As the discussion about CMS student assignment expands, so does the interest in comparing Mecklenburg County schools to Wake County\’s relatively less segregated schools.

A recent Charlotte Observer headline, for example, noted that: \”Despite poverty concentrations in Meck, black and low-income students edge out counterparts in Wake.\”

It is however, inaccurate, to use a broad-stroke Mecklenburg-Wake comparison to argue that concentrating poverty does not matter. This is because the economic composition of schools varies significantly within each district.

Many of Charlotte\’s low-income students attend mixed-income or low-poverty schools. As the following numbers indicate, within CMS, low-income students at lower-poverty middle schools generally perform significantly better than those at high-poverty middle schools.

CMS Middle School 2013 Combined EOG Scores
Percentage of Economically Disadvantaged (ED) students who passed EOG Exams
Source: 2012-13 School Report Cards

This analysis only includes standalone 6-8 middle schools because state data breakdowns don\’t break out middle school ED numbers for K-8 or 6-12 schools.

*full magnet
**partial magnet