North Carolina

		REPORT CARD
		NAEP exams		% Scoring proficient
		1996 8th grade math		20%
		1996 4th grade math		21%
		1996 8th grade science		24%
		1994 4th grade reading		30%
		QUALITY COUNTS 1999 grades
		Standards and assessments		B+
		Efforts to raise teacher quality		A
		School climate		D
		Resources (funding):
			Adequacy	C-
			Equity	B
			Allocation	C

N orth Carolina moves to the top of the grades this year for policies to raise teacher quality. After years of effort, the state now has standards and assessments for beginning teachers and incentives for current teachers to improve their craft. North Carolina has more teachers certified by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards than any other state. The state also moved forward aggressively last year with its accountability system. After it concentrated its efforts on 15 severely low-performing elementary and middle schools, all but one managed to meet the state's standards in reading and mathematics. The state backed off from plans to require all teachers in low-performing schools to take a basic-competency test, after educators complained that it was demeaning and demoralizing. Efforts to discharge two teachers identified as lacking the necessary skills are being appealed.

* NOTE: The equity grade is based on 1994-95 data, the most recent available.

© 1999 Editorial Projects in Education

Vol. 18, number 17, page 165