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North Carolina Releases Annual School Test Scores

KERI BROWN/WFDD

There's been some improvement in North Carolina school test scores this year. But the state's virtual charter schools are not performing well.

The latest results for the 2018-19 school year were released on Wednesday. They show a slight increase in the number of schools meeting or exceeding academic growth targets and receiving A or B school performance grades.

The high school graduation rate held steady at 86 percent.

And roughly 75 percent of public schools met or exceeded expectations for progress on state exams.

But The Charlotte Observer reports that the state's two virtual charter schools received D performance grades, with students failing to meet academic growth targets. And a Robeson County school in the newly formed Innovative School District program received an F grade, and showed a drop in the percentage of students passing state exams.

There has been controversy surrounding the program, which allows the state to take over low-performing schools and turn them over to charter school management companies.

Neal Charnoff joined 88.5 WFDD as Morning Edition host in 2014. Raised in the Catskill region of upstate New York, he graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1983. Armed with a liberal arts degree, Neal was fully equipped to be a waiter. So he prolonged his arrested development bouncing around New York and L.A. until discovering that people enjoyed listening to his voice on the radio. After a few years doing overnight shifts at a local rock station, Neal spent most of his career at Vermont Public Radio. He began as host of a nightly jazz program, where he was proud to interview many of his idols, including Dave Brubeck and Sonny Rollins. Neal graduated to the news department, where he was the local host for NPR's All Things Considered for 14 years. In addition to news interviews and features, he originated and produced the Weekly Conversation On The Arts, as well as VPR Backstage, which profiled theater productions around the state. He contributed several stories to NPR, including coverage of a devastating ice storm. Neal now sees the value of that liberal arts degree, and approaches life with the knowledge that all subjects and all art forms are connected to each other. Neal and his wife Judy are enjoying exploring North Carolina and points south. They would both be happy to never experience a Vermont winter again.

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