Retooling of NC student literacy efforts on fast track
March 31, 2021
FacebookTwitterEmail
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) An overhaul of North Carolina s efforts to improve reading proficiency for early-grade students in the public schools is advancing quickly through the legislature, clearing the Senate on Wednesday by a unanimous vote.
A House education committee later approved the same “Excellent Schools Act” in a rare evening meeting. It signaled the General Assembly s hope to give final legislative approval to the popular measure and send it to Gov. Roy Cooper before the legislature s spring recess next week.
The measure seeks to improve upon the 2013 “Read to Achieve program, which was championed by Senate leader Phil Berger but has not lived up to expectations. Berger advanced a 2019 bill to address its weaknesses, but Cooper vetoed it, saying it wasn t enough to fix the problems. Fourth-grade reading proficiency scores have seen little improvement in recent years.
Summer school, reading improvement bills pass NC legislature
GARY D. ROBERTSON, Associated Press
April 1, 2021
FacebookTwitterEmail
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, center, and lawmakers gather Wednesday, March 10, 2021, for a news conference to announce that leaders of the Republican-led state legislature and the governor have reached an agreement to reopen the state s K-12 public schools to full-time daily instruction in Raleigh. (Juli Leonard/The News & Observer via AP)Juli Leonard/AP
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) The North Carolina General Assembly finalized on Thursday a pair of public education measures designed to get more intensive help to children learning to read and to those who have fallen behind during the COVID-19 pandemic.