Transition Team 2016-17 Final Report

STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT \ 15
• In 2016, 203 graduates passed at
least 10 AP or IB exams and/or
qualifying college courses;
• Of the students completing a career
pathway concentration, 37 percent of
met English benchmarks, 22 percent
met reading benchmarks and 23
percent met math ACT collegereadiness
benchmarks;
• Thirty percent of students graduated
with a CTE concentration; and,
• Thirty-five percent of students
passed at least one AP or IB exam or
an equivalent college course with a B
or better. The percentage of students
who did so ranged from a low of 11
percent in one high school to a high
of 95 percent in another.
Almost 90 percent of GCS students
graduate on time. In 2015-2016, there
was an 89.4 percent graduation rate,
11 schools with graduation rates at
100 percent, and six others with a
graduation rate of 95 percent or higher.
Several comprehensive high schools
have graduation rates of 90 percent or
above, and the gaps in graduation rates
between different groups of students
is narrowing. The Early College at
Guilford was named a National Blue
Ribbon School by the Department of
Education; The Schott Foundation
and the Council of Great City Schools
recognized GCS last year for its
progress in closing the black-white
high school graduation rate gap.
Challenges
Despite these strengths, more work is
needed. Although some students and
families are being served adequately
and in some cases, even exceptionally
well, there are many who are not.
The greatest proficiency gap between
schools is 60 percent at the elementary
and high school levels and 54 percent
at the middle school level as measured
by end-of-grade (EOG) and end-ofcourse
(EOC) assessments. These gaps
must be addressed.
Data from 2016 show that noneconomically
disadvantaged black
students are under performing white
economically disadvantaged students
in reading, math and science. Hispanic
non-economically disadvantaged
students are underperforming white
economically disadvantaged students
in reading and science but are
performing the same in math. These
achievement gaps cannot be accepted
or tolerated and must be addressed
with a complete school reform strategy,
including specific strategies to reduce
racial gaps, if inequities in achievement
and opportunity are to be corrected.
High school graduation rates are
not meaningful if students require
remediation at the post-secondary
level, which is the case for a large
percentage of GCS seniors. Forty-one
percent of all GCS students enrolled in
NC community colleges took remedial
or developmental classes in 2016. Of
those students enrolling at Guilford
Technical Community College in
2016, 61 percent of Black students,
35 percent of Hispanic students and
21 percent of White students were
enrolled in remedial math and reading
courses.
According to the National Student
Clearinghouse data, enrollment of GCS
graduates in a two or four year postsecondary
program has held steady at
around 63 percent for the past several
years. Thirty-eight percent of 2010
graduates received a diploma within
six years. Forty-six percent of Asian,
24 percent of Black, and 24 percent
of Hispanic students completed their
degree within six years compared to 51
percent of White students.
Too few students have access to
nationally recognized, intellectually
demanding career pathway courses.
Too much emphasis in career pathway
courses is being placed on low-level
credentials that do not offer a hiring
preference in the workforce and/or
carry transferrable credits toward a
postsecondary credential or degree.
Of additional concern is that students
of color are less likely to receive to
receive credentials.
At present, North Carolina’s
accountability system does encourage
that students be prepared for a double
purpose—college and careers. GCS
has 40 elementary and middle schools
designated as low performing (no
GCS high school has a low performing
designation). Target goals for
improvement, especially those that
include a focus on racial achievement
gaps, have not been set for each school
to meet.
These low-performing schools cannot
tinker their way to improvement on
their own. GCS has not established
a set of design principles for
comprehensive school reform that
schools can use, with the support
of district and external partners, to
develop and implement plans of action
to meet targeted goals.
Another area of concern pertains to
discipline. Racial disproportionality in
student discipline in GCS appears, first
and foremost, due to disproportionality
in referrals. While GCS has made
progress in this area, this finding
points to the need for additional
training regarding implicit bias,
structural racism, and greater cultural
competence. Students with disabilities
are also more likely to be referred by
classroom teachers for disciplinary
issues, which also points to the need
for greater understanding and efficacy.
The detailed findings and
recommendation in this report
highlight additional areas of concern.
More importantly, this subcommittee
seeks to set forth recommendations
that will provide guidance to GCS as
it charts a path forward. However,
before we outline those findings, it is
important to understand our methods
for gathering data.
PROCESS OF
INVESTIGATION
Data Sources
To better understand student
achievement in GCS, the Student
Achievement Subcommittee, along
with Southern Regional Education
Board (SREB) personnel, gathered and
analyzed a broad range of qualitative