Correction: April From the Board Room Newsletter

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From the Board Room: Activities of the NC Board of Education

APRIL 2017

 

The State Board of Education is comprised of the State Treasurer, the Lieutenant Governor and 11 citizens appointed by the Governor. This newsletter highlights the Board’s activities on behalf of the 1.5 million public school students in our state and the more than 100,000 educators who provide services to children. You may view all State Board of Education member and advisor information online. To access current and archived versions of From the Boardroom, visit the State Board of Education’s website.


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The following item, which appeared in the April From the Board Room newsletter, included an incorrect figure describing the Check-In Assessments. This version shows the correction in italics. 

NC Check-Ins Assessment Model Receives High Marks from Local Educators

For the past two school years, elementary and middle schools in North Carolina have been studying NC Check-ins, a new approach to assess student learning in mathematics and English language arts. In 2016-17, 165 schools were selected to use the Mathematics Check-Ins and 110 used the English language arts version. There also were an additional 156 schools volunteering to use the math Check-Ins and 76 volunteered to use the English language arts Check-Ins.

 

This new approach provides three shorter assessments spread across the school year and an end-of-grade assessment at the end of the year. For many districts, the shorter assessments are replacing local benchmark assessments that districts have been giving for a number of years. By taking this approach, teachers receive consistent feedback on student progress across the year so they can make adjustments that may be helpful to student learning.

 

In a survey of school district staff, slightly more than 68 percent of respondents said that participation in NC Check-Ins should be a local option (not state required). Slightly fewer than 63 percent of respondents said that the Check-Ins should be available for online administration. More than 70 percent of participating schools said that their district did not use other benchmark testing alongside the NC Check-ins, but nearly 30 percent did both.

 

Ryan McCreary, principal at Jenkins Elementary School in Hickory, told the State Board of Education that the NC Check-Ins helped ensure appropriate pacing, provided support for proper rigor and format for assessment, and provided access to disaggregated data to support decision-making. McCreary praised NCDPI’s support materials in the model. He noted that the Check-Ins provided a good opportunity to address equity for students and tools to close achievement gaps.

 

NCDPI Accountability staff recommended that NC Check-Ins be expanded in school years 2017-18 (add grades 5 and 7 in English language arts and grades 4 and 6 in mathematics) and in 2018-19 (add grades 4 and 8 in English language arts and grades 3 and 7 in mathematics). Also, staff recommended that the NC Check-Ins be available online and in paper-and-pencil formats, and that schools be discouraged from administering additional benchmark assessments alongside the NC Check-Ins to trim time spent on testing.