The NC Department of Public Instruction officially released the ABCs report for 2006-07. The report details student performance on the state?s end-of-grade and end-of-course tests.
Before the release of the test scores, Howard Lee, chairman of the State Board of Education, assured the audience that, regardless of what the test scores say, ?[o]ur public schools are indeed doing the job.? So, what did we get for our $10+ billion investment in public schools?
? 71.8 of schools made high or expected growth, a healthy increase from last year (54.2 percent)
? There were slight increases in reading and math proficiency in grades 3 ? 8
? High school performance (percent proficient) dropped in several subjects. Apparently, the state “raised the bar” on these tests.
o Algebra I dropped from 80.5 percent to 62.5 percent
o Algebra II dropped from 80.3 percent to 65.7 percent
o English I dropped from 83 percent to 73.2 percent
o Geometry dropped from 68.8 percent to 63.9 percent
o Biology, Civics, and U.S. History increased slightly
Recall that the legislature recently passed a budget that increased K-12 education spending by $1 billion or 14.8 percent from 2006-2007 (and an astounding 30.9 percent increase from 2002-2003). Also note that this spending growth does not include likely increases in education spending on the local level and ample federal funding.
