ABSS sees 7-point test score gain, hopes to avoid low-performing label
ABSS posted a 7-point jump in grade-level proficiency, and leaders said it may avoid another low-performing label. Last year, 20 of 36 schools drew D or F grades.
ABSS’s preliminary end-of-course and end-of-grade results showed a 7 percentage point increase in students performing at grade level. Assistant superintendent for academics Sean McWherter said he was confident the district would not be tagged low-performing again.
The district was designated low-performing for 2024-25 after 20 of 36 schools, or 55.6 percent, received a School Performance Grade of D or F. That placed ABSS 20th lowest among North Carolina’s 115 public school systems. Nineteen ABSS schools were identified as continually low-performing, and the district had 15 low-performing schools the year before.
North Carolina law draws that label from school-level results: a district is considered low-performing when a majority of its schools that received both a performance grade and a growth score are identified as low-performing schools. The state defines low-performing schools as those with a School Performance Grade of D or F and a growth status of met expected growth or not met expected growth. Low-performing districts and schools must have improvement plans shared publicly with parents, guardians and staff.
ABSS shared the preliminary figures with its board unusually early, months before the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction releases official School Performance Grades and low-performing lists in September.
North Carolina’s proficiency rate reached 55 percent in 2024-25, up from 54.2 percent the year before, but still below the 58.8 percent level recorded in 2018-19 before the pandemic. Within ABSS, proficiency ranged from 27 percent at Graham Middle School to 72 percent at Smith Elementary, while Alamance-Burlington Early College remained the district’s only A-rated school.
McWherter was approved as assistant superintendent of academics on May 28, 2025, and brought nearly two decades of public education experience, including work in low-performing schools and district-level support. The Alamance-Burlington Board of Education is a seven-member elected board that sets district policy and approves the local funding request to Alamance County commissioners. The county funding dispute is still unresolved.
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