Early test scores show more NC students falling behind in math, reading

NORTH CAROLINA — New numbers out from North Carolina show more students are falling behind in the basic subjects like reading and math.

Wednesday, the State Board of Education will meet and take a look at early test data from the past fall.

Here’s a look at how it compares to Fall 2019:

Scores have fallen in biology, Math 1 and Math 2.

In biology, the percent of students “not proficient” jumped from about 42 percent to 54 percent.

In North Carolina Math 1, it jumped from about 48 percent to 66 percent.

It is important to note this does not represent all student scores.

CMS has plan as students’ grades suffer during pandemic

Officials said 86.3 percent of students have been tested, which is something the president of the North Carolina Association of Educators (NCAE) pointed out when looking at the numbers.

“Parents had very valid concerns about testing that were raised, particularly in-person testing that were raised during the pandemic,” Tamika Walker Kelly with the NCAE said.

Because of the pandemic, the deadline to take the tests was extended to July 5 so that is one reasons state officials say this isn’t an accurate comparison to last school year.

The state plans to apply for a waiver from the Department of Education. It would exempt the state from certain requirements tied to this test data.

The state would still have to publicly report chronic absentee-ism and access to technology.

Cox Media Group