Concerns about graduation rates and further attempts to clarify the move away from Standard 6 are some of the highlights from the first day of the State Board of Education work session in Wilmington.
Tuesday, State Superintendent June Atkinson was talking about the state’s graduation rate as well as the college and career ready status of the state’s students. The graduation rate has increased every year for 10 years, reaching an all time high of 85.4 percent in 2015. During Atkinson’s presentation, some on the board stepped in to question the education quality received by some high school graduates and noted deficits in college and career readiness for African-American students.
See the discussion below. This document shows some of the data charts the board was looking at.
Also during the first day of the meeting, Deputy State Superintendent Rebecca Garland attempted to explain to the Board the changes being made to the standards used to evaluate teachers. As we’ve reported in the past, a proposal is on the table to eliminate Standard 6, which focuses on student growth, though there has been some confusion about what exactly that means. Below, you can hear Garland’s explanation. The Board is voting on whether to eliminate the Standard today.
