CHARLOTTE, N.C. — North Carolina’s K-3 students continue to outperform the nation on reading benchmarks, based on the newly-released middle-of-year data.
New data presented to the State Board of Education shows that elementary school students improved their reading skills from the beginning to middle-of-this school year in reading assessment.
The assessment – DIBELS 8 (Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills) – consists of a set of measures designed to evaluate component skills involved in reading.
According to the data, North Carolina kindergarten through third-grade students again outpaced their peers on a national level. North Carolina kindergarteners improved by 22% from the beginning- to middle-of-year assessment while nationally the same age group improved by only 13%.
Catherine Truitt said there have been steady improvements in elementary students’ reading proficiency since the start of the Excellent Public Schools Act.
“Elementary educators have been putting the science of reading into practice throughout the past three years, and the results speak for themselves,” Truitt said. “This growth and continued progress is critical to ensuring our youngest learners are in the position to read, lead and succeed throughout their academic journey. Improving reading proficiency for students in North Carolina has been a priority for me since I stepped into office, and I’m so proud of what our students and educators have accomplished.”
WCNC Charlotte is working to learn how test scores in Mecklenburg County stack up against the state.