North Carolina HB 840: Reward Schools for Student Growth.

Bill Text

GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA
SESSION 2025
H 1
HOUSE BILL 840

Short Title: Reward Schools for Student Growth. (Public)
Sponsors: Representatives Belk, Budd, Helfrich, and Lofton (Primary Sponsors).
For a complete list of sponsors, refer to the North Carolina General Assembly web site.
Referred to: Rules, Calendar, and Operations of the House
April 10, 2025
*H840-v-1*
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 1
AN ACT TO MODIFY SCHOOL PERFORMANCE GRADES TO PROVIDE THAT ALL 2
SCHOOLS RECEIVE A GRADE FOR SCHOOL ACHIEVEMENT AND A GRADE FOR 3
SCHOOL GROWTH. 4
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts: 5
6
PART I. ESTABLISH SEPARATE ACHIEVEMENT AND GROWTH GRADES 7
SECTION 1.1. G.S. 115C-12(9) reads as rewritten: 8
"(9) Miscellaneous Powers and Duties. – All the powers and duties exercised by 9
the State Board of Education shall be in conformity with the Constitution and 10
subject to such laws as may be enacted from time to time by the General 11
Assembly. Among such duties are: 12
... 13
c1. To issue an annual "report card" for the State and for each local school 14
administrative unit, assessing each unit's efforts to improve student 15
performance based on the growth in performance of the students in 16
each school and taking into account progress over the previous years' 17
level of performance and the State's performance in comparison with 18
other states. This assessment shall take into account factors that have 19
been shown to affect student performance and that the State Board 20
considers relevant to assess the State's efforts to improve student 21
performance. The annual "report card" for each local school 22
administrative unit shall include the following: 23
1. The State Board shall award, in accordance with 24
G.S. 115C-83.15, an overall numerical school achievement, 25
growth, and performance score on a scale of zero to 100 26
achievement and school growth scores and a separate 27
corresponding performance school achievement and school 28
growth letter grade grades of A, B, C, D, or F earned by each 29
school within the local school administrative unit. The school 30
performance score and grade achievement and growth scores 31
and grades shall reflect the measures required for achievement 32
and growth, respectively, by G.S. 115C-83.15, in measures 33
such as student performance on annual subject-specific 34
assessments, college and workplace readiness measures, 35

General Assembly Of North Carolina Session 2025
Page 2 House Bill 840-First Edition
graduation rates, and student progress in achieving English 1
language proficiency. In addition, the State Board shall award 2
separate performance scores and grades for the following: 3
I. School achievement and school growth performance of 4
certain subgroups of students as provided in 5
G.S. 115C-83.15. 6
II. For schools serving students in any grade from 7
kindergarten to eighth grade, school achievement and 8
school growth performance in reading and mathematics 9
respectively. 10
...." 11
SECTION 1.2. G.S. 115C-47(58) reads as rewritten: 12
"(58) To Inform the Public About the North Carolina School Report Cards Issued 13
by the State Board of Education. – Each local board of education shall ensure 14
that the report card issued for it by the State Board of Education receives wide 15
distribution to the local press or is otherwise provided to the public. Each local 16
board of education shall ensure that the overall school performance score 17
achievement and growth scores and grade grades earned by each school in the 18
local school administrative unit for the current and previous four school years 19
is are prominently displayed on the Web site of the local school administrative 20
unit. If any school in the local school administrative unit earned an overall a 21
school performance achievement or growth grade of D or F, the local board 22
of education shall provide notice of the grade in writing to the parent or 23
guardian of all students enrolled in that school." 24
SECTION 1.3. G.S. 115C-83.15 reads as rewritten: 25
"§ 115C-83.15. School achievement, growth, performance scores, achievement scores, 26
growth scores, and grades. 27
(a) School Scores and Grades. – The State Board of Education shall award school 28
achievement, growth, and performance achievement and school growth scores and an associated 29
performance grade grades as required by G.S. 115C-12(9)c1., and calculated as provided in this 30
section. 31
... 32
(b1) Calculation of School Achievement Grades. – For all schools, the score for school 33
achievement, as provided in subsection (b) of this section, shall be used to determine the school 34
achievement grade. The school achievement grade shall be based on the following scale and shall 35
not be modified to add any other designation related to other performance measures, such as a 36
"plus" or "minus": 37
(1) A score of at least 85 is equivalent to a school achievement grade of A. 38
(2) A score of at least 70 is equivalent to a school achi