New Task Force Eyes Revamp Of NC School Accountability System

By David Bass
Carolina Journal

RALEIGH – North Carolina’s public education leaders are exploring ways to overhaul the state’s school accountability system.

The current accountability model relies heavily on end-of-grade and end-of-course assessments. Schools are graded on an A-F scale, with end-of-grade test results making up 80% of a school’s letter grade and the remaining 20% dependent on students’ academic growth compared to prior years.

But during a meeting Feb. 19, members of the newly formed State Board of Education Task Force on Accountability for Public Schools voiced concerns with the existing system’s “narrow” focus.

Participants questioned the effectiveness of “one-day testing” to capture a student’s entire year of learning, citing it as a source of “pressure and anxiety” for children and parents, rather than fostering public trust.

They also noted that the current measures often fail to account for the full range of courses, teacher contributions, or the “softer, more holistic skills” like civic engagement, adaptability, and resilience that are vital for long-term success.

The working group will ultimately make a series of recommendations to the State Board of Education to reform the accountability system. The task force is composed of state-level policymakers — including members of the State Board of Education, governor’s office staff, and State Department of Public Instruction leaders — in addition to county commissioners, school board chairs, district superintendents, principals, and district accountability staff.

The task force also incorporates perspectives from the business community, charter school representatives, classroom educators, parents, and students. The task force is working with the nonprofit group the Center for Assessment to develop the recommendations.

“If leaders are really serious about being skeptical about the current accountability system and building a new model from the ground up, wouldn’t it make sense to have more outside voices contributing to the discussion?” said Dr. Robert Luebke, director of the Center for Effective Education at the John Locke Foundation. “The preponderance of voices from inside the system certainly argues against that assertion. Why? Is the question I would ask.”

Alan Duncan, vice chair of the State Board of Education, encouraged members to be “skeptical” and question everything about the current approach.

“We want to keep the whole child in mind,” Duncan said. “Our focus has got to be what’s in the best interest of our children and how do we provide them with the best education that we can.”

“We sit in a moment where we have historic highs with regards to graduation rates,” added superintendent of public instruction Mo Green, referring to the four-year graduation rate of 87.8% of students graduating on time. “Twenty years ago, we weren’t anywhere close to that number.”

Green also referenced advanced placement exams — 72.1% of students scoring a three, four, or five on the exams — and participation in Career and Technical Education coursework, with over 380,000 credentials earned. He pointed to crime stats, 10,000 incidents out of 1.5 million students.

“The narrative that’s out there is not one that’s actually showing up in our schools,” Green said. “Our accountability system also needs to be sure that we are telling the story that says, yes, there’s work to do, but by gosh, North Carolina’s public schools may not have ever been better for more kids in our history.”

In recent years, state lawmakers have considered various bills to either study a revamp of the school accountability metrics or change the system entirely, but none have passed both chambers of the General Assembly.

The task force has five more meetings on its calendar. According to a draft timeline, sessions are scheduled for April 16, June 18, Aug. 20, Oct. 15, and Dec. 17.

Members plan to start writing their final recommendations in December. The goal is to present their proposed model to the State Board of Education in May 2027, hoping for a vote in June 2027. If approved, the new model could then roll out statewide in October 2027, but it needs legislative approval first.