BEST NC releases 2018 Facts & Figures
For the new year, BEST NC (Business for Educational Success and Transformation in North Carolina) has just released its latest iteration of its Facts & Figures, a comprehensive list of data points about education in North Carolina.
The latest release also includes an expansion of BEST NC’s NCEdFacts website, including additional data, maps and other features.
“We’re enormously grateful for thoughtful contributions from early childhood experts, educators, higher education officials, business leaders, research institutes, and our advocacy peers,” an e-mail from the organization about the latest release stated. “This year’s Facts & Figures builds upon prior years to include even more data points and analysis across the education spectrum in North Carolina – from results under the state’s Read to Achieve program and the average student debt, to chronic absenteeism rates and counties where the school district is the largest employer.”
The Facts & Figures explore NC education in a variety of sections, including children and students, educators, schools and programs, finance, and achievement.
Here are some snippets of the data you can find using the 2018 version of Facts & Figures.
“In 2017, North Carolina was ranked 33rd overall in child wellbeing, and 22nd in education in the Annie E. Casey Foundation KIDS COUNT Project.”
“Since it was initiated in 2001, the NC Pre-K program (formerly More at Four) has served more than 350,000 children. Students enrolled in NC Pre-K attend school for 6.5 hours per day, 180 days per year.”
“Charter school and home school growth accounted for 94% of total growth in K-12 student membership over the past five years.”
“In the 2015-16 academic year, 116,467 students received one or more short-term suspensions. These students were suspended an average of 1.86 times with an average total duration of 5.5 school days.”
“Black students are suspended at more than four times the rate of white students; American Indian students are suspended at more than three times the rate of white students.”
“10% of North Carolina educators and other certified personnel in traditional public schools are National Board certified. North Carolina has more National Board Certified Teachers than any other state in the nation.”
“1 in 5 North Carolina high school students earned one or more Career and Technical Education certifications and/or were dually enrolled in the North Carolina Community College System in the 2016-17 academic year.”
“North Carolina’s 115 local school districts report $8 billion in capital infrastructure needs over the next five years.”
“North Carolina earned a ‘C’ for funding equity and an “F” for funding effort on the Education Law Center’s national school funding report card in 2017.”