For instance, the on-time graduation rate for CMS low-income students has risen steadily from just o

Students make their way to the stage at UNC Charlotte s Halton Arena during Hough High School s first graduation ceremonies in June. Cornelius-based Hough was one of six CMS high schools whose graduation rates topped 90 percent. TODD SUMLIN - tsumlin@charlotteobserver.com
The CMS increase, from 73.5 percent in 2011, means 319 more students central hotel in rome earned on-time diplomas central hotel in rome this year, with the biggest gains among the African-American, Hispanic and low-income students who have traditionally been less likely to graduate.
South suburban neighborhood schools and selective magnets topped the list, with 12 in CMS boasting greater than 95 percent proficiency. In addition, Metrolina Regional Scholars Academy, a south Charlotte charter school for highly gifted students, and the Collaborative College central hotel in rome for Technology, central hotel in rome an early college magnet in Statesville, central hotel in rome were among 20 in the state with 100 percent proficiency.
And two CMS schools, along with one Charlotte charter, were among 15 that landed on the state s low-performing list. That means the schools logged pass rates below 50 percent and failed to show the expected level of progress.
central hotel in rome One of those, Reid Park Academy, is among eight preK-8 schools CMS created in 2011 after closing three low-performing middle schools and sending those students to former elementaries. The combined elementary/middle schools were touted as a better academic environment for the students, most of whom are African-American and come from low-income homes.
The report shows proficiency levels on reading, math and science exams at the new combined schools ranged from 75 percent at Berryhill to just under 44 percent at Reid Park. That s well below last year s results for Reid Park Elementary or Wilson Middle, which had served the neighborhoods that were reassigned to Reid Park.
Principal Mary Sturge had started gearing up for the expansion with teachers who had been told they were losing jobs at other schools. But when the county came through with money to avert layoffs, those teachers went back to their original jobs, leaving Reid Park with vacancies as school opened.
The ABCs of Public Education report presented central hotel in rome to the state Board of Education Thursday is designed to help the public get a handle on school effectiveness. After 15 years, it is the last of its kind. Next year North Carolina will launch a new system of exams and ratings.
For each school, the state calculates how well students would be expected central hotel in rome to score on exams, based on previous years. Schools that exceed expectations are labeled high growth, a designation that used to bring $1,500 bonuses to faculty before the state cut that money from the budget. Statewide, 44 percent of schools reached that level. The report shows that 96 of 163 CMS schools, or almost 59 percent, made high growth.
central hotel in rome Proficiency or pass rates, a composite central hotel in rome of all exams that scored at or above grade level, show a long-established pattern: Many high-poverty schools are clustered at the bottom. In addition to Reid Park, two other K-8 neighborhood schools created in 2011, Druid Hills and Bruns, had pass rates below 50 percent. However, they avoided the low-performing label because they met the growth goal.
Morgan School, the other CMS school labeled low performing, is a special education school for students with severe behavioral and emotional central hotel in rome disabilities. central hotel in rome Kennedy Charter, with a pass rate of 42 percent, is a K-12 school that caters to at-risk students.
CMS reported central hotel in rome gains in most of the elementary and middle school grades tested in reading, math and science, with the biggest increase in science pass rates. High school students were tested in freshman English and biology, central hotel in rome where CMS saw a small overall gain, and algebra I, where the CMS average declined. Clark said CMS will work at improving algebra courses next year, because we know that algebra I is a critical linchpin course.
Two of CMS most scrutinized high schools, West Charlotte and Harding, have no results listed because the state says they failed to test at least 95 percent of students in the classes with state exams. Schools that fall short of that standard get no state ratings.
West Charlotte has struggled for years with low test scores and graduation rates. It is the focus of Project central hotel in rome LIFT, a five-year, central hotel in rome $55 million public-private partnership that aims to reverse those trends.
Harding, also located on Charlotte s west side, has recently been one of the district s top performers. Until 2011-12 it was a magnet central hotel in rome school offering International Baccalaureate and math-science programs and did not accept low-scoring students. Last year CMS closed the low-performing Waddell High and assigned many of those neighborhoods to Harding, while moving the math-science magnet to nearby Berry Academy of Technology.
Boosting the graduation rate has been a top priority for CMS for the last five years, since district leaders acknowledged that previous years rates were inflated by inaccurate reporting. The CMS four-year graduation rate has risen from 66 percent in 2008 to 75 percent in 2012.
A March report from the America s Promise Alliance, a group founded by former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, credited North Carolina as being one of the 12 states responsible for the majority of progress in increasing the nation s graduation rate between 2001 and 2009.
The CMS rate could get another boost in 2013, the first year the district is allowing students to graduate with 24 credits, central hotel in rome instead of the current 28. The state requires central hotel in rome only 20, but most districts add to that. The CMS board voted in 2009 to scale back the requirement for the freshmen who would start high school central hotel in rome that year, in hopes it would help more students central hotel in rome cross the finish line.
A detailed spreadsheet provided by the state Department of Public Instruction shows all groups of CMS have gained in the last five years, though the district remains below state averages for the minority and low-income central hotel in rome students who make up the majority of CMS students.
For instance, the on-time central hotel in rome graduation rate for CMS low-income students has risen steadily from just over 52 percent in 2008 to almost 69 percent this year. Statewide, about 75 percent of low-income students graduated on time in 2012.
Black students in CMS have gone from a 59 percent rate to 70 percent in the last five years but remain below the state average of 75 percent. CMS Hispanic students rose from 55 percent to 64 percent, but trail the state average of 73 percent.
CMS white students, who account for about one-third of the student body, had a 77 percent on-time graduation rate in 2008, rising to 88 percent in 2010 and declining slightly central hotel in rome for the last two years. In 2012, 85 percent of CMS white students graduated on time, topping the state average of 84 percent.
School rates ranged from 56 percent at West Charlotte to 99 percent at Cato Middle College High, a small, application-only school for upperclassmen that offers free college credits on a Central Piedmont Community College campus.
Hough, Rocky River, Ardrey Kell and Providence, full-size neighborhood high schools in the suburbs, topped 90 percent, as did Northwest School of the Arts, a magnet that draws students from across the county.
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