should reward individual teachers based on the value they add to the performance of their students.
3. The state should move aggressively to comply with the new federal education bill by offering recognition and bonuses not just when average scores rise but when schools reduce or eliminate the performance gap among racial and socioeconomic groups through high expectations for all.
4. State policymakers should deregulate and decentralize public schools while maintaining accountability for results by abolishing tenure and rigid certification rules, giving districts more flexibility in spending existing dollars, and lifting the cap on charters to allow more innovative public schools to be created across the state.

To view higher quality graphs, download Agenda 2002 [560KB Acrobat].