 AP Momentum—Access Up, Achievement Up
The morning session celebrated North Carolina’s remarkable progress in expanding access to Advanced Placement (AP) courses while ensuring excellence for every student. With sparklers in hand, participants marked record-setting gains:
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Participation: 90,504 students took AP exams—up 7.3% year over year, outpacing the national growth rate.
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Exams taken: 171,162 exams—up 9.8% from last year.
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Qualifying scores (3+): 123,394 exams earned college-credit scores—up 21%, with NC’s success rate 72.1% vs. 70.1% U.S.
Where the growth showed up: Every region increased participation and performance. The Southeast led percent growth in test-takers (+10.8%), the West led growth in exams taken (+17.5%), and the Northeast led growth in 3+ scores (+28.0%).
Who benefited: Every student group gained in both participation and success. Highlights included:
- American Indian students: +15.8% participation; +49.7% 3+ scores.
- Black students: +7.5% participation; +33.5% 3+ scores.
- Hispanic/Latino students: +9.9% participation; +26.0% 3+ scores.
What’s fueling the momentum: A whole-system approach that aligns mindsets, policies, and practices—from test-fee coverage (removing cost barriers) and AIG program standards to on-the-ground support from the NC AP Partnership team working directly with districts. District leaders also showcased strategies such as intentional advising, schedule design that protects AP access, teacher professional learning (including AP Classroom), and student-to-student recruitment.
Courses opening doors: North Carolina’s fastest-growing AP course is AP African American Studies (over 200% growth in its first full year). AP Computer Science Principles, AP Seminar, and AP Precalculus are expanding the invitation—AP Precalculus posted an 83% success rate this year.
What’s next: The Board and DPI are pressing forward on five sustained “drivers” of success: intentional leadership; professional learning and coaching; high-quality instructional materials; high-leverage student opportunities (access, scaffolding, advising); and a mindset of excellence for all.
Turning "Standards to Students" with High-Quality Instructional Material
This afternoon’s session focused on how to turn written standards into meaningful student experiences. The answer: High-Quality Instructional Materials (HQIM) and a statewide approach that helps teachers use them effectively.
HQIM refers to materials that are aligned to standards, engaging, coherent, and effective across grades and subjects. When used consistently, they free teachers from constant resource-hunting and allow more focus on instruction and student relationships. For students, HQIM ensures consistent, rigorous, and well-sequenced learning experiences.
North Carolina’s current approach varies greatly across districts, and there have been no statewide textbook orders since 2023. That gap led to discussion of how to build a stronger, shared foundation of high-quality, standards-aligned options. The conversation contrasted the state’s traditional Textbook Commission “approved list” with a fuller HQIM system that includes professional learning, implementation support, and ongoing guidance for teachers—emphasizing that quality depends as much on use as on content.
Other states offer lessons. Louisiana uses tiered reviews, aligned professional development, and funding incentives. New Mexico ties legislation to public dashboards tracking district adoptions. Kentucky combines frameworks and off-list waivers. Colorado provides detailed rubrics and district guidance. Together, they illustrate principles North Carolina can adopt: clear alignment to standards, research-based design, usability for teachers, inclusiveness for all learners, and responsiveness to student needs.
The group dispelled two common misconceptions. First, that great teachers should create all their own materials—when in reality HQIM can save 7–12 hours per week. Second, that simply owning quality materials is enough—when success requires curriculum-embedded professional learning and principal support for faithful implementation.
Next steps include continued research and stakeholder feedback, shaping a state HQIM framework, and piloting it in fall 2026 before a wider rollout. The effort aligns directly with the Strategic Plan’s PreK–12 Teaching and Learning Framework, positioning HQIM as a central driver of consistent, high-quality instruction across the state.
 Reimagining Math: Pathways, Data Science, and Student Choice
North Carolina is reimagining its math standards to make math more meaningful, applied, and aligned with students’ future goals. The proposed updates maintain the four-credit graduation requirement, with Math 1 and Math 2 remaining core for all students. From there, students would have rigorous options designed around their interests and postsecondary plans.
