CMS discusses ways to improve student performance

CHARLOTTE — Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools district leaders spent Wednesday taking a close look at how students are doing.

Channel 9′s education reporter Jonathan Lowe was at the one-day retreat to see how CMS hopes to improve student performance after test scores dropped during the pandemic.

“I think parents, the community members, all interested parties should view this as ‘We’re answering the call,’” said Vice Chairwoman Stephanie Sneed.

The School Board spent the day tackling its biggest priority, which is student performance and achievement, specifically reading, math, and college and career readiness.

“This work, this boring, this tedious, uninteresting work that you can view on social media is how we get there,” Sneed said.

The chair said the board must find a way to encourage parents and families to tune in.

“It needs to be, essentially more concise,” Sneed said. “We need to, essentially, report where we are with this goal. Where we’re trying to get to, and how we’re going to get there.”

“We’ve made great progress, particularly coming from our beginning point, which was two years ago. We continue to move in the right direction, but we still have a ways to go,” said board member Jennifer De La Jara.

The board members are now discussing the possibility of transforming how regular school board meetings are conducted.

The idea would be to spend 50% of the time on operational issues, such as school construction, and dedicate the other half solely to student performance.

“You’ll see some adjustments that I am confident the public will be pleased with,” Sneed said.

Teacher pay

North Carolina education leaders are looking into a new model that would change the way teachers are paid, which would move away from paying teachers based on experience.

It would instead move toward pay based on teacher effectiveness.

A report from the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction found teacher longevity was not a great predictor of student success.

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