North Carolina Education News
November
2007
Copyright © 2007 Queue, Inc.
IN
THIS ISSUE:
North Carolina Increases Access to the
Highest Quality Pre-K Program in the Nation
In North Carolina, Low Rural Student Achievement
Linked to Resources, Challenges
Teacher Credentials and Student Achievement in
High School
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Pre-k
funding increases, despite legislative opposition
North
CarolinaÕs lawmakers sent mixed messages to the stateÕs families and children
about the importance of pre-kindergarten according to ÒVotes Count: Legislative
Action on Pre-K Fiscal Year 2008,Ó a national report released today by Pre-K
Now. The annual state-by-state analysis of legislative support for pre-k
highlights policymakersÕ failure to increase funding for More at Four despite previous support of
the program. By executive order, pre-k expansion funding was ultimately granted
and lawmakers approved legislation that ensures eligibility for children of
military personnel.
ÒWeÕre
delighted that military-connected children will now be able to attend North
CarolinaÕs top-rated program,Ó said Libby Doggett, executive director for Pre-K
Now. ÒBut it is concerning that the governor had to add funding on his own
instead of getting full support from the legislature as in years past.Ó
North
Carolina is one of 36 states – including eight anticipating
enrollment-based budget growth – that increased funding for pre-k, a
number that breaks last yearÕs record of 34, and far exceeds the FY05 record of
15. The More at Four program was designated in 2007 as one of only two state
programs to meet all 10 quality benchmarks tracked by the National Institute
for Early Education Research. A total of 528 million new dollars will allow at
least 88,000 more children to attend pre-k. Seven states are now providing or
phasing in pre-k for all children and three states moved to fully fund pre-k
for all eligible at-risk children.
Additional
report findings include:
¥
An increase of $56 million will allow an additional 10,000 children to attend More
at Four;
¥
A total of $4.8 billion state dollars will be spent nationally on pre-k in
FY08—a $2 billion increase in three years;
¥
Iowa and Pennsylvania had the highest increases at 241 and 135 percent,
respectively; and
¥
Ten states still do not have pre-k programs, resulting in more than 500,000
children without access to quality, state-funded pre-k settings that have been
proven to help all children.
A
PDF of the report can be accessed at: www.preknow.org/documents/legislativereport_Sept2007.pdf
North CarolinaÕs rural schools produce some of the worst student
achievement outcomes in the country, and its rural schools face an uphill
battle to reverse that trend. That is because they serve a student population
with some of the severest socio-economic challenges in the country, and they
operate with less money than rural schools in other states. These realities
help rank North Carolina fourth in the U.S. in need of rural education
attention and improvement, according to multiple criteria used in the 2007
edition of Why Rural Matters, the fourth report in a biennial
research series from the Rural School and Community Trust. The reports provide
essential information on the condition of rural education in the 50 states. North
Carolina is one of only two states to rank in the top ten on both absolute and
percentage rural student enrollment. More than 45% of all North CarolinaÕs
students—over 600,000—attend rural schools. However, less than 3%
attend schools in small districts and rural schools and districts are the
second largest in the nation. Schools serve an impoverished and diverse student
population—almost half of all rural students are eligible for free or
reduced meals, and the state has the third largest rural minority student
population in the nation. Per pupil instructional expenditures are among the
lowest in the U.S., and reading scores on the National Assessment of
Educational Progress are also among the nationÕs lowest. Fewer than 64 of every
100 students earn a high school diploma in four years—better than only
five other states.
A biennial report issued by the Rural School and Community Trust
uncovered new trends and challenges facing rural educators. Overall, enrollment
in rural schools is up by 15%—a reversal of the year-over-year declines
these communities have seen. While overall enrollment is on the rise the most
startling data revealed in the new report, Why Rural Matters 2007, is the 55%
increase in rural minority students, with some states experiencing increases of
over 100%.
