For the 10th consecutive year, North Carolina’s four-year cohort high school graduation rate is up and is now at more than 85 percent.

Since 2006, the first year the state reported a four-year cohort graduation rate, the percentage of students graduating from high school in four years or less has risen 17.1 percentage points – from 68.3 percent to 85.4 percent. Rates have climbed in all subgroups as well, including black, Hispanic, American Indians, Economically Disadvantaged, Limited English Proficient students and students with disabilities.

The rules for calculating the cohort graduation rate meet federal requirements and the National Governor’s Association’s definition as “the number of graduates divided by the number of students who entered ninth grade in 2011–12, plus any incoming students and minus any students who leave North Carolina in subsequent years.”

Results of the 2014–15 cohort graduation rate results are available online. The graduation results are available by individual school and school district (LEA).

North Carolina’s second annual school performance grades were presented to the State Board of Education earlier this month and show that 72.2 percent of traditional public schools earned grades of C or better, and 70.4 percent of public charter schools received grades of C or better.

As required by state legislation, the School Performance Grades are based 80 percent on the school's achievement score and 20 percent on students' academic growth. The only exception to this is if a school meets expected growth but inclusion of the school's growth reduces the school's performance score and grade. In that case, a school may choose to use the School Achievement Score only to determine the performance score and grade.

This year, for the first time, some schools received a letter grade of A+NG. This new standard reflects schools that earned a school performance grade of A and that also do not have any student achievement gaps that are larger than the largest average gap for the state overall. The US Department of Education required that North Carolina’s higher school designation be designed to reflect schools that do not have achievement gaps that are larger than the largest average gap in the state.

School performance grades and additional READY accountability data can be found on the Accountability Services’ website.

More North Carolina high school students are taking Advanced Placement (AP) courses and tests and succeeding in these college-level courses, according to the annual College Bound Program Results issued earlier this month by The College Board. 

A total of 67,678 North Carolina students took 125,547 AP exams in 2015. This is 18.7 percent more than the number of students taking AP exams in 2014. Nationally, the number of AP exam takers was up by 6 percent. The percentage of North Carolina students earning exam grades of 3, 4 or 5 increased by 9 percent overall.

North Carolina’s participation rate increase in 2015 was strong for all racial groups, ranging from a 16 percent increase for white students to a 45.1 percent increase for American Indian students overall. Black students posted a participation rate increase of 22.8 percent and Asian students’ participated at a rate that is 14 percent higher than in 2014.

This year, lawmakers again provided funding to pay for all students’ AP exams in the 2015-16 school year.

On the SAT, the other college readiness measure provided by The College Board, North Carolina’s performance showed a decline in average scores. This change is similar to the performance of students nationwide.

North Carolina has been considered an SAT state for many years with a majority of college-bound students electing to take this admissions test. However, in 2012, all high school juniors took the ACT for the first time as part of the state’s new READY accountability model. This means that students can use their ACT results for college admission and not have to pay to take a college entrance exam.

To learn more, visit NCDPI’s newsroom.

The North Carolina Career and Technical Education (CTE) 2014-15 Credentialing Data Report, presented to the State Board of Education in September, shows that public high school students earned 130,611 credentials and/or professional certifications last year. This is up from the 115,011 earned in 2013-14.

The NCDPI’s CTE Division is nationally recognized as an innovative leader in the administration and analysis of thoroughly vetted credentials for secondary students. Collection of student-earned credential data began in the 2010-11 academic year. With the addition of the 2014-15 data, CTE students in the state have obtained a five-year total of 466,402 credentials. 

Some highlights of the report this year include:
* Top Earned Credentials – Career Readiness Certificate: Silver, Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2013, Microsoft Office Word 2013.
* Top Number of Credentials Earned By District (According to Percent Earned by Student Enrollment) – Graham, McDowell, Montgomery, Cherokee, Wilkes
* Top Number of Credentials Earned by District Overall – Wake, Guilford, Onslow, Johnston, Gaston.
* Top Number of Credentials Earned by CTE Regions – Central, Southwest, Southeast, West, Northeast.

The full report is available online.