Another round of statewide test results came out on Thursday. More high school students are graduating, but more schools across North Carolina are falling further behind more challenging goals.
Across the state, more students are passing end-of-grade and end-of-course tests. And more of them are graduating from high school. According to results released by the department of public instruction, more than 77 % of high school students graduated last year – up more than 3 percentage points from the year before. So if more students are passing and graduating, why are more schools failing?
That’s because the goals set by the federal No Child Left Behind law have increased dramatically. Last year, 58 % of North Carolina’s schools made adequate yearly progress; this year, just 28 percent did. That result follows a nationwide trend. Federal and state funding cuts may play a significant role in future student performance. The ABCs program used to award bonuses to teachers at schools that made goals. That program was cut three years ago by the State Legislature.
