It will disappoint many on the Left that student performance has not crashed and burned.
So far, their criticisms of Governor McCrory and the Republican General Assembly have focused on personnel and the purse. They claim that teacher pay raises have been insufficient and, thus, Republicans have undermined teacher recruitment and retention efforts. In addition, the Left contends that state budget increases have not kept up with student enrollment growth and inflation. Some of their arguments are valid. Others not so much.
Regardless, the Left’s focus on financial and personnel inputs does not take into account outcomes – by design. That is because available measures indicate that outcomes are improving. Proficiency rates in math, reading, and science increased last year, albeit not across all subjects and grades. School performance grades are higher. A number of schools had astonishing test score growth. If Republicans really have obliterated public schools, as the Left claims they have, it’s certainly not reflected in student performance measures.
That said, it is also too early to credit Republican reforms for improving academic achievement. I suspect that Read to Achieve, the expansion of school choice, and other initiatives have done a lot of good, but I have only anecdotal evidence to support that hypothesis. Even if those policies have helped, classroom teachers and school-based administrators deserve much of the credit because they have had the difficult job of implementing their reforms (in addition to everything else they are asked to do).
As a state, we have a long way to go. Outcomes for African American children, for example, are unacceptable. Low-income children continue to struggle. Reading scores must improve at a faster rate. In other words, this is no time to be complacent. There is work to be done.