“Teachability” and NC Schools

RALEIGH — North Carolina students performed better than expected on nationally standardized tests, according to a new study that ranks states and students by a “teachability index.” The report seeks to separate the effects of being disadvantaged from the effects of education reform and spending. Nationally, the authors show that students are “somewhat more teachable now than they were in 1970,” a gain of just under 9 percent. North Carolina has not fared so well in student teachability. Roughly speaking, the index estimates that NC students are about 14 percent more difficult to teach now than they were in 1970.