Carolina Journal’s Lindsay Marchello reports:
Carver Heights Elementary in Goldsboro might be the next school to join the Innovative School District if the State Board of Education approves the recommendation.
David Prickett, a spokesman for the ISD, confirmed Carver Heights was selected. The state education board will get the opportunity to approve or reject the recommendation at the November SBE meeting.
Created in 2016 by the General Assembly, the Innovative School District allows the state to try to turn around continuously low-performing schools. The law lets the ISD pick up to five schools and match them with an education management operator for five years.
Before adding Carver Heights, though, the state board and the ISD may have to overcome local opposition to the inclusion of Carver Heights, much as the ISD did with Southside Ashpole Elementary in Robeson County, the first school to join the ISD.
Like Southside Ashpole, Carver Heights Elementary was picked because of its low academic scores. The Wayne County school earned an F on its 2016-17 N.C. school report card and has a 31 as its performance grade score. The school also failed to meet growth benchmarks.
An overwhelming 90 percent of students at Carver Heights are economically disadvantaged, compared with the state average of 49.2 percent. High levels of economically disadvantaged students tend to track with low school performance.
Read more here, including reports of push-back to Carver Heights entering the ISD.
