With the threat of takeover from the state for the lowest performing schools and additional money for staff in schools that perform well, the stakes of the ABCs program are high. To wager such high stakes, state officials must have been confident that the ABCs would benefit the education of NC students. Has the program had such an effect?

Administrators, in particular, think that the program has been a success. A central office administrator in the Durham Public Schools who has worked in the NC schools for 14 years praises the program as " the best attempt at educational reform thus far." Others echo her praise. " It is the ingredient that has been missing for years," one superintendent comments. " It is simple enough that every one can understand it. It's consistent over time so you have a sense that schools are truly getting better."

A Focus on the Basics
Administrators and most teachers agree that the ABCs have led to an increased focus on the NC Standard Course of Study, the state-mandated curriculum. Even teachers who are generally critical of the ABCs comment favorably about the program's focus. " The ABCs make sense because they relate instruction to the Standard Course of Study. It measures what we are supposed to be teaching," explains a veteran high school teacher. Officials and administrators attribute gains in test scores to this focus.

Improved Test Scores & Performance
Schools have improved in their scores from the first to the second year of the ABCs. In 1996-97, only 57% of the elementary and middle schools met or exceeded their expected growth standards. In 1997-98, 84% of K-8 schools met or exceeded their goals.5 NC students' test scores on national standardized tests are also increasing. Education Week recognized North Carolina and Texas as having the largest average gains in scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) between 1990 and 1996.6

Proponents of the ABCs claim that all students have made improvements under the ABCs. They credit the program for especially helping at-risk students. One administrator enthusiastically proclaims the ABCs as " the great savior of public education for at-risk students." He bases this assertion on the belief that, since teachers need all their students to perform well on the ABCs tests in order to meet their goals, they cannot ignore hard-to-educate students. " It is the first time in 33 years that... we've created a system that says the education of each child is of interest to us and that we expect that the system will educate each and every child," a superintendent explains.

Local Flexibility
Administrators assert that the ABCs program allows each school to make decisions about how to spend money and what textbooks and materials to use. This flexibility allows schools to figure out what they need to do to meet their particular students' needs.

Restoring Faith in Public Schools
Certainly, some administrators and teachers think that the ABCs program has made significant strides in improving public education and enhancing student performance on standardized tests. Some observers think, however, that the creation of the ABCs was motivated by factors other than a desire to improve education. Many teachers and educational observers think that the ABCs program was a politically expedient reform that was designed to counter right-wing attacks on public education and restore confidence in the state's public schools. DPI's literature regarding the ABCs confirms that the program's purpose was to inspire confidence in the ability of public schools to educate students. The original brochure explaining the ABCs proclaims, " One of the best ways to restore faith in public education is to instill strong accountability." 7

Satisfying the Business Lobby
State officials realized that they were in danger, in particular, of losing the business community's faith in public schools. Corporate leaders played an integral role in the development of the ABCs. Additional brochures promoting the ABCs were produced by Education: Everybody's Business Coalition, a group that was chaired by Phil Kirk, President of North Carolina Citizens for Business and Industry (NCCBI), a group that lobbies for corporate interests. Kirk is the current Chair of the SBE.8 On its website, NCCBI lists providing " critical support for the passage of the ABCs of Education law" as one of its accomplishments.9 In fact, the ABCs program mimics a reform proposed by NCCBI in 1991.10 The development of the ABCs program appears inextricably related to politics and meeting the interests of powerful business lobbies.