Terry Stoops

Whenever you hear complaints about Innovative School District and charter schools (particularly virtual charter schools) that earn low school performance grades, remember that those grades “fail to account for the many factors that contribute to, and greatly inhibit overall student success.”…

Title I schools have a high concentration of disadvantaged students and receive additional funds from the federal government to serve them. Below is a list of Title I schools that received an A or B grade for the performance of economically disadvantaged students (subgroup) on state standardized tests. District…

North Carolina assigns school performance grades to all public schools.  The grades are based on student achievement (80 percent of total grade) and growth (20 percent of total grade). In the past, the N.C. Department of Public Instruction published comparisons of district and charter grade distributions, but they…

Yeah, I know.  Graduation rates are not test scores. The four-year “cohort” graduation rate is the percentage of students who enter ninth grade and graduate four years later.  Last year, 86.5 percent of students graduated with their freshman cohort in four years.  This was slightly higher than the 2017-18 cohort…

Proficiency is one way to measure student performance.  Growth is another.  While proficiency is determined by the number of questions answered correctly, growth captures performance relative to scores on previous tests.  A student may not reach proficiency, but they may demonstrate positive growth.  Likewise, a student may be proficient,…

The N.C. Department of Public Instruction released state test scores for all public schools.  I’ll share some of the highlights on the Locker Room blog throughout the day. Students in grades 3-8 statewide (reading): 57.2 percent of students in grades 3-8 were considered Grade Level Proficient (GLP).  This…

Kristy Moore, N.C. Association of Educators (NCAE): “This is a new year and it’s another chance for us as educators to put into perspective what we need to do to ensure that ALL students have a bright future. The children we serve cannot help in which zip code they live,…

Business.org released a Wallethub-style ranking of “best states for teachers.”  Yes, I know, I clicked on it.  Sorry.  The N.C. Association of Educators had a Facebook post about it, and I just couldn’t help myself.  They complain, “On average, NC teachers make 20% less than the average salary…