According to the NC DPI statement, North Carolina's four-year graduation rate at public schools rose to a historic high of 89.0 percent in the 2025-26 school year. The previous record, set the year before, was 87.8 percent. The figure of 88.8 percent initially presented at the State Board's September meeting was raised to the final figure of 89.0 percent after the correction period. As of October 1, 2026, testing and school accountability data for the 2025-26 school year are considered final.
How 88.8 became 89.0 percent
According to WUNC News, the graduation rate rose for the fourth consecutive year. WRAL also reported that this figure was the state's highest to date. WRAL noted that many students affected by the pandemic had since left the school system, as hundreds of thousands of them had graduated in previous years. A month later, Curtis Sonneman, director of the DPI Office of Accountability, presented updated figures following data corrections, according to EdNC. According to that report, the corrected four-year graduation rate was 0.2 percentage points higher than the figure presented the previous month.
“Not a single moment, but a trend”
Superintendent Maurice “Mo” Green said in NC DPI's official statement that he was pleased with the positive results, including the highest graduation rate to date. He said he wanted to make further progress toward what he described as the best public education system in the country. According to WUNC News, Green said the development was no longer a single moment as it had been the previous year, but part of a trend. In NC DPI's assessment, the graduation rate thus brings public schools closer to the “Best in Nation Measure” benchmark set out in the “Achieving Educational Excellence” strategic plan. Chief Academic Officer Stacey Wilson-Norman said there was evidence that graduation opened up opportunities, according to WUNC News. She pointed to high participation in Advanced Placement courses, professional credentials earned and 23,000 students who had accepted direct college admission through the new NC College Connect program.
Up more than 19 percentage points from 2006 to 2020
From 2006 to 2020, the rate rose by more than 19 percentage points. NC DPI put the rate for the graduating class of 2020 at 87.6 percent. The year before, it had been 86.5 percent. The increase through 2020 was particularly pronounced among students from low-income families, whose rate rose by 26.6 points to 82.2 percent. Among Black students, the rate grew by 24.8 points to 85.2 percent over the same period. Among Indigenous students, the rate grew by 34 points to 85.1 percent over the same period. Among white students, the increase over the same period was 17.2 points to 90.7 percent.
Where progress reaches its limits
The BRC research report dated May 29, 2026, gives a four-year graduation rate of 87.7 percent for the 2024-25 school year. The report describes this figure as a historic high at the time and the third consecutive increase toward the state's self-imposed target of 92 percent by 2030. According to BRC, performance indicators used in school assessments at the high school level include the rigor of mathematics courses and ACT or ACT WorkKeys, alongside four-year graduation rates. According to the same research report, so-called CTE concentrators, students who have completed two or three courses in a Career and Technical Education pathway, graduate from high school at a rate of 98.6 percent. In addition, 80.6 percent of them earn an industry-recognized credential before leaving high school. At the same time, according to BRC, significant achievement gaps persist by ethnicity, income, English learner status, disability and region. The Public School Forum of North Carolina also points out that while 59.2 percent of students met grade-level requirements, only 37.5 percent were classified as ready for the future. According to the Forum, DPI itself acknowledges that achievement and access remain uneven across schools, regions and student groups.
With what WUNC News reports is the fourth consecutive increase, North Carolina is gradually approaching its self-imposed target of 92 percent by 2030.