North Carolina

North Carolina serves approximately 1.4 million K-12 students across 125 school districts and 2,506 schools, employing roughly 92,000 teachers. The system represents a substantial education enterprise in the state with an average per-pupil spending of $11,933 and a total education budget of $16.7 billion as of the 2022 federal data year.

The student population reflects significant demographic diversity and need. Approximately 62.5 percent of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch programs, indicating above-typical rates of economic disadvantage. The state serves 12 percent English learners and 13.4 percent of students with disabilities, reflecting the range of learner needs across the state's schools.

Academic proficiency rates show math performance at 56.2 percent and reading proficiency at 51.4 percent, both near or slightly below national median benchmarks. The state's graduation rate stands at 78.7 percent, which falls within typical state ranges. These outcome measures reflect the performance landscape across North Carolina's diverse districts and schools.

North Carolina's accountability system employs Performance Grades (A-F) at the school level, with district-level grades calculated as the most common grade across constituent schools. The state uses End-of-Grade assessments for grades 3 through 8 and End-of-Course tests for high school evaluation. The EVAAS (Education Value-Added Assessment System) measures student growth alongside proficiency data, providing multiple perspectives on school performance. This approach allows the state to track both absolute achievement and individual student progress within schools across these standardized assessment measures.