Cumberland County Schools officials, principals, and teachers from across the district joined elected officials and community members on Friday to review the district’s 2025-26 accountability results and hear how four schools produced some of its largest academic gains.
The briefing at the Dr. William “Bill” Harrison Educational Resource Center followed the release of state accountability data showing broad improvement across Cumberland County Schools. Districtwide grade-level proficiency increased from 50.8% to 55.7%, and the number of schools designated as low-performing declined from 27 to 20.
The district’s four-year cohort graduation rate also rose from 86.3% in 2024-25 to 88.7% in 2025-26, an increase of 2.4 percentage points. It nearly matches the state’s graduation rate, which increased to 88.8%.
Superintendent Eric Bracy described the district’s rate as “the highest graduation rate in the history of our school system.”
“The results tell an encouraging story,” Bracy said. “More students are meeting academic standards. More schools are moving forward. Achievement and student growth are advancing.”
Bracy, who became superintendent in July 2025, repeated a belief he shared when he took the oath of office in the same room.
“Every number represents a name,” Bracy said. “Every data point reflects a dream.”
Board of Education Vice Chair Jacquelyn Brown also celebrated the gains while emphasizing the work still ahead.
“We are making progress, and that is worth celebrating,” Brown said. “But progress is not the finish line. There’s still more work ahead of us to do.”
After district leaders summarized the results, the principals of Bill Hefner Elementary, Douglas Byrd Middle, Pine Forest High, and Cumberland Polytechnic High described what the numbers looked like inside their schools—and what it took to produce them.
‘Our Students Locked In’: Douglas Byrd Middle
Douglas Byrd Middle posted the largest proficiency gain among the four featured schools. Its composite increased by 13.4 points, from 31.8% to 45.2%.
The school exceeded expected growth with a converted growth score of 92.4 and moved from an F school performance grade to a C, removing it from the state’s low-performing list.
The school’s principal, Christina DiGaudio, said the turnaround began two summers ago, when the school’s instructional leadership team examined student and teacher data, identified high-priority academic skills, and built an intervention block around those needs.
Teachers gave students repeated opportunities to practice the skills during the intervention period. DiGaudio said the work strengthened students academically while also rebuilding their confidence.
School leaders continued adjusting the approach throughout the year. Administrators modified schedules, combined classes so educators could co-teach, and placed multi-classroom leaders in classrooms to demonstrate instructional strategies that teachers could then use with their own students.
The support extended beyond the regular class schedule. Students sought extra help during homeroom, remained after school for tutoring, and returned to campus for Saturday Academies.
The school scheduled the Saturday sessions early in the year so families had time to place them on their calendars. Students continued working on grade-level standards, but they did so in a different setting—sometimes with teachers they did not ordinarily have and alongside students outside their regular classes.
The school provided breakfast and lunch, while donations from community partners allowed organizers to hold prize drawings for participating students. At one Saturday Academy earlier in the year, 77 students attended.
“We make it a lot of fun,” DiGaudio said. “The students are working in a different capacity. Sometimes they’re working with teachers that aren’t their typical teacher or with students that they don’t typically have in class. And they look forward to it.”
The turnout reflected the broader commitment DiGaudio said students demonstrated throughout the year.
“At the end of the day, our students locked in,” she said. “They came in every day ready to work. And they did.”
When testing arrived, DiGaudio said students were prepared to apply the strategies they had practiced.
“Some of our kids passed their end-of-grade test for the very first time ever,” she said. “We had students who had never passed the test come out at the end of the year passing all of their tests.”
DiGaudio said the students’ reaction to their scores showed that the turnaround meant more than a new letter grade.
“You could see the pride on their faces because they realized, ‘We could do hard things,’” she said.
The school’s next goal is to become a B school.
From D to C: Bill Hefner Elementary
Bill Hefner Elementary increased its proficiency composite by 12.8 points, exceeded expected growth with a converted growth score of 90.1, and moved from a D school performance grade to a C. The change removed Bill Hefner from the state’s low-performing list.
Principal Zakiyyah Backman said some students entered the school year uncertain about their academic abilities.
Teachers responded with instruction aligned with state standards, support, and encouragement.
“Through targeted instruction, consistent support, and constant motivation, they began to see themselves differently,” Backman said. “They knew that they could do it.”
Backman described the school’s faculty united around high expectations, consistent instruction, and frequent reviews of student progress.
Teachers used real-time data to determine where students needed additional support. They placed students in small groups and targeted instruction to the academic skills each group needed to strengthen.
“None of this happened because of one person or one program,” Backman said.
The school plans to begin interventions even earlier this school year while strengthening the instructional practices that contributed to the gains.
“We are proud of our progress, but we are not finished,” Backman said.
Pine Forest Found Struggling Students Sooner
Pine Forest High School increased its proficiency composite from 62% to 72.3%, a gain of 10.3 points. Pine Forest earned the maximum converted growth score of 100. Its School Growth Index Score of 14.44 was the second-highest statewide, according to NCDPI’s school-growth data. The school maintained a B school performance grade.
The gains followed another recent recognition for Pine Forest. The school received the Lighthouse School Award from the North Carolina Association for Teaching, Learning, and Leading in April. The award recognizes schools committed to excellence in teaching, learning, and leadership.
Principal Juelle McDonald said the school’s academic strategy began with identifying students who needed help before their challenges grew.
“Early in the year, we made a commitment to find struggling students sooner, before a small gap became a large gap,” she said.
Teachers met weekly to examine assessment results, discuss students individually, and determine what support each student needed.
Students also reviewed their own academic data. In English II, they tracked their progress weekly and entered into contracts with their teachers outlining the improvement they intended to make, with parents included in the conversations.
Those reviews helped strengthen Trojan Academy, the school’s after-school tutoring program, and “Exam Jam,” a Saturday review session held before state testing.
“Our teachers taught it and taught it again until our students got it,” she said. “Our families supported us. Our students believed in themselves, and they did the work. They showed up.”
McDonald said Pine Forest’s experience could offer lessons for the district’s 20 low-performing schools, but strategies must be tailored to each school’s students and needs.
“Each school is individual, and each school has its own set of needs,” McDonald said.
She said schools could tailor approaches such as Saturday programs, intervention blocks, and student data contracts to their circumstances.
“But that analysis is the heart of it,” she said.
Cumberland Polytechnic Builds on an A
Cumberland Polytechnic High School reached 99.3% proficiency, an increase of 5.6 points. Its numerical School Performance Grade score rose from 94 to 99 while it maintained an A.
With nearly all the school’s students already meeting proficiency standards, Principal Niesha Witherspoon said the focus was on pushing strong performance further.
“Our students typically perform well, but reaching the next level meant instructional consistency in every classroom,” Witherspoon said. “Student engagement was our top priority.”
Teachers challenged students to think critically and engage deeply with state standards. Witherspoon said the school maintained high grade-level expectations, paired rigorous assignments with targeted interventions, and routinely examined student performance.
“We regularly—and I mean regularly—reviewed their progress to inform instruction,” she said.
Those practices support students as they complete high school and college courses simultaneously.
“This accomplishment truly reflects the collective effort of our entire school community,” Witherspoon said.
