News in Brief
N.C. Scrapping Policy Meant to End Social Promotion
North Carolina is dropping a decade-old policy that required end-of-the-year exams for 3rd, 5th, and 8th graders to ensure students were mastering their grade-level subjects. The state board of education concluded this month that the policy didn’t appear to be effective.
The testing requirement was intended to reduce social promotion. Board Chairman Bill Harrison said the tests didn’t work, though, in part because exceptions in the policy allowed principals to promote children who had failed.
Data show the policy didn’t make a difference in the percentage of children who were held back, he said. About 5 percent of the state’s 1.4 million public school students weren’t promoted in 2008, according to the state education department.
The board agreed to replace the policy with a set of standards by which schools and teachers will be judged on student performance.
Vol. 30, Issue 08, Page 4
Access selected articles, e-newsletters and more!
Viewed
Emailed
Recommended
Commented
Sponsored Whitepapers
• Best Practices in Information Management, Reporting and Analytics for Education
- Train Brilliant Math Students
- Art of Problem Solving, San Diego, CA
- Principal - Chicago Metro Area West
- The Menta Group, Hillside, IL
- Common Core Literacy Assessment Developer - Part Time
- The Equity Project (TEP) Charter School, New York, NY
- Chief Financial Officer
- Hernando County School Board, Brooksville, FL
- Chief Innovation Officer
- The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE®), Washington, DC



We encourage lively debate, but please be respectful of others. Profanity and personal attacks are prohibited. By commenting, you are agreeing to abide by our user agreement.
All comments are public.