These changes aim to move math instruction beyond formulas and into real-world relevance. Students interested in fields like engineering or calculus-based sciences could continue through traditional advanced math courses, while those drawn to data-driven disciplines, computing, or the humanities would find equally rigorous alternatives. One of the new pathways is intentionally designed for students planning to attend community college or enter the workforce directly after graduation, ensuring that every student can engage in high-level math that prepares them for their next step.
The overarching goal is to replace a one-size-fits-all approach with meaningful choice—keeping expectations high while helping every student see math as a gateway to reasoning, creativity, and success in any career or field of study.
This presentation came a day ahead of the Board hearing Draft 1 of the new Math Standards. More information about that can be found here.
DPI's DART modernizes school finance data, boosts transparency, and assists local decision-making
North Carolina’s Office of School Business highlighted DART—the Data Analysis & Reporting Tool—a rebuilt, centralized platform that replaces decades-old mainframe reports with interactive dashboards and automated business rules.
DART serves multiple audiences: the public (ADM/enrollment, allotment calculators, Helene/COVID spending, annual financials), superintendents (trend lines, budget planning, federal funds at risk of reversion), PSU finance teams (validations, cash/expenditure alignment, grant balances, salary management), DPI program staff (monitoring dashboards for Title I, EC, CTE), and DPI finance (state reconciliations and compliance).
Early results show the statewide gap between cash requests and expenditures shrinking from -3.96% to 0.26%, reflecting cleaner, timelier data. Next up: annual financial dashboards, planning estimators, expanded reconciliation, prudent AI for self-serve inquiries, and ongoing training for new CFOs and superintendents—so leaders can spend less time hunting data and more time solving problems.
Updating Licensure Rules: Clarity, Consistency, and Next Steps
The Board spent time this month on the nuts-and-bolts work that keeps our licensure system current and clear. Under North Carolina’s Administrative Procedure Act, agencies must periodically review and readopt rules or they expire. For educator licensure, that means aligning administrative rules with updated statutes and long-standing State Board policies so districts, EPPs, and applicants all have one coherent, reliable playbook to follow.
A major part of this work is reorganizing the licensure policy framework. What lived for years in a single, lengthy policy (LICN-001) is being broken into focused, easier-to-navigate sections—covering everything from teacher and administrator licenses to add-on areas, provisional pathways, renewals, and discipline. The aim is not to change expectations in the field but to make them more accessible and enforceable while keeping terminology consistent across rules and policy.
There are a few substantive adjustments to align with statute and improve consistency. First, candidates must attempt their required licensure exams within the first year of an initial license in order to be eligible for conversion to a continuing license by the end of year three. Second, educators seeking to add an additional area will need to complete testing for their primary license first; candidates can still cover needs through a provisional add-on route that provides more time to complete the assessment. DPI has been socializing these points with HR directors and EPPs and will keep field guidance front and center.
Board Approves Next Round of Advanced Teaching Roles Funding
The State Board of Education reviewed updates on the Advanced Teaching Roles (ATR) program, which creates pathways for accomplished educators to extend their impact through peer coaching, mentorship, and school improvement leadership while earning additional compensation. Following last month’s discussion of the program’s annual evaluation, the Board heard a report on current and upcoming ATR grant funding allocations.
A minor correction was made to the current-year funding model after it was discovered that two eligible districts had been inadvertently left off the continuation funding list. The Board approved adjustments to make those districts whole, ensuring that all grantees receive the funding due to them for 2025–26.
Looking ahead, three new districts—Alamance-Burlington, Hyde County, and Mooresville Graded School District—were selected to join the ATR program beginning in 2026–27. Together, these districts requested just over $3 million in grant funds and were approved for $2.55 million in funding, to be distributed over three years. This will allow the Department to fund 83% of requested amounts while maintaining fiscal balance across existing cohorts.
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District
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Requested Funding
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Approved Funding
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Annual Allocation (FY26–28)
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Alamance-Burlington
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$1,709,863
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$1,416,656
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$472,219
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Hyde County
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$753,614
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$624,384
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$208,128
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Mooresville Graded
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$619,181
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$513,004
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$171,001
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Total
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$3,082,658
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$2,554,044
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$851,348
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These new additions bring the total number of districts participating in the ATR initiative to more than 20 across six program cohorts. The Board’s continued support of Advanced Teaching Roles underscores North Carolina’s commitment to recognizing teacher leadership as a cornerstone of student success and educator retention.
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