A new report shows that students across the Carolinas face many of the same problems identified by the Reagan administration in its landmark report A Nation at Risk more than 40 years ago.
The report, a collaboration between the John Locke Foundation, the South Carolina Policy Council, Palmetto Promise Institute, and the Carolinas Academic Leadership Network (CALN), evaluates graduation rates and a variety of different standardized assessments to paint a picture of the state of academic achievement across North and South Carolina.
These metrics indicate that over the past decade in North Carolina, student performance on the ACT, the National Assessment of Educational Progress, and various state assessments has failed to keep pace with rising graduation rates and education spending. This finding raises concerns that graduates of the state’s K–12 system aren’t adequately prepared for college or a career.
Unfortunately, lackluster academic performance has been an ongoing problem in North Carolina. Disruption resulting from Covid-19 school closures had a profoundly negative impact but at the same time merely highlighted existing problems. Fortunately, there are a variety of changes policymakers can implement to make a positive impact on academic achievement. Such reforms could include, for example:
- Adopting strong content standards and curricula
- Promoting education choice within and among public schools
- Overhauling the state’s school finance system
- Focusing on proven teaching and learning methods
- Allowing districts the flexibility to innovate and experiment
The full text of the report, including its recommendations, is available here.
