New Hanover County Schools is above the curve in many core classroom areas, according to recently released data from the N.C. Department of Public Instruction.
The department’s annual N.C. School Report Cards show that in 2012-13, New Hanover County students performed higher than state averages in a number of key evaluated areas, including end-of-grade and end-of-course exams and attendance rates.
School report cards offer up-to-date information about student achievement and attendance, class size, school safety, teacher quality, school technology and other topics for each school and district in the state.
New Hanover County Schools fared much better than the overall state average of 44.7 percent in reading, science and math, with 53 percent of students considered proficient.
It achieved 50.9 percent proficiency in reading versus the state’s 43.9 percent, for example, and had significantly higher scores in science, with a 62.3 proficiency percentage compared to the statewide average of 52.2 percent.
In Brunswick County, test scores fell below the state mark, with a composite score of 42.4 percent in reading science and math. At the high school level, the district outperformed the state on Math I exams, with 45.2 percent proficiency as compared to 42.4 percent statewide. It was also slightly up the state in English II but two points under the state average in Biology.
Brunswick County Schools also fell short of state performance on the SAT. Forty-five percent of high school seniors in 2012-13 took the college entrance exam, as opposed to the state average of 62 percent. And scores in Brunswick County averaged 968 versus the statewide average of 1,001.
New Hanover County Schools showed a 60 percent participation rate in the SAT but it still rose about the state in terms of scores, with an average of 1,042.
The district was only one tenth of a percentage point below the state’s graduation rate of 82.5 percent, and was right on target with the state’s elementary school attendance rate of 95 percent. It had a 94 percent attendance rate at both the middle and high school levels versus the state’s rate of 95 percent.
Brunswick County Schools was in line with New Hanover County, with a 94 percent attendance rate at all grade levels. The district’s graduation rate for 2012-13 was 85.7 percent.
Both districts showed lower teacher turnover rates, as compared to state trends, at the elementary and secondary levels.
Report cards for N.C. districts, as well as individual schools, can be viewed in full here.
