CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The grades are in.
Public schools in North Carolina released their yearly performance grades and graduation rates on Wednesday. Across the Tar Heel State, graduation rates dropped just slightly -- from 86.3 percent to 85.1 percent.
Eight schools in North Carolina had graduation rates fall by more than 10 points. Only 13 Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (CMS) had graduation rates higher than 90 percent.
Overall, 19 CMS schools got an A. 48 scored a B, 38 got a D and 10 received a failing grade.
"We've taken an honest and candid look at our performance," said CMS superintendent Dr. Clayton Wilcox.
What they found is an issue that's happening across the state -- a performance gap divided drastically along racial lines.
The new report released by the state showed black and Hispanic students are underperforming in every college and career readiness category compared to white and Asian counterparts.
"We are a community that is struggling with issues are equity and access. We are struggling with issues around race and privilege. We are struggling with issues of competition between charter, private parochial and public schools," Dr. Wilcox said.
The tale of haves and have-nots played out in the school report cards as well. Many of the 48 schools in CMS that received Ds and Fs are in neighborhoods that are predominantly black, Hispanic or impoverished.
CMS chief equity officer said even the schools in wealthy neighborhoods saw a dip in graduation rates.
"No school had an across the board banner year, and no school had an across the board horrible year. I think there's room to improve in every school," said Dr. Frank Barnes.
Dr. Wilcox said one of the ways to level the playing field is creating curriculum and culture that reflects everyone.
"Many of our kids can't see themselves in our curriculum. This gives us the opportunity to make sure that our black and brown kids can see the contributions, that their culture has made to our curriculum. We are no longer a community that can afford a Eurocentric curriculum because they can't see themselves in it," said Dr. Wilcox.