CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools saw significant growth in student performance during the 2023-24 school year, according to data released Wednesday by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction.
The district released its report card from the NCDPI on Wednesday, showing where CMS stands compared to every other public school district. Over 83% of CMS schools (146 campuses) met or exceeded growth, the highest number in district history. This was led by 33 schools that improved their letter grades from 2022-23 to 2023-24. Data shows 108 CMS schools earned a school performance grade of A, B or C, an increase of five from the 2022-23 report.
For the second year in a row, North Carolina students performed well in math, seeing an increase in both college- and career-readiness, according to the NCDPI. Students showed grade-level proficiency in all grades from third to eighth. Students who achieved grade-level proficiency increased by 2.1 percentage points from the 2022-23 school year. NC Math 3 scores dropped from 58.3% to 57.6% this year.
North Carolina saw a significant increase in English, too. The percentage of students meeting progress targets has risen from 21.1 in 2021-22 to 27.3 in 2023-24. Graduation rates are also up statewide, increasing to 86.9% from the 2022-23 rate of 86.5%. The CMS graduation rate was up 1.4% to 84% for 2023-24, including significant increases for Hispanic and multilingual learners.
"We’re reviewing every student’s transcript in our high schools and so we have teams that are working in our high schools to review their transcripts," We’re also offering more opportunities for students to recover credits so they can get back on track.” CMS Deputy Superintendent Melissa Balknight said.
Still, CMS graduation rates continue to lag behind other large districts in the state, including Wake County Public Schools, which had a 91.3% rate, and Guilford County Schools, which came in at 92.2%.
"There are several different factors when you look at the makeup of counties and school systems. I think we’re always striving to be better," Dee Rankin, vice chair of the CMS Board, said. "I think that’s the key, is replicating what some of our individual schools are doing and have that done across our district.”
CMS was looking to see higher grade-level proficiency among students in all subjects and have fewer schools deemed "low performing." State data shows that 19 schools in CMS are no longer considered low-performing, but 17 different schools are now low-performing. This means 56 of the district's 174 campuses are low-performing. It's the first time CMS had more schools removed from the low-performing designation than new campuses added, according to Beth Thompson, the district's chief of strategy and innovation.
CMS saw a marginal increase in students who are at or above grade-level proficiency. The report shows 52.7% of CMS students are at grade level proficiency, up from 52.1% last year.
Colette Forrest has a senior at CMS and worries about scores, including early literacy, that show Black students lagging behind at 67.2% compared to an 87.8% proficiency rate among white students.
"67%, no. I want our children to have [scores] in the 88th and 90th percentile," Forrest said.
Despite this, the district says the proficiency rate gap between white and Asian students compared to Black and Hispanic students, has narrowed by up to 9.5% over the last three years.
"Let’s be clear, we’ve just gotten started and these gaps need to be eliminated, but this is beyond promising," Thompson said.
District leaders touted increases in grade-level proficiency in math, science and K-2 early literacy. However, there were slight decreases in grade-level proficiency in reading and English II.
The district said it's offering more support and coaching to schools not meeting state expectations to help all students reach their full potential.
Contact Destiny Richards at drichards5@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, X and Instagram.
Contact Kayland Hagwood at khagwood@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, X and Instagram.