Opinion
Standardized tests convey crucial data
As recently as 2019, North Carolina schools ranked seventh in the country in value-added performance. In 2024, we were 32nd.
News
America’s youngest readers are bouncing back, national test shows
The nation's 9-year-olds posted their first significant academic gains since the pandemic, with reading scores back to pre-pandemic levels on the latest NAEP long-term trend assessment.
News
NC House Republicans question DPI’s data on student achievement
Republican members of the NC House Education K-12 committee challenged the Department of Public Instruction's framing of student achievement data on May 12, telling officials its metrics may overstate how prepared North Carolina students are for college and careers.
News
Report: NC math rebounds, but reading scores keep falling
A new Harvard-Stanford-Dartmouth scorecard ranks North Carolina ninth nationally in math recovery since 2022 but just 22nd in reading, with the average student now reading roughly two-thirds of a grade level behind 2019 despite the state's 2021 science-of-reading law.
News
Cellphone bans deliver slow but real gains, study finds
A study finds that locking student phones away for the entire school day — a stricter approach than NC's new law — produces sharp reductions in student phone use but few short-term academic or behavioral gains, with benefits that may take years to emerge.
News
NC schools commission begins work amid lagging proficiency
NCs new Blue Ribbon Commission on Public Education held its first meeting on April 27. Gov. Josh Stein and state officials touted "historic milestones" in public schools — including a record graduation rate — even as data showed roughly 45% of students aren't proficient in reading and math.
News
Critics: Green’s new education pillars lack academics focus
North Carolina education policy critics say Superintendent Mo Green's new "Achieving Educational Excellence" strategic plan pays too little attention to whether students are actually learning, with its eight guiding pillars largely silent on the core test score benchmarks that measure grade-level proficiency in reading and math. The critique comes as state and national data show NC students still lagging behind pre-COVID academic levels.
Opinion
Education needs to adapt quickly to screen-obsessed culture
Even if they ban devices during instructional hours, the effect of constant screen time outside of class is ruining students' ability to listen, comprehend, focus, retain information, read books at their own grade level.
News
Study: Public school students make gains when school choice expands
A new study on Florida's school choice programs suggests that implementing robust school choice is a significantly more cost-effective method for improving public school student outcomes.
Opinion
NC wants the best schools in the nation. Is its plan up to the task?
A leaner, clearer roadmap would not only sharpen priorities but also spare schools of the kind of sprawling bureaucracy that would be needed to carry out its original vision.
News
12th grade math scores fall to levels not seen since 2005, NAEP finds
New national test results released show a sharp drop in academic performance among the nation’s high school seniors, with math and reading scores falling to levels not seen in decades and the gap between the highest- and lowest-performing students widening.
News
Student testing data improves but still lags behind pre-COVID highs
Public school students increased proficiency scores in reading and math compared to recent years, but the results still lag behind the high watermarks earned prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to new data released by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction.
