North Carolina Public School Students Performing Better on Standardized Tests, Report Says

RALEIGH. N.C. (AP) North Carolina public school students performed better on standardized tests this past spring compared to the year before, according to data reviewed Wednesday by the State Board of Education. But the pupils remain below proficiency rates recorded before the COVID-19 pandemic.

The scores show that 53.6% of students were proficient on state exams during the 2022-23 school year, compared to 51.2% in 2021-22 and 45.4% in 2020-21, The News & Observer of Raleigh reported.

Fewer schools also got labeled as low-performing or received poor performance grades compared to the year before.

Were seeing progress back toward our pre-COVID levels, said Tammy Howard, senior director of the Department of Public Instructions testing office. We may not be 100% back to where we were, but theres definite progress being seen here.

Schools nationwide are still trying to catch up after learning loss brought on as students received limited in-person instruction during the 2019-20 and 2020-21 school years because of the pandemic. In the 2018-19 school year, the student proficiency rate was 58.8%.