Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools improve on test scores

CHARLOTTE-MECKLENBURG SCHOOLS

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Superintendent Crystal Hill praised the district's year-over-year improvement in student proficiency and academic achievement.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools made wide-ranging academic improvements for the second straight year, according to state data.

The district delivered across-the-board leaps in proficiency and performance for the 2025-26 academic year, according to North Carolina Department of Public Instruction’s annual school accountability reporting released Sept. 2. The percentage of students testing at grade level in end-of-grade exams increased across every category, with major gains in grades 3-8 literacy and high school math.

“This progress belongs to our students, teachers, school leaders, staff and families,” Superintendent Crystal Hill said in a statement. “These results show what is possible when we remain focused on strong instruction, high expectations and providing every student with the support they need to succeed. We are proud of the progress our students are making, and we remain committed to building on this momentum.”

CMS improved overall grade-level proficiency in every area of tested content in 2025-26.

Some of the district’s year-over-year subject proficiency gains:

• Reading, grades 3-8 56.7% (up 4 percentage points)

• Math, grades 3-8 62.7% (up 3.5 points)

• Science, grades 5 and 8: 69.3% (up 7.6 points)

• English II 66.0% (up 6.8 points)

• High school Math 1 42.0%, up 13.0 points

• High school Math 3 69.4% (up 2.8 points)

• Biology 58.4% (up 9.8 points)

Other takeaways from the report:

• The district’s biggest gains were in literacy, where 76.9% of third graders tested proficiency according to the state’s Read to Achieve assessment. Third grade proficiency increased from 46.3% to 57.3%.

• CMS outperformed the statewide proficiency rate in grades 3-8 reading, with 56.7% of district students proficient compared with 52.5% statewide. CMS improved four percentage points from 2024-25, compared to 2.4 points among students statewide.

Nearly 79% of district schools earned a performance grade of A, B or C, an improvement of 8 percentage points from 2024-25 and 26 percentage points ahead of 2021-22.

• The four-year graduation rate increased to 87.9% in 2025-26, up 3.3 percentage points from the previous year.

• 83.8% of district schools met or exceeding benchmarks and 122 campuses improved their numerical performance grade score.

• The number of designated low-performing schools fell to 28, down from 31 the previous year and 50 in 2021-22.

“These results represent thousands of individual stories of students learning, growing and reaching important milestones,” Hill said. “Our responsibility now is to continue accelerating that progress so that every student, in every school and every community, has access to an excellent education.”

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