This article originally appeared in WFAE reporter Ann Doss Helms' weekly education newsletter. To get the latest school news in your inbox first, sign up for our email newsletters here.
The end of this school year also brings the end of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools' five-year strategic plan for academic improvement. The final data won't land until fall, but we already know that, barring a miracle, the numbers will show failure.
Interim reports indicate that the district is likely to miss its targets for third-grade reading scores for Black and Latino students, Math I scores for high school students and 2024 graduates earning credentials that show they're ready for college and careers. The fourth target calls for 95% of CMS schools to meet or exceed the state's targets for academic growth. There's no reliable way to track that; the state feeds its year-end testing data from all public schools to the Cary-based SAS Institute, which releases each school's growth rating in the fall.
What CMS can do is compare the projected outcomes for individual students with how they're doing on interim testing. When Superintendent Crystal Hill and the school board discussed that goal last week, they started by honoring students who are performing beyond their projected level and are expected to meet the highest level for year-end scores.
Nevaeh Blakely, a sixth-grader at Francis Bradley Middle School, was honored for achievement in language arts and math. She said her teachers helped her improve her reading comprehension and master multiplying fractions.
Her dad, Charles Blakely, says Nevaeh also "just locked in and decided she wanted to be on the A/B honor roll, and that's what she accomplished." Her mother, Marquita Beard, agreed: "She's been focusing hard and putting hard work and effort into her learning activities. I'm very proud of her."
Kaden Richards, a Palisades Park Elementary fourth-grader, donned a suit and tie when he came to collect his certificate and "Home of an Exemplary Student" yard sign for his progress in language arts. He says his teacher has sent home daily comprehension worksheets and his parents have helped him. He's learned to love reading the "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" and "Big Nate" book series.
Kaden's mother, Jennnifer Richards, says part of his progress comes from stability. Last year he had seven teachers. "This year he's had the same teachers and it's been very consistent with the same routine every week," she said.
Jairo Talabera, a sixth-grader at Coulwood STEM Academy, translated my request for an interview into Spanish for his father, who proudly nodded his approval.
"So my math teacher, he teaches things way more clearly and just helps me listen more. He's just been the best teacher out of all the teachers I've had, since fifth, fourth and third," Jairo said.
Obvious yet difficult
In a nutshell, this small sampling shows success coming from motivated students, supportive parents and great teachers who stick around. It's a formula that's at once glaringly obvious and extraordinarily difficult to take to scale (interestingly, Jairo's current math teacher is Brock Elgin, whom I interviewed in 2022 for a story about Coulwood's strong growth ratings).
Hill, who is just finishing her first year as superintendent, notes that the current five-year plan played out during a stretch of leadership churn in CMS and a global pandemic that set everyone back. She says the new team has learned from the old plan, and she's focusing on a new one that will carry CMS into 2029.
A cynic might predict that when that date arrives, we'll be replaying this scenario with a different superintendent. After all, in the past 50 years CMS has had 12 regular superintendents and 10 interim leaders. Only three made it to a fifth anniversary: Jay M. Robinson (1977-1986), Eric Smith (1996-2002) and Peter Gorman, who had announced his resignation by the time he hit the five-year mark in 2011.
But I'd like to think that Hill and the board will find a way to create stability at the top, lock in more great teachers and create conditions that help students like Nevaeh, Kaden and Jairo thrive.
