Grading N.C. schools: A preview

As the state of North Carolina gears up to issue letter grades to schools based on student test scores, the advocacy group CarolinaCAN is rolling out its own version today. The group's report cards label each public school  (including charters)  and school district on an A-F scale,  based on 2012 performance on state exams.

Kowal

As I told Executive Director Julie Kowal after previewing the report,  people are going to love this or hate it.  It's hard not to have a visceral reaction to seeing big red Fs  (for neighborhood schools serving the most impoverished areas and charters serving at-risk students, on my spot check)  and big green As  (often for low-poverty suburban schools and selective magnets).

Spoiler alert:  Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools rated Cs and Ds as a district,  while its individual schools rate among the best and the worst.  Ditto for charters in this area.

CarolinaCAN is an offshoot of the Connecticut-based 50CAN, created to promote choice,  accountability and flexibility.  Kowal said the N.C. grades promote transparency while giving parents access to important data in an easy-to-grasp format.  "We designed these for the general public in North Carolina,"  she said, acknowledging that the grades and the data points don't give the full picture of school quality,  let alone a district's performance.

She said the grades highlight overall performance,  achievement gaps and performance of low-income,  African American and Hispanic students,  who tend to lag behind peers.  There are Top 10 lists recognizing schools with the biggest gains and the best performance in those groups.  Morehead STEM Academy, Piedmont Middle and Irwin Academic Center,  CMS magnets with admission requirements, and Sugar Creek Charter,  a Charlotte school serving a high-poverty population,  stand out on those lists.

Time for all the caution flags.  First,  the numbers are stale.  It wasn't a typo to say the grades are based on 2012 exams.  The 2013 results that would give us a snapshot of the most recent school year won't be released until November,  as state officials figure out how to deal with new exams.  The state's school report cards,  which give a more comprehensive set of school data,  won't be updated until January.  For consistency,  CarolinaCAN used 2012 graduation rates,  though you can get 2013 rates online.

Second, the grades and lists don't just compare apples and oranges,  they pretty much throw in the whole produce section.  There are neighborhood schools,  magnets,  charters and alternative schools;  rural districts, urban districts and everything in between.  Schools that serve the most disadvantaged kids are graded on the same curve as those where most kids have college-educated parents who send them in prepared and motivated to learn.

Third,  the report cards are a work in progress.  When I first looked at the lists last week I was befuddled.  CMS' Metro School,  which serves severely disabled students ages 3-23, was listed as one of the best elementary schools based on performance gains.  There were numerous errors linked to the school closings and other changes CMS made in 2011-12.  Kowal rechecked after I raised those questions and found ways to fix most of the problems.  She's asking anyone who uses the ratings to email her (julie.kowal@carolinacan.org) with questions and issues.

To trot out one of my favorite sayings,  crunching school data doesn't provide answers, but it helps you ask better questions.  One of the biggest questions may be:  Can the state create a grading system that benefits students, educators, voters and taxpayers?

CarolinaCAN targets N.C. teacher pay, tenure

A national education-reform group is launching a North Carolina branch to push for changes in teacher pay, tenure and evaluations.

The N.C. Campaign for Achievement Now, or CarolinaCAN, is the seventh state spinoff from 50CAN, a national group trying to create like-minded organizations across the country. CarolinaCAN will formally debut today with an analysis of shortcomings in student achievement,  followed by a "Year of the Teacher" push for evaluations,  pay and layoffs to be linked to student results and other measures of effectiveness (find the issue brief at the CarolinaCAN web site above).

"Our state has an honored tradition of education leadership,"  the introduction says. "But there is so much more needed to support and leverage our great teachers. Three reforms will help us get there: improving our statewide teacher evaluation system, reforming the state’s outdated tenure and layoff systems, and creating meaningful rewards for excellence. This brief outlines the shortcomings of the current evaluation, tenure, layoff and compensation policies, and proposes reforms to re-position North Carolina as a national leader in teacher excellence."

Kowal

Julie Kowal,  a North Carolina native formerly with the education consulting firm Public Impact,  is the new group's executive director. Public Impact is working with the Charlotte-based Project LIFT to design new "opportunity culture" jobs that give highly effective classroom teachers higher pay for taking on more responsibility.

Figuring out how local this new group is takes some teasing out.  50CAN,  which originated in Connecticut,  has a plan to spend almost $7 million on education policy campaigns in the seven states (Rhode Island,  Minnesota,  Maryland,  New York,  Pennsylvania and New Jersey are the others).  That money comes from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation,  the Walton Family Foundation and other major donors,  says Fiona Hoey,  the group's media and marketing director. So far the site lists no donors specific to North Carolina,  and the advisory board has yet to be named.

The CarolinaCAN site says the national group recruited "a group of independent, nonpartisan organizations dedicated to top-notch schooling to consider joining forces to help improve the education landscape" in North Carolina, with those organizations helping 50CAN  "and local partners" create CarolinaCAN and launch "The Year of the Teacher."  The N.C. founders,  in addition to Public Impact and Project LIFT, are  listed as KIPP charter schools in Charlotte and Gaston; the Charlotte office of New Leaders (recently joined by former CMS Chief Operating Officer Millard House);  Parents for Educational Freedom in North Carolina; and Teach For America offices in Charlotte and eastern North Carolina.. Teach For America President Matthew Kramer chairs the 50CAN board.

In other states,  including Minnesota and Rhode Island,  CAN political action groups have pumped money into state legislative and local school board campaigns.  Hoey says there's no plan for CarolinaCAN to get involved in this year's Charlotte-Mecklenburg school board race,  though she says she's not in a position to rule anything out for a group that's just getting off the ground.