N.C. schools to be pilot for education program

U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings today announced approval of two high-quality growth model pilots, which follow the bright-line principles of No Child Left Behind. The first two states approved and implementing their growth model pilots for the 2005-2006 school year are Tennessee and North Carolina. Early consideration will be given to the six states (Alaska, Arkansas, Arizona, Delaware, Florida, Oregon), which applied this year, but did not receive approval.

Tennessee has received full approval to implement their growth model for this year. North Carolina is approved to implement its growth model, provided that its assessment system is fully approved by July 1st.

"A growth model is a way for states that are already raising achievement and following the bright-line principles of the law to strengthen accountability," Secretary Spellings said. "North Carolina and Tennessee were recognized by our impressive group of peer reviewers to have written strong growth models that adhere to the core principles of No Child Left Behind."

"There are many different routes for states to take, but they all must begin with a commitment to annual assessment and disaggregation of data. And, they all must lead to closing the achievement gap and every student reaching grade level by 2014. We are open to new ideas, but when it comes to accountability, we are not taking our eye off the ball."

The Department plans to approve no more than 10 high-quality growth models for the pilot program.

A rigorous peer review process was used by the Department to ensure that the selection process was fair and transparent for all participating states. A panel of nationally recognized experts reviewed and made recommendations on states' proposals, choosing Tennessee and North Carolina for approval.

The Department intends to gather data to test the idea that growth models can be fair, reliable and innovative methods to measure student improvement and to hold schools accountable for results. Growth models track individual student achievement from one year to the next, giving schools credit for student improvement over time. The pilot program enables the Department to rigorously evaluate growth models and ensure their alignment with NCLB, and to share these results with other States.