At the very end of last Wednesday’s meeting of the State Board of Education there was an exchange so brief it was easy to miss. But it seems to have real relevance to the ongoing debate over what assessment tool North Carolina schools will use for K-3 reading.
State Board member JB Buxton said there was a request from the Department of Public Instruction for immediate action and called forward Deputy Superintendent of Innovation David Stegall.
Dr. Stegall explained that an alternative assessment needed to be added that “provides additional support through a pencil and paper process for visually impaired students and students who have seizure issues.”
DPI’s request raises important questions about why those students weren’t already receiving the support that they need.
You can listen to audio and read a transcript of the exchange below:
JB Buxton: Mr. Chairman, without objection Dr. Oxendine and I would like to add a request from the Department for an Action on First Reading dealing with our alternate assessments for the K-3 diagnostic assessments. If you have a moment I’d call on Dr. Stegall to explain that and then again ask that we act on that as action on the first read as this is our approved list that the districts can use as alternative diagnostic assessments.
Eric Davis: Without objection, so ordered.
JB Buxton: Dr. Stegall, if you could just explain this?
David Stegall: Yes sir, thank you, Mr. Chairman and board members. We request that one of the alternative assessments that had previously been voted on be removed due to an outdated linkage study. We want to make sure that all that data is correct, so we’re asking for that one to be removed, and it’s been highlighted for you.
And we’re asking that one assessment to be added that provides additional support through a pencil and paper process for visually impaired students and students who have seizure issues.
JB Buxton: So if there are no objections, and I don’t know if there are any questions but we’d had that as an Action on First Reading so we could get that on the identified list.
Eric Davis: We will.
This is great news, but what about global majority students? A recent multi-ethnic study out of USC documents the rise in degenerative eye issues (myopia) for Asian, African-American and Hispanic kids who spend too much time on screens. Included in the purchase of Istation, is there also money for vision screening and glasses for students? If NC schools are going to willingly damage kids’ eyes, the least they could do is pay for it. https://keck.usc.edu/too-much-screen-time-is-raising-rate-of-childhood-myopia/