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CMS performance on national exams: Better than most, but not good

A math class at Coulwood STEM Academy, one of the state's highest-rated schools for growth in 2022.
Ann Doss Helms
/
WFAE
A math class at Coulwood STEM Academy, one of the state's highest-rated schools for growth in 2022.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools outperformed most urban districts across the country on the 2022 National Assessment of Educational Progress, with the nation’s highest score in eighth grade math.

But results for the Black and Hispanic students who make up the majority of the district’s enrollment remain well below what anyone would consider acceptable, with reading and math proficiency levels of 20% or lower.

It illustrates what CMS Chief Accountability Officer Frank Barnes has called the “tall tree in a short forest” factor: When everyone faces similar challenges, an unsatisfactory performance can look good in comparison.

The exams, known as the NAEP or the Nation’s Report Card, are federally mandated to provide comparable data on academic performance in all states and to measure changes across time. The program also tests a representative sample of students in 26 urban districts, including CMS and Guilford County in North Carolina (there are none in South Carolina).

The scores released Monday, the first since the pandemic, provide a measure of pandemic setbacks and long-standing racial disparities. They land in a CMS school board campaign season when weak academic performance for students of color is a major issue. Based on state exams, many challengers say CMS results are so bad that change in leadership is needed, while incumbents say the board is making progress on problems that are not unique to Charlotte.

The NAEP scores could be used to back up either position.

Fourth grade math

CMS saw a significant decline from 2019, with 35 of all students earning a proficient score last year. Twenty-three of the 26 districts also saw significant regression.

CMS was among six districts whose 2022 performance was significantly above the average for public school students in cities with at least 250,000 people. That average was 26%.

Results for the urban districts ran from 3% proficient in Detroit to 40% in Miami-Dade. Guilford County had 28% proficient, considered statistically similar to the big-city average.

For CMS, proficiency on the fourth-grade math exam was 70% for Asian students, 67% for white and 19% for Black and Hispanic.

Eighth grade math

CMS was among 22 districts that saw a significant decline in performance compared with 2019. But it topped the list of urban districts with 30% proficiency. It was among five districts that ranked significantly higher than the large-city average of 21%. CMS also topped the national average for all public schools, which was 26%, but the difference was not considered statistically significant.

CMS didn’t have enough Asian eighth graders tested to break out results. Eighth-grade math proficiency was 61% for white students, 16% for Hispanic and 14% for Black.

Detroit was at the bottom of the list with 4% proficiency overall. It was among five districts below 10%. Guilford County had 22% proficiency, virtually the same as the large-city average.

Fourth grade reading

CMS and Guilford County were among nine districts that saw fourth-grade reading results decline significantly compared with 2019. The rest saw no significant change.

CMS had an overall proficiency level of 33%, one of six considered significantly higher than the large-city average of 26%. Proficiency ranged from 40% in Hillsborough County, Fla., to 5% in Detroit.

Fourth-grade reading proficiency in CMS was 64% for white students, 59% for Asian, 18% for Black and 17% for Hispanic.

Eighth grade reading

CMS was among 21 districts that saw no significant change in eighth-grade reading compared with 2019. Four, including Guilford County, saw significant declines. Los Angeles was the only district that saw reading performance increase significantly, landing in the middle of the pack with CMS and Guilford County.

CMS had an overall proficiency level of 29% — a performance that was fourth highest among the districts but not considered statistically above the large-city average of 26%. Overall proficiency levels ranged from 34% in San Diego to 5% in Detroit, with Guilford at 23%.

The CMS breakdown was 49% of white eighth graders rated proficient in reading, compared with 20% for Hispanic students and 16% for Black students.

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Ann Doss Helms has covered education in the Charlotte area for over 20 years, first at The Charlotte Observer and then at WFAE. Reach her at ahelms@wfae.org or 704-926-3859.