G.S. 115C-83.16 — Read to Achieve

Plain English summary

This statute requires North Carolina's State Board of Education to use school performance scores and grades to meet federal ESSA requirements for annually rating schools. For K-8 schools, ratings are based on reading and math proficiency, science proficiency, English language progress, and school growth scores. For high schools, ratings include proficiency in core subjects, graduation rates, and college or career readiness measures.

Key requirements

• State Board of Education shall use school performance scores and grades as calculated under G.S. 115C-83.15 to satisfy ESSA federal requirements for annual school differentiation (G.S. 115C-83.16(a))
• For K-8 schools, academic achievement indicator must include proficiency on annual reading assessments in grades three through eight (G.S. 115C-83.16(a)(1)(a)(1)(II))
• For K-8 schools, academic achievement indicator must include proficiency on annual mathematics assessments in grades three through eight (G.S. 115C-83.16(a)(1)(a)(1)(I))
• For K-8 schools, other academic indicator must include proficiency on science assessments in grades five and eight (G.S. 115C-83.16(a)(1)(a)(2))
• For K-8 schools, English language proficiency indicator shall be percentage of students progressing toward English language proficiency in grades three through eight (G.S. 115C-83.16(a)(1)(a)(3))
• For K-8 schools, school quality and student success indicator shall be the growth score earned by schools (G.S. 115C-83.16(a)(1)(b))
• For high schools, academic achievement indicator must include proficiency on Algebra I or Integrated Math I, English II end-of-course tests, and school growth scores (G.S. 115C-83.16(a)(2)(a)(1))
• For high schools, graduation rate indicator shall be the percentage of students who graduate within four years of entering high school (G.S. 115C-83.16(a)(2)(a)(3))
• State Board may relabel measures differently from subsection (a) solely for ESSA conformity purposes, provided each measure is still calculated per G.S. 115C-83.15 (G.S. 115C-83.16(b))

Affected parties

• NC State Board of Education (must comply — responsible for defining and reporting indicators)
• Local Education Agencies and public schools (must comply — school performance is measured and reported under these indicators)
• Students in grades K-12 (benefit — school accountability is tied to their academic outcomes)
• Parents and families (benefit — annual school ratings provide transparency on school performance)

Advocacy note

The State Board has explicit flexibility under G.S. 115C-83.16(b) to relabel performance measures for ESSA compliance purposes without changing how those measures are actually calculated, meaning the underlying NC accountability math stays fixed even if federal reporting labels shift.

Official source

https://www.ncleg.gov/EnactedLegislation/Statutes/PDF/BySection/Chapter_115C/GS_115C-83.16.pdf