Local Education Needs Work - TribPapers
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Local Education Needs Work

Following a previous presentation on poor academic performance in local schools post-pandemic, the commissioners heard answers to their questions about which demographics were most adversely impacted.

Asheville – Two months later, Buncombe County’s Strategic Partnerships Director Rachael Sawyer Nygaard responded to commissioners’ questions. The commissioners had received an update on how the county was progressing on their strategic goal of having an “Educated and Capable Community.” Commissioner Al Whitesides was more vocal than others in his dismay. Since he had been on the board, the county had thrown money into all kinds of new initiatives to close the achievement gap in Asheville City Schools (ACS) and Buncombe County Schools (BCS), and things were only getting worse.

Commissioner questions sought to assess how bad Buncombe County was compared to other schools in the state and whether or not students of color and/or students from low-wealth families were disproportionately receiving, whether deservedly or not, lower grades.

One statistic of interest to the commissioners was the racial composition of the economically disadvantaged student population. Nygaard replied that the schools did not collect this information. So, both school districts and the county had submitted a request to the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (DPI) and were awaiting a reply.

As an aside, Nygaard said getting information about economically disadvantaged demographics is somewhat complex. At the height of the pandemic, the schools switched to providing universal meals, and after that, entire schools, not just individuals, could be declared economically disadvantaged. This was problematic because the number of students receiving free and reduced lunches was formerly used as a proxy for poverty.

The next question was how the grade point averages (GPAs) of local students compared to those across the state. Again, Nygaard said she didn’t have an answer. This time, it was because each teacher has discretion over how they want to grade students within school policies, and those policies vary among schools. Even end-of-grade (EOG) and end-of-course tests vary. A better measure of academic performance is standardized tests like those administered in the third through eighth grades in math and reading, as well as the American College Testing (ACT) diagnostic, which is administered in the 11th grade.

Nygaard had already discussed these assessments in her February 7 presentation. Proficiencies in grades three through eight had fallen after a hiatus in testing during the pandemic. In the 2017–2018 and 2018–2019 school years, the percentage of children in local public schools assessed as proficient in math was 60% and 61%, respectively. The percentage of charter school students earning proficient scores was 66%. For 2020–2021, student proficiencies were 37% for ACS, 40% for BCS, and 43% for charter schools. The numbers for 2021–2022, respectively, were 48%, 52%, and 52%. In most cases, these numbers were higher than the state averages.

Looking at reading scores for the same five years, the percentage of proficient students in ACS the two years before the pandemic hiatus was 64% and 65%. The two years after, those numbers were 46% and 55%. For BCS, those numbers were 61% and 58%, and 47% and 48%; for charter schools, 73% and 74%, and 62% and 63%. Statewide scores were less than or equal to all of the above.

In 2020–2021, ACT testing indicated 59.7% of ACS students, 47.7% of BCS students, and 65.0% of charter school students were college-ready. This compares to 41.7% of students statewide.

Given the abysmal scores, commissioners wanted to know how many students were repeating grades. They also wanted a demographic breakdown because they were concerned teachers might either be racist or deficient in training for de-escalating African-American behavioral problems.

For the 2021–2022 school year, ACS “retained,” or did not pass, 64 students, which represented 1.5% of the student population. African-Americans, while making up 20% of the overall student population, accounted for 43.75% of retentions, and whites comprised 25.56%. All other demographics were represented with fewer than 10 students each. BCS retained 409 children,. comprising 1.8% of the student body. African-Americans, while representing 7% of the overall population, made up 9% of retentions. White children comprised 58.4% of suspensions; Hispanics, 25.18%; and bi- and multiracial students, 5.62%.

A question that followed was how graduation rates, which are over 90%, were possible given the standardized test scores. Nygaard replied that the state requires high school students to earn 22 credits with at least a D grade (60%) to receive a diploma. ACS and BCS require 28 credits. Furthermore, getting that D grade is based not only on EOG scores but also on attendance, completion of daily assignments, class participation, conduct, teacher tests and quizzes, and student growth.

Student growth is an average value for each school. It doesn’t measure whether students “meet or exceed expectations” for academic performance at a given point in time, but whether they meet or exceed expectations for improvement between points in time. All demographics explored for the presentation had growth scores well over 80%.