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North Carolina: classified-EL share over time

Annual share of public-school students classified as English Learners.

0% 4% 8% 11% 15% 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2024 2011: 7.0% 2012: 6.7% 2013: 6.7% 2014: 6.3% 2015: 6.6% 2016: 6.0% 2017: 6.8% 2018: 7.3% 2019: 7.9% 2020: 7.6% 2021: 8.0% 2024: 11.9% (state agency)
Between 2011 and 2024, the classified-EL share rose from 7.0% to 11.9%. Observations through fall 2021 are from NCES; observations for fall 2024 are from the North Carolina state education agency (North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, Report to the General Assembly: Headcount of English Learners (2024-25)). State-agency methodology may differ from NCES; see the note below.
NCES Digest, Table 204.20 North Carolina state education agency

Methodology note

  • North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, November 1 headcount (178,688 EL students of 1,504,424 ADM). In December 2024, the State Board of Education lowered the EL exit threshold from 4.8 to 4.5 and mandated a single statewide screener replacing district-by-district screening; the November 2024 figure reflects pending implementation of these changes, which limits direct comparability to NCES's fall 2021 figure (8.0%) beyond the documented enrollment growth. North Carolina does not publish a multi-year EL series for fall 2018-2021 in directly accessible form, so methodological continuity with the prior NCES series cannot be confirmed from overlapping observations.
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About this figure

Each point is the fall-enrollment share of students classified as English Learners in North Carolina's public schools. Observations through fall 2021 are drawn from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) Digest of Education Statistics, Table 204.20, the canonical national series; NCES has not yet republished this table for school years after 2021-22. For fall 2024, the catalog falls back to figures published directly by the North Carolina state education agency. State-agency methodology may differ from NCES — the methodology note above the data table records the difference, and the dashed line and hollow markers in the chart mark the boundary.

Sources: NCES Digest of Education Statistics 2023, Table 204.20 (opens in a new tab) ; North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, Report to the General Assembly: Headcount of English Learners (2024-25) (opens in a new tab) .

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