Brace yourself for new test scores

There's a wild week ahead for supporters of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, with a bond vote, school board election and release of state test scores coming.

We'll get election results Tuesday night. My guess is that backers of the education bonds for CMS and Central Piedmont Community College will be celebrating.  I went to the North Regional Library in Huntersville Tuesday to talk to early voters,  then got pulled off for another story before I could flesh out a full report.  But that small sample was consistent:  The people I talked to knew little or nothing about the bonds going in,  but voted yes because they support education.

"I always support anything to do with the schools,"  said Tara McAlinn of Huntersville,  the mother of a 4-year-old.  It's a sentiment I heard repeatedly,  from young parents to retirees.

However the election goes,  Thursday morning will dash a bucket of cold water in people's faces when the N.C. Department of Public Instruction releases long-awaited results from 2013 end-of-grade exams.  State officials have made it clear that there's going to be a big drop in proficiency rates  --  not because kids got dumber or teachers got less effective,  but because there are more rigorous new tests, new  "cut scores"  for passing and no second try for students who fell below grade level.  Many schools will see hard-earned gains disappear.  If past changes in testing are any predictor,  gaps between the highest- and lowest-performing groups of students will widen.  (One interesting feature:  For the first time,  the state will break out performance for academically gifted kids.)

CMS Superintendent Heath Morrison said this week that he supports tougher tests that are designed to more accurately reflect students' readiness for college and careers.  "Every time we set the bar higher,  our kids respond, our teachers respond."  But he worries that critics who tout the failure of public education will use the new results to say  "See,  I told you it was broken."

There are actually three phases of the test-score release.  Teachers have already started getting  "value-added"  ratings based on the new exams,  which is bound to be a source of some stress.  "You get this information and it's really confusing,"  said one caller,  who had just gotten her report and declined to give her name.  "It's hard to read and it's hard to understand."

Proficiency and growth for schools and districts come out Thursday.  And within 30 days of that,  families are supposed to get reports on how their own children did last year.

If you want to get prepared for the testing data,  DPI has a background brief posted.

If you want to prepare for Tuesday's election,  you can find details about the bonds and the candidates on the Observer's voter guide.

And if you've still got energy left at the end of that crazy week, you can turn your gaze to the future at a Nov. 9 forum on "What's next for public education in Charlotte metro?"  From 10 a.m. to noon at UNC Charlotte Center City,  panelists from CMS,  charter schools,  the state legislature and higher education will talk about choices,  challenges,  changes and coordination.  The session is sponsored by Staying Ahead Carolina and UNCC.  There's no charge,  but registration is required.

Back-and-forth on education bonds continues

Central Piedmont Community College has launched its own  "Vote Yes for CPCC Bonds"  campaign,  in addition to the education bonds campaign led by the Charlotte Chamber and MeckEd.  Mecklenburg voters will be asked to approve $210 million for CPCC and $290 million for Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools on Nov. 5.

Public bodies such as CMS and CPCC walk a fine line in promoting bonds.  State law prohibits using public money and resources to advocate for a  "yes"  or  "no"  vote,  and CPCC officials acknowledged in September they had crossed that line by forwarding an email from the  "Vote Yes"  campaign on President Tony Zeiss' work account.  But the CPCC campaign is funded by up to $50,000 in private money provided by the CPCC Foundation,  with no government money involved,  said spokesman Jeff Lowrance.

Lowrance said it's traditional for CPCC to run its own campaign in addition to chamber efforts to promote community college and K-12 bonds.

CMS,  meanwhile,  is pushing hard to provide information while stopping just short of advocating for a specific vote. Many schools are sending home copies of bond information from the district's web site,  often with notes like this one from Ballantyne Elementary's Bear Blast:

On November 5th, all registered voters in Mecklenburg County will have a chance to decide whether CMS receives $290 million in school bonds.  If approved, the bond money will be used to add classrooms, build new schools, repair again systems, and renovate older schools across Charlotte and Mecklenburg County.  Please help show our students that every vote counts by taking part in the elections on November 5th.  ... Visit the CMS website for more information about the bond referendum and why strong public schools matter to all of us.  Please let us know if you have further questions and again, make your vote count on November 5th.

Christine Mast,  who is running for the District 1 school board seat,  argues that such material is inappropriate.  "School communications are clearly being used for bond advocacy by getting our students to bring these documents home with them,"  she wrote in an email to Superintendent Heath Morrison.   The web site implies that "a  'yes'  bond vote is the only vote that supports public schools,"  she wrote.

CMS Chief Communication Officer Kathryn Block disagrees.  The wording  "informs people about how the bond money, if approved, would be used and the importance of participating in the voting process,"  she said.  "It does not advocate for a specific position."

Meanwhile,  Tom Davis from the north suburban SPARK and Tim Timmerman from the south suburban SMART sent out a statement calling for Mecklenburg's seven municipalities to provide money for a cost-of-living allowance for CMS teachers.  They say they hope to hear Charlotte mayoral candidates Patrick Cannon and Edwin Peacock address that proposal at Wednesday's  "Solving It Together"  public forum.

Davis and Timmerman are urging voters to vote down the CMS bonds.  The only connection to teacher raises is that they're promoting a  "teachers before bricks and mortar"  slogan.  Teachers are paid from the district's operating budget,  which is separate from the budget for construction and renovation,  though county property taxes support both.