CommenTerry: Volume Forty-Seven | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Publisher's note: The author of this post is Dr. Terry Stoops, who is the Director of Education Studies for the John Locke Foundation.

Low-income children, high performing schools

    When the N.C. Department of Public Instruction (DPI) released school performance grades earlier this month, public school advocacy groups noted that the grades reflected the socioeconomic makeup of the schools. They observed that schools with few free and reduced price lunch students generally received As and Bs, while schools with a majority of disadvantaged students received Ds and Fs.

    While some liberal commentators used it as an opportunity to reflect on the challenges of poverty and broken families in our public schools, others speculated that the main purpose of the school performance grades was to humiliate schools that enroll a significant number of disadvantaged children. Their ridiculous claim is built on the belief that Republicans hate poor people and despise those who claim to champion anti-poverty measures. In this way, the "humiliation thesis" posits that school performance grades are an extension of conservatives' intense animosity toward low-income children and their parents.

    But a closer look at the school performance grades shows that around 150 of North Carolina's public schools with at least half of students eligible for a free or reduced price lunch earned an A or B. They did so by performing well on state tests and other student achievement measures, which account for 80 percent of the grade. The remaining 20 percent of the grade took academic growth into account.

    The highest performing elementary schools in this cohort were Riverbend Elementary in Haywood County, Rutherford College Elementary in Burke County, Beaver Dam Elementary in Cumberland County, and Ocracoke School (Pre-K-12) in Hyde County. All four schools earned an A overall and three of the four schools exceeded growth expectations on state tests. At least 80 percent of the students in these schools were at or above grade level on state reading, math, and science tests.

    The top middle school was Hendersonville Middle School in Henderson County, followed closely by Burke Middle School in Burke County. Both schools earned Bs overall and exceeded growth expectations. While both schools performed reasonably well in reading and science, they struggled in math.

    Fourteen high schools in this cohort, including Ocracoke School, earned A grades. Challenger Early College High in Catawba County and Jacket Academy at Carver High School in Forsyth County were among the top scoring schools in the state. Henderson County Early College and J.D. Clement Early College High School also earned exemplary scores.

    Obviously, this cursory analysis does not address the reasons why these schools were successful. I suspect that each of these schools have outstanding teachers and administrators, supportive educational environments, and high expectations for all students. Perhaps now that we've identified these superb schools, some enterprising researchers will identify the unique elements of their success and share their findings with schools that struggle to adequately educate disadvantaged students.


    Low-income schools with a school performance grade (SPG) of A or B, 2013-2014


    Note: All schools listed above serve at least 50 percent free and reduced price lunch students.


    SPG — School performance grades


    "Social problems present our schools with serious challenges. Nonetheless, schools are not helpless. The evidence shows that there are many effective strategies for improving student performance, even — and sometimes especially — for poor minority students who bear the brunt of these challenges. The Myth of Helplessness should not be allowed to stand in the way of reforms that promise to help those students who need it most."

    — Jay Greene, Education Myths: What Special Interest Groups Want You to Believe about Our Schools — and why it Isn't So, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2006, p. 48.

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