School Accountability Scores Mixed

Special Report - August 9, 2012
Earlier this month, the Department of Public Instruction released growth and accountability scores for 2,482 public schools in North Carolina for the 2011-2012 school year. Just under 80 percent of the state’s schools met at least their expected academic growth, with almost 44 percent boasting high academic growth. Nearly 36 percent of school met expected academic growth. Those numbers are slightly lower than the 42 percent of schools meeting high academic growth and 40 percent meeting expected growth in 2010-2011.

North Carolina public schools are transitioning school accountability systems from the ABCs of Public Education, which was established in 1996, to the new READY initiative. The 2011-2012 school year is the last year for which the ABCs program will be used to measure the progress of public schools and students in North Carolina. According to a summary of the report, under the new program, schools will “be measured against Annual Measurable Objectives (AMOs) calculated and reported under NCLB [the federal No Child Left Behind legislation], and not the ‘all or nothing’ measure of Adequate Yearly Progress. AMOs also identify specific proficiency targets for each student subgroup as opposed to one proficiency target that all subgroups must meet.”

As part of the transition, the ABCs program report from the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (DPI) opted to “report the number of Annual Measureable Objectives (AMOs) and the number of those targets met as well as the percentage of targets met by each school/district,” rather than the usual Adequate Yearly Progress. Schools were also categorized into achievement categories, including more than one-third qualifying as Schools of Progress, 28 percent as Schools of Distinction, and 11 percent boasting Honor Schools of Excellence distinctions. More than 16 percent of schools received no recognition either good or bad. A majority of the state’s schools (54 percent) did not meet all AMOs. All of the 278 Honor Schools of Excellence met all AMOs, while three-fourths of the 526 Schools of Distinction met all AMOs. Almost two-thirds (60 percent) of high growth schools met all AMOs, compared to 41 percent of expected growth schools.

ABC scores are based on three accountability measures:

1. Performance Composite – “how well the students in the school did against the set of standard proficiency;”
2. Growth – “the rate at which students in the school learned over the past year;”
3. AMO Status – “Whether the students in the school as a whole and in each identified group met the performance targets set by the state.”

The report is based on end-of-grade tests in reading and math for grades three through eight, and in science for grades five and eight, as well as end-of-grade tests in English I, Algebra I, and Biology. Additionally, the report takes into account graduation rates and alternate student assessments for students with disabilities.

Related resources:
Senate Approves Edcuation Reforms - June 5, 2012
Education Committee Approves Reforms - May 30, 2012
Statewide Education Reforms Proposed - April 25, 2011
NC Students Struggle to Compete - February 9, 2012
NC Test Scores Released - November 7, 2011
Graduation Rate Misleading - September 28, 2011
2011 Legislative Review - June 22, 2011
Education Day at the Legislature - June 10, 2011
Bill Nixes Four State EOG Tests - March 7, 2011
Healthcare, Charters, and Tests - February 18, 2011
Report Grades NC Public Schools "D" - November 10, 2010
NC Public School Districts Fail Test - August 11, 2010
Charter School Checkmate- FNC - Summer 2010
Condition Of Education Report Released - June 2, 2010
Educators Address Accountability - April 6, 2010
Report Evaluates Education Innovation - November 18, 2009
New Math Scores Released - October 22, 2009
Higher Standards Yield Lower Scores - November 10, 2008
NC Public Schools Leaving Children Behind - August 14, 2008
NC High School Dropout Rate Increasing - February 12, 2008
NC Overestimates Graduation Rates - December 23, 2003
Federal Education Standards - December 3, 2002

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