Why Rural Matters 2007: The Realities of Rural Education Growth
also
serves as a reminder that many rural schools continue to face a number of
challenges, including high poverty levels, low student achievement, low teacher
salaries and uneven distribution of Title I funds.
In Why Rural
Matters 2007, the Rural Trust uses the Rural Education Priority Gauge to
assess and rank the overall performance of rural schools in all states. Based
on an in-depth analysis comprised of 23 equally weighted indicators, the report
prioritizes the needs of rural schools using five gauges: (1) importance of
rural education, (2) socioeconomic challenges, (3) student diversity, (4)
policy context, and (5) educational outcomes. The higher the ranking on a
gauge, the more important, or the more urgent rural education matters are in
that state. While no single state appeared at the top of each list,
Mississippi, Alabama, Arizona, and North Carolina all scored the highest in at
least four gauges.
By applying the Rural Education Priority Gauge, the report cites
that the priority states where rural schools produce the worst student
achievement outcomes also face an uphill battle to reverse that trend.
Most priority states serve student populations with the severest
socio-economic challenges—especially high poverty levels—and they
operate with less money than rural schools in other states. Those states are
located in four rural education regions: the Southwest (Arizona,
Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Texas), the Southeast (North
Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, and Georgia), the Mid-South Delta (Mississippi,
Alabama, and Louisiana), and Appalachia (Kentucky and Tennessee).
Specific findings and trends discussed in Why Rural Matters
2007 include:
¥ Poorer and more diverse rural communities generate the lowest
NAEP scores in the country. The 12 states with the lowest average NAEP scores
also have high socioeconomic challenges and high student diversity (Alabama,
Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Hawaii, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada, New Mexico,
Oklahoma, Tennessee, and West Virginia).
¥ Rural graduation rates are below 70% in ten states, most of
which are in the Southeast: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Delaware, Florida,
Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee. South
Carolina leads the nation with the lowest rate at 55%. Some states with the
highest overall graduation rates—Nebraska, South Dakota, Iowa, Utah,
Wyoming—also had the largest Ògraduation gapsÓ between white and minority
students, with the graduation rate for minorities between 50-60%.
¥ Recruiting and retaining high quality teachers is an acute
challenge for rural schools. Teacher salaries are lowest in the 13 states
through the nationÕs heartland (North Dakota, South Dakota, Missouri, Oklahoma,
Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Nebraska, Tennessee, Montana, Louisiana, Iowa,
and Kansas).
¥ Between 2002-03 and 2004-05, enrollment in schools located in
communities of fewer than 2,500 increased by 1,339,000 (or 15%). Enrollment for
schools in communities of greater than 2,500 decreased by over 738,000
students—a 2% decrease—during the same time period. While declining
enrollment remains a significant factor in some rural school districts, this
represents a reversal of fortunes for rural schools overall.
¥ The population of rural English Language Learner (ELL) students
is also sizable and growing. Rural ELL enrollment in the U.S. has increased
dramatically in recent decades, more than doubling in the 15-year period
between 1989-90 and 2004-05—a rate of increase more than seven times
higher than the rate of increase for total student enrollment.
¥ Southern states have the lowest per pupil instructional
expenditures. Nearly 50% of all ELL students live in rural communities in this
region where states are ill-equipped to serve these students and where school
face some of the most severe socioeconomic challenges.
In the report, the Rural Trust offers some policy considerations
to help improve the outlook for rural education, including:
�� Keep schools small. Research shows there are
academic benefits for students attending small schools in small districts.
Congress and state legislators should find ways to replicate advantages of
large-scale systems without losing the intimacy, accountability, and
cost-effective educational strategy of small schools.
�� Concentrate resources in high poverty areas. The
cost of teaching low-income children rises disproportionately as the poverty
rate increases; more student support per pupil in schools with high poverty
rates is needed.
