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Parents, Education Stakeholders Invited To Give Feedback on Standard Course of Study

North Carolina public school parents and community members are invited to go online and give their feedback on the state’s standards for English language arts and mathematics instruction for students in kindergarten through 12th grade.

The N.C. Department of Public Instruction has launched an online survey for parents and community members to provide feedback on the standards currently in place. The survey will be available at http://ncdpireview.weebly.com/community-surveys.html until April 30.

Once on the site, survey participants select English language arts or mathematics and also the grade level for which they would like to answer the survey. Participants are encouraged to take the survey more than once to provide feedback on both subject areas and to cover all grades for which they have feedback. Although the survey respondents are anonymous, the survey does ask respondents to indicate their role: parent, community member, business and industry professional, state agency partner or higher education faculty and whether or not they have children in public school in North Carolina.

North Carolina is in the third year of the current Standard Course of Study and is at the initial stage of reviewing standards in English language arts and mathematics. Standards are typically reviewed for changes approximately every five years in each subject.

State Superintendent June Atkinson encourages parents to participate in the survey.

“Parents know firsthand the impact that standards have on student learning and the importance of having clear, rigorous and reasonable standards. Community and business stakeholders care deeply about preparing our students for careers and college,” said Atkinson. “We need to hear from parents and the broader community as we move forward with reviews of our content standards to make sure that standards help students reach high goals and prepare for the future.”

In North Carolina, the State Board of Education approves the state’s Standard Course of Study, which provides content standards that describe what students should know and be able to do at the end of a grade level or course. Local teachers and administrators make the final decisions about which curriculum materials, reading assignments and other student assignments are used in local classrooms to assist students in meeting the standards.