NC Senate bill would mandate K-8 math screenings, intervention plans
The North Carolina Senate Education Committee on May 13 unanimously advanced a bill that would create the state’s first systematic K-8 intervention program for mathematics, modeled on the early-grade reading framework lawmakers established more than a decade ago.
Senate Bill 1044, Foundational Mathematics Act, would require three diagnostic math screenings per year for every kindergarten through eighth-grade student. The measure would also mandate at least 60 minutes of daily math instruction. Any student not performing at grade level would require an individualized remediation plan.
The bill allocates $21 million in recurring funds to the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) and $2.5 million in nonrecurring funds for related studies.
Primary sponsor state Sen. Kevin Corbin, R-Macon, said the bill was needed to address persistent gaps in math proficiency. Sixty-three percent of North Carolina third-graders are grade-level proficient on math end-of-grade tests, a number that declines steadily through middle school and falls to 48% by eighth grade, Corbin said. On the stricter college and career readiness benchmark, no grade from three through eight clears 41% proficient.
“That means by the eighth grade, more than half of the students taking grade level math tests were not proficient,” Corbin told the committee. “It’s imperative in today’s age that students have the foundational mathematic skills and knowledge to compete regionally, nationally, and internationally.”
Corbin said the bill is meant to fill a long-standing gap. Enacted in 2012, North Carolina’s Read to Achieve program requires diagnostic reading assessments and intervention plans for kindergarten through third grade. But no comparable framework exists in math, a gap DPI officials themselves acknowledged before lawmakers earlier this year.
The bill also codifies the Office of Learning Research (OLR) at the UNC-affiliated North Carolina Collaboratory and directs it to evaluate vendors of K-8 math instructional materials. Beginning with the 2028-29 school year, public school units would be limited to materials on the OLR-approved list.
The vendor review would run alongside DPI’s ongoing rewrite of the state’s K-12 math standards, scheduled for full implementation in the same 2028-29 school year.
Ben Zumbahlen, legislative director for the Coastal Atlantic region of ExcelinEd in Action, urged senators to look to Alabama’s 2022 Numeracy Act as a model.
“You’ll be following suit with good company in Alabama,” Zumbahlen said. “The NAEP data showed that it was the only state that had statistically significant growth from 2022 to 2024, going from 39th to 31st.”
State Sen. Sophia Chitlik, D-Durham, said she supported the bill but pressed Corbin on whether districts could afford the higher-quality curricula the bill encourages.
“Legally, it seems like the allotment to schools for math materials doesn’t actually change in this bill,” Chitlik said. “High-quality instructional materials are more expensive, particularly if schools need to replace their existing materials. Can you tell me a little bit about how schools might be able to afford this, or what the plans are for additional funding to be able to support these important requirements?”
Corbin responded that the $21 million in the bill is earmarked for DPI to procure and administer the screening assessments — not for local instructional materials — and said sponsors would consider the funding gap as the bill moves forward.
Corbin told the committee DPI “fully supports” the bill and has offered suggestions sponsors are open to incorporating. A DPI representative was in attendance but did not testify.
The legislation now heads to the Senate Appropriations Committee on Base Budget.
“NC Senate bill would mandate K-8 math screenings, intervention plans” was originally published on www.carolinajournal.com.
