NC approves new contract to test reading skills. It’s returning to a familiar face.
Two years and a lawsuit later, North Carolina’s elementary schools will return to the program they had used for many years to test the reading skills of their youngest students.
The State Board of Education approved Thursday a three-year, $14.5 million contract with Amplify Education to use its mClass program to assess K-3 students for the state’s Read To Achieve program. The state board’s decision in 2019 to replace mClass with the Istation program led to litigation that left schools in the middle.
Amid the controversy, schools had been allowed this school year to pick from five different programs, including mClass and Istation. But starting next school year, the state will only pay for districts to use mClass.
“I know that many of our districts have enjoyed the ability to have flexibility in selecting a tool,” said state board vice chairman Alan Duncan. “The problem is from the legislation we are charged with being able to develop statewide data, and with a multiplicity of tools you’re not able to put together statewide data in a comprehensive form.”
Istation contract led to legal fight
Under Read To Achieve, North Carolina elementary schools are required to test K-3 students throughout the year. In 2019, the state board approved a 3-year, $8.3 million contract with Istation at the recommendation of then State Superintendent Mark Johnson.
K-3 teachers used to have their students read out loud to them using mClass to assess their skills. Under Istation, students have been tested on a computer program, with the results being provided to teachers.
Amplify contested the contract, pointing to how an evaluation committee had ranked mClass ahead of Istation. But Johnson charged that the evaluation process had been tainted.
In April 2020, the state Department of Public Instruction canceled the Istation contract. citing the changes that would be caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
Amy Rhyne, DPI’s director of the Office of Early Learning and Read to Achieve, said Thursday that Amplify was the best program of the ones reviewed by a new evaluation committee. She also said that mClass will work well with the new “science of reading” phonics-based training that state lawmakers are requiring elementary schools to use.
Under the contract, Amplify will get $8.7 million in the first year and $2.9 million in both the second and third years. Duncan said the first year is so much higher because it includes the cost of purchasing supplies, restarting the program and training teachers.
This story was originally published June 3, 2021 at 4:51 PM with the headline "NC approves new contract to test reading skills. It’s returning to a familiar face.."
