(The Center Square) – Several lab schools established by the University of North Carolina Board of Governors to improve academic performance have demonstrated significant gains, according to a new report.
Extra money for tutors could be responsible, Philip Byers, a member of the Board of Governors, said at a meeting Wednesday. He pointed to the Appalachian State University Academy at Elkin as an example.
“I went down several times and we had several people in the Boone and mountain areas who contributed funds to that school, I did as well, to hire tutors to come in on Fridays,” Byers said. “They had a wonderful program to teach classes Monday through Thursday and Fridays was spent as a catch-up day.”
In 2022-23, the student achievement score at App Academy at Elkin increased 22.9% and the overall growth score by 18.5 percent.
“What breaks my heart is that the new superintendent and the Board of Education said they were no longer interested in App State being on their campus,” Byers said. “People will be hearing from me later and in the state Legislature as they reconvene in January.”
Space issues prompted the school system to cancel the lab school, Superintendent Dr. Steve Hall told the Elkin Tribune in February.
”We have this unusual spurt of growth and we just don’t have the space for both entities together,” he said. “It’s unfortunate.”
The Legislature passed a law in 2016 requiring the UNC Board of Governors to establish eight lab schools with the goal of improving student performance in low-performing schools.
“We are headed in the right direction,” Byers said. “I’ve watched education for a lot of years. When you start a program like this, it’s tough to get in get things moving. We’ve still got a lot of area for improvement, but I feel very good about where we are headed.”
He said the “influx of a little money for tutoring” can have an impact.
“The data,” he said, “has proved what each of you as educators have known for many years is that tutoring one-on-one, one on two or one-on-three, helps. It closes the gap.”
Byers promised to push for extra funding to expand the tutoring programs.