Charter schools must provide annual instruction, meet state standards, give required assessments, follow special education law, provide financial literacy instruction, and notify parents plus the State Board about third-grade reading retention and interventions.
(a)Instructional Program. — (1)The school shall provide instruction each year for at least 185 days or 1,025 hours over nine calendar months, and may include the use of remote instruction in accordance with G.S. 115C-84.3. (2)The school shall design its programs to at least meet the student performance standards adopted by the State Board of Education and the student performance standards contained in the charter. (3)A charter school shall conduct the student assessments required by the State Board of Education. (4)The school is subject to and shall comply with Article 9 of Chapter 115C of the General Statutes and The Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvements Act, 20 U.S.C. § 1400, et seq., (2004), as amended. (5)A charter school shall provide financial literacy instruction as required by the State Board of Education pursuant to G.S. 115C-81.65, including required professional development for teachers of the EPF course. (b)Reading Proficiency and Student Promotion. — (1)Students in the third grade shall be retained if the student fails to demonstrate reading proficiency by reading at or above the third grade level as demonstrated by the results of the State-approved standardized test of reading comprehension administered to third grade students. The charter school shall provide reading interventions to retained students to remediate reading deficiency, which may include 90 minutes of daily, uninterrupted, evidence-based reading instruction, accelerated reading classes, transition classes containing third and fourth grade students, and summer reading camps. (2)Students may be exempt from mandatory retention in third grade for good cause but shall continue to receive instructional supports and services and reading interventions appropriate for their age and reading level. Good cause exemptions shall be limited to the following: a.Limited English Proficient students with less than two school years of instruction in an English as a Second Language program. b.Students with disabilities, as defined in G.S. 115C-106.3(1), and whose individualized education program indicates (i) the use of the NCEXTEND1 alternate assessment, (ii) at least a two school year delay in educational performance, or (iii) receipt of intensive reading interventions for at least two school years. c.Students who demonstrate reading proficiency appropriate for third grade students on an alternative assessment of reading comprehension. The charter school shall notify the State Board of Education of the alternative assessment used to demonstrate reading proficiency. d.Students who demonstrate, through a student reading portfolio, reading proficiency appropriate for third grade students. e.Students who have (i) received reading intervention and (ii) previously been retained more than once in kindergarten, first, second, or third grades. (3)The charter school shall provide notice to parents and guardians when a student is not reading at grade level. The notice shall state that if the student’s reading deficiency is not remediated by the end of third grade, the student shall be retained unless he or she is exempt from mandatory retention for good cause. Notice shall also be provided to parents and guardians of any student who is to be retained under this subsection of the reason the student is not eligible for a good cause exemption, as well as a description of proposed reading interventions that will be provided to the student to remediate identified areas of reading deficiency. (4)The charter school shall annually publish on the charter school’s Web site and report in writing to the State Board of Education by September 1 of each year the following information on the prior school year: a.The number and percentage of third grade students demonstrating and not demonstrating reading proficiency on the State-approved standardized test of reading comprehension administered to third grade students. b.The number and percentage of third grade students not demonstrating reading proficiency and who do not return to the charter school for the following school year. c.The number and percentage of third grade students who take and pass an alternative assessment of reading comprehension and the name of each alternative assessment used for this purpose with the number of students who passed it. d.The number and percentage of third grade students retained for not demonstrating reading proficiency. e.The number and percentage of third grade students exempt from mandatory third grade retention by category of exemption as listed in subdivision (2) of this subsection. History: History.1995 (Reg. Sess., 1996), c. 731, s. 2; 1997-430, s. 5; 1997-443, s. 8.19; 1997-456, s. 55.4; 1998-212, s. 9.14A(a); 1999-243, s. 8; 2001-462, s. 1; 2004-118, s. 3; 2004-203, s. 45(b); 2006-69, s. 3(e); 2006-137, s. 2; 2007-59, s. 2; 2007-126, s. 2; 2007-323, s. 28.22A(o); 2007-345, s. 12; 2009-239, s. 1; 2009-563, s. 2; 2010-10, s. 2(a); 2011-93, s. 2(a); 2011-145, s. 7.29(b); 2011-164, s. 4; 2011-282, s. 9; 2012-142, ss. 7A.1(f), 7A.3(c), 7A.11(b); 2012-145, s. 2.5; 2012-179, s. 1(c); 2013-307, s. 1.1; 2013-355, s. 1(f); 2013-359, s. 1; 2013-360, ss. 8.43(a), 9.7(q); 2014-5, s. 9; 2014-101, s. 7; 2018-5, s. 7.24(c); 2019-82, s. 4(a); 2021-130, s. 3(c); 2022-59, s. 1(b); 2022-74, s. 7.13(b).