North Dakota

Understanding the Power and Presence of Public Schooling in North Dakota

by Noah Robb

Part One: What is the Data

Total public school student population 

(National Center for Education Data [NCED], 2019; North Dakota Department of Public Instruction [NDDPI], 2021)

• 2000 
  • 109,201 students
• 2016
  • 107,460 students
• 2021
  • 114,825 students

Total State Public Education budget

(Education Data Initiative, 2021)

1.54 Billion Dollars (2021.)

Public v. Private School Attendance

(NDDPI,2021)

• • 90% public
  • 7%  private
  • 2.6% homeschooled

Average Per-Pupil Expenditure 

(NDDPI,2021; Education Data Initiative 2021)

• • • $13,550 per student (2021)
    • 20th in spending 17th in funding
    • High Poverty
      • $15,730 (2017)
    • Low Poverty
      • $12,360 (2017)

Average National Per-Pupil Expenditure

• $14,418 per pupil (2021)

Student Demographics: 

(NDDPI,2021)

• • White:  75%
  • Black 7%
  • Hispanic 6% 
  • Asian 1.5%
  • Native 10%

Graduation Rates

• • • State Average: 87%
    • National Average 86%

Percent of Students on Free or Reduced Pay Lunch 

(NCED, 2019)

• 2000: avg: 38.3%

• 2016: avg 52.3%

• 2019 avg 52.3%

Accountability Measures

• • (National Report Card Test, 2020)
    • Testing of grades four and eight demonstrated to be above the national average for mathematics with 45% being proficient compared to 39% of the nation.
    • Reading comprehension was in line with the national average of 72%
  • Average ACT in 2021 is just below the national average at 19.6 compared to 20.3. (Prep Sch0olar, 2021)
  • Education Week State Grade: C+
    • Rates schools in three categories
      • Chance for success for students
      • Finance
      • K-12 achievement
    • Massachusetts was the highest with a B+ average while five states including Mississippi earned a D+
    • (Education Week, 2021)

Subject Matter Assessed by Accountability Measures

• Math and Reading Comprehension

Consequences for failing to meet standards—for students, teachers, administrators, and schools

• More district determined, less stress on student scores than other states.
• Very vague on punishments for teachers and schools. Key decisions are left to the delegation of district board members.
  • (NDDPI, 2022)

Adoption of Common Core but Not Next Generation Science Standards. 

No Regular and Religious Permissible Voucher programs Exist.

No Charter Schools

Average Teacher Salary in Dollars and Merit Pay for Teachers 

(NCED, 2018)

• • 2018
    • $42,630 minimum experience
      • National Average: $44,960
    • $57,710 over 20 years of experience
      • Nation Average: $64,380
•  Master’s degrees will earn more depending upon the districts.
• Like other states, pay increases over time with experience.

Presence of Teachers’ Unions and Collective Bargaining 

• • Primary Unions
    • North Dakota United
    • NEA affiliated North Dakota Education Association (NDEA) 
  • Overall Average Union Bargaining 
    • Unions have some barging but only 76.4% of teachers are in unions compared to the national average of 79.1% and high 90s of states like Massachusetts.
    • (NECD, 2020)

Data Analysis:

Teacher Availability Inequalities

Like many rural schools, gaining and keeping teachers in North Dakota has shown to be very difficult and has only been amplified by the Covid-19 pandemic. The pandemic seems to have caused a lack of interest, as both enrollments in teacher education programs and the number of bachelor’s in education at state universities have decreased (Bowen, 2022). Without a proper pipeline, the North Dakota Education Standards and Practice Board has issued a warning for critical shortages of workers in special education, language arts, and science. Where these shortages are prominent the most is in the high need schools where a recent 2021 National Council on Teacher Quality study found that North Dakota lacks any programs to incentivize teachers to choose high-need schools.  A poll in 2021 by the teacher union North Dakota United saw that only 40% of teachers saw themselves retiring as teachers and of those 74% thought of teacher retention as a major issue for the future (North Dakota United, 2022). High-need schools struggle to give students equal education as attracting specifically science teachers is extremely difficult. Applicants are now tending to apply for better-paying fields thus restricting available courses in some schools (Bowen, 2022). 

The North Dakota Department of Public Instruction invests heavily in comprehensive support and improvement programs as part of  ESSA (Every Student Succeeds Act). In doing so, the state selects title one schools with the lowest 5% of performance from the last year or schools with graduation rates lower than 67%. (NDDPI, 2022). The department then can allocate up to 350,000 extra dollars in funds to that given school over a course of three years. Most commonly, the money goes to outside firms such as Eddirection to consult and coach teachers. In one case, a school was able to add a healthcare worker it could not afford before. From discussions this semester, protecting the physical well-being of students is crucial for making a solid foundation to achieve higher levels of the Maslow Pyramid (NDDPI, 2022).  The state has experimented with multiple student loan payback programs such as the North Dakota Senate Bill 2037, which was unfortunately canceled in 2019. The bill allowed for part of a teacher’s student debt to be paid by the government if they completed five or more years in a high need school (National Council on Teacher Quality, 2019). There is currently an Educator Recruitment Retention Task Force that is researching these issues and recently has pushed for more support and guidance for first-year teachers (Seminary, 2021). Overall, it seems that the Department of Public instruction is not ignoring these major issues but is rather trying to find short-term solutions rather than looking toward larger systematic problems of Coivd-19 pressure, increasing political tension in schools, and a lack of viable wage increases.

Teachers in North Dakota are Seen as More Than a Test Score

The national trend of failing schools and teachers has plagued the education system causing controversial reform and downsizing. In North Dakota, the way in which teachers and schools are deemed as failing is more multifaceted. Unlike Eve Ewing’s case study of the Chicago School System Ghosts in the Schoolyard, test scores seemed to have a more demoted role for schools but especially for teachers. The Department of Public Instruction does issue the yearly North Dakota State Assessments, and ACT tests under the ESSA (NDDPI, 2022). After extensive research, programs such as STARS, which is an online teaching effectiveness reporting portal for school and statewide databases, seemed to have a larger effect on teacher evaluations. These are commonly written by parents, administrators, and high school students almost resembling the form of BCQs at Bowdoin. Paired with this, is a guidance system based on evaluations under North Dakota Century Code Chapter 15.1-15. Teachers will have continued check-ups and will be evaluated by shadowing teachers and administrators who give important feedback to a given teacher to prevent possible contract nonrenewal. If comes to that point, then again teachers can be supported by character witnesses in front of the board and principal while a hearing is held for their possible dismissal (North Dakota Legislative Branch, 2017). 

Throughout this research, I found I had a bias from our class looking for the narrative of test scores destroying schools, teachers, and communities. Though what surprised me was the lack of this trend in North Dakota. Instead parallels to Mara Tieken’s book Why Rural Schools Matter kept being felt. This sense of community and support Tieken speaks of while teaching at Vanleer Elementary School seemed to be rooted in North Dakota’s school and state policy. As for her, she was always surrounded by the school and community drawing her to commit to these children and the community to her. The preliminary evaluations and shadowing of administrators and teachers showed how North Dakotan schools were willing to be proactive instead of deeming teachers as forever failures. Like Meldina Anderson mentioned in her book Becoming a Teacher,  having this support and guidance, especially at the beginning, where currently 17% of North Dakota’s teachers are, was crucial for her to be able to challenge and grow her students (North Dakota State Government, 2022). I think this is why even though North Dakota is challenged by its low district funding, 5th highest for Federal funding, North Dakota continues to score higher in achievement among rural states (Hason, 2022). 

References