March 30, 2021

At a March 3 State Board of Education meeting, staff released a Testing and Accountability Update that showed results of fall 2020 high school testing in English II, Math 1, Math 3 and Biology. The results, when compared with fall 2019 results, showed large increases in the number of students statewide declared “not proficient” in the tested subjects, including at 37% increase in nonproficient students in Math 1. Alex Grenados at EdNC reported on the state numbers here.

On March 23, CMS issued “2020-2021 Fall End-of-Course Results Overview,” a data set similar to the state’s report, but with slightly different breakdowns of student subgroups. Overall, there were similar large increases in the number of students deemed nonproficient, with the Math 1 results showing a 69% increase in nonproficient students in Math 1. WFAE’s Ann Doss Helms reported on the CMS scores here.

The pandemic and lockdown and remote learning had clearly taken a toll in students’ preparation. and a generation is in danger of not being ready for its own Sputnik moment, in whatever form that challenge takes.

Below are small graphics that ran on the front of the Forum website to highlight this source of information on the pandemic’s impact on educational achievement.

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