North Carolina Education Facts 1,2 

• 46,700 students did not graduate from North Carolina’s high schools in 2009.

• The lost lifetime earnings for these dropouts totals $12.1 billion.

• 44 percent of North Carolina eighth graders report being eligible for free or reduced-price lunch.

• 53 percent of economically disadvantaged students passed both reading and math state end-of-grade tests in 2010-11 school year

• 82 percent of non-economically disadvantaged students passed both reading and math state end-of-grade tests in 2010-11 school year

• 34 percent of students with limited English proficiency passed both reading and math state end-of-grade tests in 2010-11 school year.

• Although black students were 25.9 percent of Wake County public school enrollment in the last school year, they accounted for 57.6 percent of students who received one suspension.

• 17 percent of all black students received at least one suspension or expulsion.

• 3.4 percent of white students received at least one suspension or expulsion.

• Although special-education students were 12.7 percent of Wake County public school enrollment in the last school year, they accounted for 29.9 percent of students who received a suspension.

[1] Bullet #1 is from the Alliance for Excellence in Education’s research on the 2010-2011 school year, http://www.all4ed.org/files/NorthCarolina_hs.pdf

[2] The rest of the bullets are from Education First NC School Report Cards, http://www.ncreportcards.org/src/stateDetails.jsp?Page=1&pYear=2010-2011