Graduation rates fell at 6 of 7 county high schools from last year to this
The Alamance-Burlington school system’s on-time graduation rate (84.4 percent) trailed that of 15 other Piedmont-Triad regional school systems and also trailed the statewide graduation rate (87.7 percent) by 3.3 percentage points in 2024-25, based on the latest graduation rates released last week by the state Department of Public Instruction (DPI).
The system-wide graduation rate for ABSS declined by 1.8 percentage points, from 86.2 percent last year, to 84.4 percent in 2025, the lowest rate since 2020, when 84.5 percent of ABSS seniors graduated on time, according to DPI. The school system’s rank appeared to be the 25th lowest in the state, based on preliminary calculations made by The Alamance News using graduation data for all 115 N.C. public school systems.
[Story continues below chart of the state’s lowest graduation rates among 115 school systems. ABSS is 25th from the bottom.]
Among the 16 public school systems that make up the Piedmont-Triad region, the on-time graduation rate for ABSS fell from 10th place last year to 15th place this year (see accompanying chart).
[Story continues below chart comparing ABSS with other Piedmont-Triad school systems.]
Thomasville city schools, which has one high school and is located in Davidson County, had the lowest four-year graduation rate (79.8 percent) among the 16 Piedmont-Triad region school systems, reflecting an increase of 7.9 percentage points from last year, when 71.9 percent of seniors at Thomasville High School graduated within four years, according to DPI.
The system-wide, on-time graduation rate for ABSS also fell 3.3 percentage points behind the statewide on-time rate of 87.7 percent, which increased by seven-tenths of one percentage point from 87.0 percent in 2024 to 87.7 percent in 2025.
The four-year graduation rates declined at six of the seven ABSS traditional high schools (see accompanying chart for a breakdown of graduation rates by school).
[Story continues below chart of ABSS High School graduation rates.]
Cummings was the only one of the seven traditional ABSS high schools where the four-year graduation rate increased, by 8.1 percentage points from 71.6 percent last year to 79.7 percent this year.
The four-year graduation rate for the Alamance-Burlington Early College (ABEC) housed on Alamance Community College’s campus remained unchanged for a 10th consecutive year at greater than 95 percent, according the state’s annual graduation reports going back to 2016.
The graduation rate for ABEC also surpassed the statewide graduation rate (87.7 percent) by 7.3 percentage points and the system-wide rate (84.4 percent) by 10.6 percentage points, according to DPI.
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The latest on-time graduation rates that DPI released last week for all 115 public school systems and as public charter schools reflect students who entered the ninth grade in the fall of 2021 and graduated within the traditional four-year timeframe.
Southern High School experienced the largest decline in the on-time graduation rate, falling 6.8 percentage points from 92 percent in 2024 to 85.2 percent in 2025. The graduation rate at Southern High School was eight-tenths of 1 percentage point higher than the system-wide rate but 2.5 percentage points below this year’s statewide average graduation rate of 87.7 percent.
On-time graduation rates at ABSS three high schools trail statewide and system-wide rate
The four-year graduation rates for Cummings, as well as Williams and Graham High Schools, also trailed this year’s statewide and system-wide graduation rates.
The graduation rate at Cummings, which was the second-lowest among the seven traditional ABSS high schools, trailed the system-wide average (84.4 percent) by 4.7 percentage points and the statewide average by eight percentage points, according to DPI.
Graham High School had the lowest four-year graduation rate of the seven traditional high schools this year, at 75.2 percent, which represented a decline of 1.4 percentage points from last year’s rate of 76.6 percent. Graham’s four-year graduation rate trailed the statewide rate (87.7 percent) by 12.5 percentage points and the system-wide graduation rate (84.4 percent) by 9.2 percentage points this year, according to DPI’s report.
The on-time graduation rate at Williams (81.1 percent) also trailed the statewide rate by 6.6 percentage points and the system-side rate by 3.3 percentage points.
While Williams had the fourth-highest graduation rate (87.1 percent) of the seven traditional ABSS schools in 2024 – and surpassed both the statewide and system-wide rates – the four-year graduation rate at Williams declined by 6 percentage points and was third-lowest among the seven high schools in 2025.
Graduation rates at county’s charter schools top statewide and ABSS rates
Meanwhile, on-time graduation rates at three of the four public charter schools in Alamance County – River Mill Academy in Graham, Clover Garden School in Burlington, and The Hawbridge School in Saxapahaw – surpassed both the statewide average and the system-wide graduation rate for ABSS for 2024-25, according to DPI’s latest report (see accompanying chart).
[Story continues below chart of charter school graduation rates.]
At greater than 95 percent, the four-year graduation rate for River Mill Academy was 7.3 percentage points higher than the statewide average (87.7 percent) and 10.6 percentage points higher than the system-wide average of 84.4 percent for ABSS during the 2024-25 school year.
The Hawbridge School had the second-highest four-year graduation rate (94.8 percent) among the county’s charter school, surpassing the statewide rate by 7.1 percentage points and the system-wide rate for ABSS by 10.4 percentage points.
The on-time graduation rate for Clover Garden School, 93 percent, which was unchanged from last year’s rate, came in at 5.3 percentage points higher than the statewide average and 8.6 percentage points higher than the system-wide average graduation rate for ABSS in 2024-25, according to DPI.
No graduation rate is reported for the county’s fourth charter school, Alamance Community School off Jimmie Kerr Road, which currently goes to the eighth grade.
School board members heard a presentation during their latest semi-monthly meeting Tuesday afternoon about the 2024-25 School Performance Grades for ABSS, but there was no mention of this year’s graduation rates.
Read the newspaper’s editorial page comments on the state’s report on ABSS graduation rates: https://alamancenews.com/lower-graduation-rates-another-black-eye-for-the-school-system/
