[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-seo-584735-105":3,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":81,"doc-detail-584735-en":130},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"ok",{"site_id":7,"language":8,"slug":9,"title":10,"keywords":11,"description":12,"schema_data":13,"social_meta":74,"head_meta":76,"extra_data":78,"updated_unix":80},105,"en","measuring-educational-opportunity-in-north-carolina-public-school-districts-research-brief-june-2022","MEASURING EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITY IN NORTH CAROLINA PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICTS - Research Brief - June 2022","","Research brief analyzing how educational opportunity can be measured in North Carolina public school districts using two standardized-assessment-based indicators: average achievement at a single point in time and achievement growth over time. Average achievement for third graders enrolled in 2014 is compared with achievement growth as the cohort progresses to eighth grade by 2019. Correlational validity tests examine relationships with student economic disadvantage, and weighted composite specifications aligned with North Carolina School Performance Grades. Findings contrast stronger association for average achievement with weaker association for growth, suggesting different policy meaning.",{"@graph":14,"@context":73},[15,34,56],{"@type":16,"itemListElement":17},"BreadcrumbList",[18,23,27,31],{"item":19,"name":20,"@type":21,"position":22},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",1,{"item":24,"name":25,"@type":21,"position":26},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":28,"name":29,"@type":21,"position":30},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/","Research & Report",3,{"item":32,"name":10,"@type":21,"position":33},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/measuring-educational-opportunity-in-north-carolina-public-school-districts-research-brief-june-2022/584735/",4,{"url":32,"name":10,"@type":35,"image":36,"author":41,"headline":10,"publisher":44,"fileFormat":47,"inLanguage":8,"description":12,"dateModified":48,"datePublished":49,"encodingFormat":47,"isAccessibleForFree":50,"interactionStatistic":51},"DigitalDocument",{"url":37,"@type":38,"width":39,"height":40},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/measuring-educational-opportunity-in-north-carolina-public-school-districts-research-brief-june-2022/584735.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":42,"@type":43},"Damian","Person",{"url":19,"name":45,"@type":46},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-31","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":52,"interactionType":53,"userInteractionCount":55},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":54},"ViewAction",7,{"@type":57,"mainEntity":58},"FAQPage",[59,65,69],{"name":60,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":62},"What two measures of educational opportunity are examined in the brief?","Question",{"text":63,"@type":64},"The brief evaluates average achievement and achievement growth. Both measures are based on standardized student achievement assessments in North Carolina public school districts.","Answer",{"name":66,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":67},"How is achievement growth defined in the study?",{"text":68,"@type":64},"Achievement growth is measured for the same cohort of students from third grade in 2014 through eighth grade in 2019, tracking the rate of change in achievement over time.",{"name":70,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":71},"How do the measures relate to student economic disadvantage?",{"text":72,"@type":64},"Average achievement shows a strong correlation with student economic disadvantage, while achievement growth shows a much smaller correlation. 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Carr  \nJ U N E 2 0 2 2  \nRESEARCH BRIEF: NC EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITY  \nINTRODUCTION  \nMeasuring educational opportunity is a topic of interest to policymakers and education stakeholders alike. Standardized assessments of student achievement are commonly used to measure educational opportunity in North Carolina and across the nation. This research brief examines two measures of educational opportunity in North Carolina public school districts. Both measures are based on standardized assessments of student achievement. The first measure—average achievement—indexes the average level of student achievement at a single point in time.1 The second measure—achievement growth—indexes the rate of growth in student achievement overtime. In this research brief, average achievement was measured among third-grade students who were enrolled in North Carolina public school districts in 2014. Achievement growth was measured for this same cohort of students as they progressed from third to eighth grade between 2014 and 2019 (see Figure 1) . Correlational analyses were undertaken to examine the validity of these measures. First, the correlation between each measure of educational opportunity and a measure of student economic disadvantage was examined. Second, a weighted composite measure of average achievement and achievement growth was calculated according to the specification used by the North Carolina Department of  \nPublic Instruction for the School Performance  \nThe North Carolina Department of Public Instruction reports on measures of educational opportunity annually in the School Report Cards. Perhaps most prominently, a “School Performance Grade” is reported, with 80% of this grade being derived from measures of average achievement and 20% of this grade being derived from measures of achievement growth.  \nGrade (i.e., 80% average achievement and 20% achievement growth) . The correlation between this composite measure and the measure of student economic disadvantage was also examined. Finally, alternative weighting specifications for the composite measure and their correlations with student economic disadvantage were considered. The findings and policy implications are discussed below, followed by a technical appendix to further describe the data and analyses.  \n1. Similar to average achievement, educational opportunity is also measured by the percent of students in a school or school district with test scores that surpass a given threshold of “proficiency” at a single point in time.  \n2. Student achievement was examined beginning in third grade because it was the lowest grade level at which standardized achievement tests were administered in North Carolina.  \n2  \nJ U N E 2 0 2 2  \nRESEARCH BRIEF: NC EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITY  \nFINDINGS  \nBased on correlational analyses, average achievement was found to be highly correlated with student economic disadvantage—suggesting that average achievement may reflect a broad range educational opportunities available to students based on the socioeconomic status of the community where their school district was located (reading: r = –0 . 80; math: r = –0 .72) (see Figure 2 for the reading correlation) . Alternatively, achievement growth showed a much smaller correlation with student economic disadvantage (reading: r = 0 . 00; math: r = –0 . 21) (see Figure 3 for the reading correlation) . These findings suggest that achievement growth may better index the unique contribution of schools toward promoting student learning and achievement. Moreover, these findings confirm prior research by Reardon (2019) based on analyses of data on all public school districts in the United States.  \nFIGURE 1  \n North Carolina Third to Eighth Grade Growth Cohort between 2014 and 2019  \nA composite measure of educational opportunity was created by calculating a weighted average of the average achievement and achievement gr","cbCaifjLfvbw09g0","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaifjLfvbw09g0","pdf",3398875,11,"English","# Introduction\n# Findings\n# Composite Measures and Weighting Specification","[{\"question\":\"What two measures of educational opportunity are examined in the brief?\",\"answer\":\"The brief evaluates average achievement and achievement growth. Both measures are based on standardized student achievement assessments in North Carolina public school districts.\"},{\"question\":\"How is achievement growth defined in the study?\",\"answer\":\"Achievement growth is measured for the same cohort of students from third grade in 2014 through eighth grade in 2019, tracking the rate of change in achievement over time.\"},{\"question\":\"How do the measures relate to student economic disadvantage?\",\"answer\":\"Average achievement shows a strong correlation with student economic disadvantage, while achievement growth shows a much smaller correlation. This pattern suggests growth may better reflect schools’ contributions to student learning.\"}]","MEASURING EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITY IN NORTH CAROLINA PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICTS - Research Brief - June 2022 | PDF",1792052095,28]