State may raise bar on math scores

Students have high passing rates

North Carolina's elementary and middle school students have been performing so well on state math exams that education leaders wonder whether it is time to raise the bar.

Although last spring's math results have yet to be released, recent years show that not only are most students passing, most are scoring at the highest possible level. Among fifth-graders in 2005, for example, nearly 60 percent had "superior" scores. Fewer than 10 percent failed.

"We're making good progress as a state, but we're not satisfied with where we are," said Randy Harter, a math specialist for Buncombe County schools and president-elect of the N.C. Council of Teachers of Mathematics.

For the first time since the state's end-of-grade testing program was launched in 1992-93, the State Board of Education is looking at raising the scores that determine which of four achievement levels students fall into, from insufficient mastery to superior performance.

"I personally tend to lean toward wanting to raise the standards," said Howard Lee, chairman of the state board, which will decide the issue this fall. "I know that will show a drop initially, but in the long run it could help. I certainly think that at this stage, we need to continue to ratchet things up and recognize that we need to continue to challenge students."

New versions of the math tests, tied to changes in state curriculum, were given last year, and the release of those results had already been postponed until early October to ensure accuracy.

Now, they won't be released until November. State officials blame the delay on contracts with outside firms hired to analyze the results and to propose achievement-level standards.

Despite North Carolina students' steady improvement in reading and math, their performance on state end-of-grade tests has been far better than on the National Assessment of Educational Progress. In fact, North Carolina stands out because of the wide gap between results on the state and national tests.

In 2005, about 84 percent of North Carolina eighth-graders earned proficient or better scores on state math tests; 32 percent were proficient or advanced on the national math test. Only West Virginia showed a sharper difference.

"When you see the huge disparity that you do between proficiency levels [on state and national tests], at least part of it is about rigor," said Ross Weiner, policy director for the Education Trust, a Washington group that advocates for poor and minority students. "North Carolina has a bigger difference than most other states. That raises questions about expectations and whether North Carolina's standards are high enough to demonstrate that students are learning what they need to know."

If North Carolina raises the standards, many schools could fall short and face federal sanctions, such as having to allow students to transfer to other schools or have to provide private tutoring.

That hasn't stopped other states, such as Georgia and Arkansas, from raising their standards, Weiner said.

Requiring higher passing scores also could result in more students being held back.

Harter said that despite rising scores, too many students finish school without an "appetite" for mathematics. "I don't think students have the self-confidence for mathematics that we'd like them to have," he said, "or the inclination to pursue post-secondary studies in mathematics."

'Fooling ourselves'

In 2004-05, 12.5 percent of freshmen who went from state high schools to University of North Carolina system campuses were required to take remedial math courses, compared with 2.8 percent in remedial English.