Isaac Bear Early College High School and NC Early Colleges Performance 2013-2014

Kitt Starnes
Every summer I attend the North Carolina New Schools Summer Institute with my principal and
a couple of other teachers from my school. Its a great conference that allows us to share ideas
and learn from other teachers of Early Colleges across the state. Every Early College is set up
a little different so I wonder how Isaac Bear stacks up against other Early Colleges in the state.
Questions: How did Isaac Bear Early College High School perform on Math I, English II and
Biology EOCs in comparison to other Early Colleges across the state? How did Isaac Bear
Early College High Schools School Performance Score and EVAAS Growth Status compare
with other early colleges across the state?
Learners: The learners in this study are Early College high school students taking Math I,
English II and Biology End-of-Course tests across the state. Early College high school students
are unique because they get the opportunity to earn a high school diploma while earning an
associate degree or university course credit while still in high school. Coursework and
matriculation are a little different at every Early College. At Isaac Bear Early College High
School, Math I and English II both consist of only freshmen. Biology students at IBEC are tenth
grade students who have already completed Earth and Environmental Sciences as well as
Chemistry I and II. Math I, English II and Biology students may be in other grades at other Early
Colleges depending on how each school sets up coursework for their students.
Data: The data for this report was retrieved from the North Carolina Department of Public
Instruction website. Its taken from the 2013-2014 School Performance Grade, School
Performance Score and School Growth Status report located at
http://www.ncpublicschools.org/accountability/reporting/. I then went to the North Carolina New
Schools website in order to get a comprehensive list of Early Colleges across the state. In order
to clean the data on Tableau, I went through and chose to keep only the Early Colleges. I then
chose to look at the Math I, English II and Biology End-of-Course test scores as well as School
Performance Scores and EVAAS Growth Status Scores.
Metrics: If you click on the following link, you will be taken to a Tableau Dashboard that
contains a tab for the 2013-2014 Early College EVAAS Growth/Scores and School Performance
Grades and Scores for North Carolina Early College High Schools. The second tab has the
Math I, English II and Biology End-of-Course test scores for North Carolina Early College High
Schools.
2013-2014 North Carolina Early College Performance
Screenshots of these graphs are on the next two pages. I recommend clicking on the link to for
easier to read, interactive graphs.

As you can see, Isaac Bear Early College High School exceeded growth with an EVAAS score
of 93.40. Only five schools of the 71 Early Colleges in this comparison had a higher EVAAS
Growth Score. Isaac Bear Early College High School was tied with Challenger Early College
High School for the highest School Performance Score and Grade out of all of the Early
Colleges in the state with a 98 A.
Isaac Bear Early College High School ninth graders also scored greater than 95% proficient on
the English II End-of-Course test, higher than another other Early College in the state. Isaac
Bear ninth graders also scored greater than 95% proficient on the Math I End-of-Course test,
which only Henderson Early College and Brunswick Early College accomplished too. Isaac
Bear tenth graders scored greater than 95% proficient on the Biology End-of-Course test, which
no other Early College in the state was able to accomplish.
Interventions: My next step in this study would be to focus on the highest and lowest
performing Early Colleges. I would like to know how the coursework is set up in each school. I
know how it is set up at Isaac Bear Early College, but in what grades to students take Math I,

English II and Biology at the highest and lowest performing Early Colleges? What other courses
are students taking in addition to these core classes? When do students in each Early College
begin taking community college or university classes? My next step would be to research these
schools to answer these next questions and better understand how the school is set up and how
that may affect performance scores. I would also like to know what other interventions or
additional learning opportunities are available to enhance students academic experiences.
Isaac Bear Early College High School has a Launching Leaders program that provides
additional learning and leadership opportunities for our students. I wonder what programs other
schools have that enhance students academic experience, and in turn, enhance performance
scores. These are all things that should be researched and shared with North Carolina New
Schools so that they can share with other Early Colleges.
If I attend the North Carolina New Schools Summer Institute this summer, I actually will have the
opportunity to get a lot of these questions answered. The North Carolina New Schools Summer
Institute is a time to share ideas, learn what is working so well at other schools to see what we
can do differently to improve ourselves for our students. Hopefully the lower performing schools
get some ideas from the higher performing Early Colleges. And while Isaac Bear was one of
the top performing Early Colleges, we can also find a way to improve.
Sources:

(2015, February 5). 2013-14 school performance grade, school performance score and
growth status. website: http://www.ncpublicschools.org/accountability/reporting/
(n.d.). Retrieved from North Carolina New Schools website:
http://ncnewschools.org/educators-administrators/how-we-do-it/school-districtmodels/early-college/