Union County Public Schools ranks No. 1 for student proficiency in NC — again
Union County Public Schools led North Carolina in overall student proficiency for the second year in a row, with nearly three-quarters of students meeting state standards on end-of-year exams.
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About 73.8% of UCPS students scored proficient on End-of-Grade and End-of-Course tests during the 2025-26 school year, according to accountability results released Wednesday by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. The statewide proficiency rate was 59.2%.
Union narrowly held off several smaller, high-performing districts for the top spot. Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools ranked second at 73.1%, followed by Carteret County Public Schools at 72.8%, Camden County Schools at 72.1% and Watauga County Schools at 70%. UCPS’ proficiency rate was up from 70.7% last year and has steadily climbed in recent years. The latest result also narrowly topped the district’s pre-pandemic rate of 73.6%.
Superintendent Andrew Houlihan said in a news release Wednesday that proficiency has increased by 10.8 percentage points over the past five years.
“To have the highest proficiency rates in the state for two consecutive years is quite an achievement,” Houlihan said.
The district’s overall No. 1 ranking was not its only top finish. UCPS also ranked first statewide in combined reading, math and science End-of-Grade proficiency, as well as several high school exams. Among the state’s 12 largest districts, Union also had the highest four- and five-year graduation rates. Its four-year graduation rate reached 93.4%, the highest UCPS has recorded since the state adopted its current accountability model. The statewide rate was 88.8%.
Union County students also outperformed their peers statewide across major demographic groups. Proficiency rates for Black, Hispanic, white and Asian students were all roughly 10 percentage points higher than the corresponding state rates. The same was true for economically disadvantaged students, with 56.1% proficient in Union compared with 46.2% statewide.
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Most Union County schools also met the state’s academic growth expectations. Forty-six of 50 schools, or 92%, met or exceeded expected growth, including every high school in the district.
School performance grades moved in a positive direction, too. Sixty-six percent of Union County schools received an A or B, up from 62% last year, according to state data.
Three schools received a D, and none received an F for the second year in a row. East Elementary and Monroe High School both improved from D grades to C grades and came off the state’s low-performing schools list.
UCPS now has three schools designated as low-performing, down from 13 in the 2021-22 school year.
“These results show that there is high-quality teaching and learning happening in our schools every day,” Houlihan said.
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McClatchy data reporter David Raynor contributed to this report.
