Why We Love Union County Public Schools

Union County Public Schools (USPS) may be experiencing change and conflict - between challenges that come with high growth and an adversarial relationship with the county government - but there are reasons why people love these schools. 

Taken from the UCPS web site, here are some "points of pride" for the school's performance record:

• UCPS had 86 Federal Annual Measurable Objectives targets to meet. We met 100%. The state met 95.6%.
• UCPS had 184 State Annual Measurable Objectives targets to meet. We met 181/184 for a status of 98.4%. The state status was 89.0%.
• 92.5 percent of the schools in UCPS met or exceeded academic growth expectations in the 2012-13 school year. Statewide, more than 71 percent of North Carolina public schools met or exceeded academic growth expectations in the 2012-13 school year.
• UCPS posted the state’s second highest district academic performance as measured by the performance composite rates on the end of year assessments. Only one, much smaller, school district out of the 115 school districts in the state posted a higher performance composite rate.
• The 2013 UCPS graduation rate was 90.83 percent, marking the seventh consecutive year that the graduation rate has improved and the first time in state history that a large school system has had a graduation rate above 90%.
• Union County Public Schools continues to have the highest graduation rate of any North Carolina school system its size and continues to rank at the top in its academic growth and performance rate.

To look more closely at the district's or individual schools' performances, NCReportCard.org is an excellent source. Reportedly, the state moved to a new testing system last year and also changed the requirements for teachers mid-year.