Editorial: Schools face daunting climb

Published 12:00 am Tuesday, September 12, 2017

If improving student test scores were easy, every school in North Carolina would get an “A” from the state.

Instead, raising scores is a slow, arduous climb, as leaders of the Rowan-Salisbury Schools can attest. Every two steps upward seem to be met by a lost foothold somewhere else.

And no matter how hard teachers and students try, the state grades schools according to where they are on the face of the mountain, more than how much upward progress they’ve made. When  more prosperous districts start the climb in the higher altitudes, catching up is nearly impossible.

Rowan-Salisbury school leaders are interpreting the test scores released last week as positive overall. The system and 24 of its schools met or exceeded expected growth. For the first time, a local school, Rowan Early College, received an “A” from the state, and three other schools also improved their letter grade. The system deserves credit for these successes.

Unfortunately, the good news was tempered by two more schools receiving an “F” and several schools receiving disappointing scores. Nine did not meet growth expectations.

The quick turnaround some people expected — unrealistically — with the system’s digital conversion has not materialized. Finding the proper digital fit for every course is a work in progress. Students without internet access at home are at a clear disadvantage. Meanwhile, those who can connect, especially in high school, need more accountability for how they use their laptops.

Knox Middle School provides a much better learning environment now than it did three years ago, insiders say. Unfortunately, the school’s experiment in co-principals and extra community support did not pay off in a way that state testing measures, and the school has fallen back down to an “F.” No wonder the second half of the co-principalship left in June.

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results, as the saying goes. Give the school system and Superintendent Dr. Lynn Moody credit for innovation. However, no device or leadership structure can instantly lift the student population to the top of the test-score mountain. Progress likely will continue to be incremental and difficult.

Many, including Moody, question whether the state is using the right measures at all. Moody’s staff calculated how the system would do if the state’s grading system emphasized how much students improved rather than how high they scored; they found that Rowan-Salisbury would fare much better in statewide comparisons. That’s comforting to teachers and administrators, but it doesn’t get students any closer to mastery.

Every child in Rowan County should be able to attend an A-rated school. Parents, teachers, administrators and members of the community should rededicate themselves to improving the learning experience for every student.