NC releases first school grades since 2019. See how Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools fared.
About half of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools students failed state exams for the 2021-22 academic year, according to results the state released Thursday.
Yet, the district’s 50.2% proficiency rate only slightly trailed the statewide proficiency rate of 51.4%. CMS’ results were better than the 44.6% last year but below the 59.8% in 2018-19.
The new results are the first ones released since September 2019 and include whether a school met growth expectations on state exams. They also mark the return of schools getting an A through F letter grade based largely on their test results.
Test scores dropped dramatically in North Carolina in the 2020-21 school year during the pandemic. In CMS, they didn’t rebound.
The percentage of students in CMS who are college and career ready is 34.8%, according to the newest results.
CMS’ grades this year
The district saw a drop in A and B grades from 2018-19. School performance grades are calculated from data that includes test scores. Twelve of the 177 schools in CMS that received grades scored A grades, 27 received F grades and 37 received B grades. The majority of schools scored in the C and D range — 47 and 54, respectively.
In 2018-19, 17 received A grades and 7 received F grades out of 171 schools graded in CMS.
The statewide formula for calculating grades bases 80% of the final grade on proficiency, and 20% comes from growth.
The percentage of schools in North Carolina with a D or F nearly doubled from 22% in 2018-19 to 42% this year. Statewide, there also was a large drop in A and B schools, and more than a third of the state’s schools now meet the low-performing definition.
In CMS, 142 schools, or 83%, met or exceeded their growth expectations. But a total of 50 schools in CMS earned the state’s low-performing schools designation, which includes schools that scored D or F and did not exceed their growth targets.
Black, Latino students still behind
In December, district leaders set aggressive goals to make improvements by 2024— particularly in test results among students who are Black or Latino — to help close achievement gaps and significantly increase the percentage of students who pass mandatory North Carolina K-12 exams each year.
Using the state data released Thursday, a Charlotte Observer analysis found 36.6% of Black students in CMS are grade-level proficient across key subjects, and 20.7% are college and career ready. The percentage of Latino students who are grade-level proficient in key subjects is 36.6%, and 21.9% are college and career ready.
This story was originally published September 1, 2022 at 10:12 AM.
