Terry’s earlier post about how poorly North Carolina’s academic standards compare with national expectations presented the excellent example of South Carolina, which is truly a national leader in this area. As it happens, South Carolina is truly a national leader when it comes to educational progress, which surely isn’t a coincidence.
As I wrote about in a recent CJO column, some North Carolina politicians continue to be under the delusion that our state has lots to teach the rest of the South and the country about education reform. While test-score gains in the early 1990s certainly made NC look comparatively successful, the trend since then does not support the notion of NC as a national pacesetter. It’s South Carolina that has posted the larger gains on NAEP tests:
Gain in 8th-grade math scores since 1996:
South Carolina: +21
North Carolina: +16
U.S. average: +10
Gain in 8th-grade reading scores since 1998:
South Carolina: +3
U.S. average: +0
North Carolina: -4
Gain in 8th-grade science scores since 1996:
South Carolina: +7
U.S. average: -1
North Carolina: -2
Gain in 8th-grade writing scores since 1998:
South Carolina: +8
U.S. average: +6
North Carolina: +3
