RALEIGH (AP) — Gov. Pat McCrory says parents and communities shouldn’t get too down when they see next week that fewer North Carolina public school students passed statewide tests last school year because the standards have been raised.
McCrory said at Wednesday’s meeting of the state’s Education Cabinet the release of end-of-grade and end-of-course scores Nov. 7 will show fewer students and schools met proficiency requirements. This comes after the State Board of Education approved the higher achievement standards last month.
The new accountability standards replace the ABCs of Public Education model approved in the mid-1990s. Initial analysis shows a 30 to 40 percentage-point drop in the passing rate on some tests.
State Board of Education Chairman Bill Cobey says the test scores should still show growth in raw test scores.