On Thursday, the N.C. Department of Public Instruction released proficiency rates, graduation rates, school performance grades, and other outcome measures for the 2015-16 school year.
Most proficiency rates were higher than in years past. In elementary and middle school math, 54.7 percent of students scored at or above grade level, a 2.5 percentage point increase from 2014-15. In reading, 56.9 percent of students were proficient, which is slightly higher than the previous year.
If you break down these proficiency rates by grade, third-grade reading dipped slightly, while rates in other grades were the equal or higher than the year before. Across all grades, proficiency rates increased in math. Fifth- and eighth-grade science were higher last year than in 2014-15.
As far as school performance grades are concerned, charter schools had a higher percentage of A and B schools than district schools. On the other hand, charters had a higher percentage of F schools.