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The State Board of Education and North Carolina Department of Public Instruction verified and released the 2023-24 student achievement data, including school performance grades, growth and performance status. Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools saw improvement in several key areas.  

“We are so proud of our students, teachers and staff who continue to demonstrate that hard work and a laser focus on deeper learning can get us where we need to go,” said Superintendent Tricia McManus. “We still have much work to do to achieve our district academic goals and we have clear plans for moving from pockets of success to system-wide success.”   

Among the notable takeaways from Wednesday’s WS/FCS data release: 

• Some 46 schools — 61 percent — met or exceeded growth. 

• Thirty-nine schools received an A, B or C grade. Nine schools improved one letter grade. 

• Third grade reading scores continued to improve, growing to 46.4 percent, the highest since the pandemic. 

• Fourth, fifth, sixth and eighth graders showed improvement in the number of children who were proficient by the end of grade and end of course in reading, science and math.  

• The five-year cohort graduation rate hit 88.1 percent. 

See all the data for each school at the NC Department of Public Instruction website. 

 

Third grade reading improvements 

WS/FCS has been focused on implementing practices to help students read at grade level. The data shows those practices are working as third grade reading scores are moving in the right direction. In a steady climb, the scores have continued to improve since the pandemic with 46.4 percent of WS/FCS third graders reading at or above grade level. 

Third grade reading scores

• 2021 — 39.3 percent 

• 2022 — 40.2 percent 

• 2023 — 44.9 percent 

• 2024 — 46.4 percent 

 The following schools improved third grade reading proficiency by 8-14 percentage points: Petree, Lewisville, Diggs-Latham, Mineral Springs, Sedge Garden, Old Richmond and Jefferson elementary schools.  

Reading, math and science improvement 

Third grade reading wasn’t the only area of growth. Fourth, fifth, sixth and eighth grades showed improvement in the percentage of students who were proficient at the end of grade and end of course in reading, science and math.  

Opportunity culture schools 

One program district officials credit with driving student success has been the Opportunity Culture initiative. Created by the NC-based Public Impact, Opportunity Culture seeks to improve education for low-income students and students of color. It positions great teachers in advanced teaching roles, where they lead teaching teams to provide small group instruction. WS/FCS was an early adopter of the unique staffing model.  

Five of our elementary schools with strong implementation of Opportunity Culture exceeded growth last year: Cook, Mineral Springs, Griffith, Diggs-Latham, and Walkertown elementary schools. 

Cook Literacy Model School continues to see increasing results. Once among the lowest performing schools in the state, it has exceeded growth for five years in a row and achieved a school grade of C for the first time. 

“It’s difficult to maintain this level of growth year after year,” said Kraft. “Cook is a model for what can be accomplished with sustained focus on supporting our teachers and students.” 

Five-year cohort graduation rate reaches new high  

The four-year graduation rate dipped slightly to 85.4 percent. The WS/FCS five-year cohort graduation rate (the percentage of students that get a diploma within five years) hit a record high of 88.1 percent in the 2023-24 school year. Students that graduated this year, and were in the five-year cohort, experienced the effects of the pandemic early in their high school career. 

“These students have shown their tenacity in overcoming this early adversity,” said WS/FCS Chief Accountability Officer Andrew Kraft. “They stuck with it, worked hard, and graduated. We celebrate them today.”

 

Five-year cohort graduation rate

• 2021 — 86.7 percent

• 2022 — 87.2 percent 

• 2023 — 86.7 percent

• 2024 — 88.1 percent

Another bright spot in the graduate data was Atkins Academic and Technology High School. It had a four-year graduation rate of more than 95 percent and has done so for the last decade.