�� Maximize rural school effectiveness and
efficiency with technology. Distance learning has been proven to be effective
in meeting needs of rural communities. Additional financial and policy
assistance is needed to develop and maintain adequate technology
infrastructure, interlocal cooperation, and program coordination to support
distance learning among clusters of schools.
The 2007 edition of Why Rural Matters is the fourth
report in a biennial research series from the Rural School and Community Trust,
but it is not a longitudinal study. Rather it is a snapshot of rural education
using a changing set of indicators that reveal the complexity and diversity of
rural education. The reports provide essential information on the condition of
rural education in the 50 states.
The full text: http://files.ruraledu.org/wrm07/press/why_rural_matters_press_release.pdf
In this study the authors use data on statewide end-of-course tests in North
Carolina to examine the relationship between teacher credentials and student
achievement at the high school level. The availability of test scores in
multiple subjects for each student permits us to estimate a model with student
fixed effects, which helps minimize any bias associated with the non-random
distribution of teachers and students among classrooms within schools. the
authors find compelling evidence that teacher credentials affect student
achievement in systematic ways and that the magnitudes are large enough to be
policy relevant. As a result, the uneven distribution of teacher credentials by
race and socio-economic status of high school students--a pattern the authors
also document--contributes to achievement gaps in high school.
View
the working paper
PDF:
http://www.caldercenter.org/PDF/1001104_Teacher_Credentials_HighSchool.pdf
Howard
Lee, chairman of the North Carolina State Board of Education, is being awarded
the Distinguished Service Award by the National Association of State Boards of
Education (NASBE). The award is annually given to a state board of education
member in recognition of outstanding service to public education.
ÒAs
chairman of the state board for the past four years, Howard Lee has become the
face of the State Board at conferences, schools, and with individuals across
North Carolina. His communication and collaboration skills combined with his
contacts and experience in the legislature have made Howard Lee one of the most
effective and influential educational leaders in North Carolina,Ó said Brenda
Welburn, NASBE Executive Director.
Howard
Lee joined the North Carolina State Board of Education in May 2003, where he
was unanimously elected on his first day as Board Chairman. Mr. LeeÕs prior
years in the North Carolina General Assembly and as a former Mayor of Chapel
Hill and state agency secretary had earned him a reputation as a fair-minded
statesman, as one who set and accomplished goals, and as a staunch friend of
education. Since that time, he has been a tireless leader of an involved
citizen board that has faced many education issues head on.
During
his tenure as Chairman, Mr. Lee and the North Carolina State Board have seen
the adoption of policies on increasing high school graduation requirements,
defining academic rigor, relevance, and relationships; parent and family
involvement; anti-harassment and bullying; and healthy, active children.
Continuing
their mission to support music education, NOTION Music has donated 80 copies of
NOTION, its professional music composition and performance software, to North
Carolina schools and colleges.
The
contribution, valued at approximately $50,000, has been distributed to the
local schools over the last few months and will continue through September.
Most schools have requested the software to help support the music department
which, in most cases, is working within constraints of a low-budget. The North
Carolina schools benefiting from NOTIONÕs donation include:
á Bennett College, Greensboro
á Cary Christian School, Cary
á Eastern Guilford High
School, Gibsonville
á Holly Springs High School,
Holly Springs
á Moss Street Elementary
School, Reidsville
á Page Street Elementary
School, Troy
á South Granville High
School, Creedmoor
á Winston-Salem State
University, Winston-Salem
NOTION
software combines the best players, the finest instruments and the latest
recording technology. It was developed by recording the instrumental sounds of
London Symphony Orchestra at the legendary Abbey Road Studios. NOTION Music
makes software that is used by professional and aspiring musicians around the
world allowing anyone, anywhere to write, record and play music as if working
with a full ensemble of musicians.
NOTION
Music previously donated over 300 copies of software to schools across the
country this year, in hopes of improving music education. To nominate a school,
please send an email to: notionmusic@fleishman.com.