Despite investments, new CMS math scores may show little improvement, data show

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools set out in 2024 to significantly improve its high school math scores by 2029. But recent data show it may be way offtrack.

.CMS Superintendent Crystal Hill, however, told school board members Tuesday not to worry: the numbers, she said, don’t tell the full story and will look different in the fall.

“We are definitely progressing,” Hill said at Tuesday’s board meeting. “The data that you see today… There’s a huge shift that you will see in October.”

What the scores show

At every CMS board meeting, board members review student data to track progress toward one of its four 2029 goals. One of them is to raise the proportion of students mastering Math I – usually taken the freshman year of high school but also taken by some middle schoolers and older high school students.

Specifically, the district is looking to raise the percentage of students scoring as “college and career ready” on state math assessments. Students are scored on a scale of 1-5, with 3-5 qualifying as “proficient.” Only scores of 4 and 5 are considered “college and career ready,” however.

In 2023, 27% of students scored a 4 or 5 on the end-of-grade Math I test. The district aims to raise that to 57% by 2029.

But at Tuesday’s meeting, district leaders showed board members the latest testing data, which told a different story.

Students recently took a different math test called the Mastery View Predictive Assessment, which is meant to give the district a clue of how students would do on the state test administered last week.

The goal was for 42% of students to score a 4 or 5 this year. However, according to the MVPA, the proportion was 27% – the same percentage it was in 2023 when the board made the goal of improving.

“Is there anything else that can be changed in the strategy?” board member Liz Monterrey Duvall asked Hill Tuesday. “I do feel in my gut that there is a systemic thing here that is disrupting our growth.”

Hill cautioned that, from the preliminary results she’d seen from last week’s test, she believes students did better on the state test than the MVPA data suggested.

She also said the district would be making some adjustments, like getting schools more prompt and complete support from district math specialists as well as working to engage students more proactively.

But high school math scores have been stubborn in CMS, even as the district has doubled down on efforts to improve them.

For each of the past two school years, for example, CMS has spent $750,000 year on bonuses for especially effective high school math teachers. Each teacher could earn up to over $15,000 above their standard yearly pay.

Still, scores have only budged. The proportion of students earning 4 or 5 on the state math test increased from 27% to 28% in 2024, and from 28% to 29% in 2025. And, if Tuesday’s projections prove accurate, scores could even backslide.

This year’s end-of-grade testing data will come out in September.