The Alamance-Burlington School System (ABSS) servesmore than 23,000 students in grades PreK-12 in Alamance County, North Carolina. The district’s 36 schools include 20 elementary schools for grades PreK-5; seven middle schools for students in grades 6-8; six traditional comprehensive high schools for grades 9-12; the Alamance-Burlington Middle College at Alamance Community College; the Alamance-Burlington Career and Technical Education Center that is open to all high school students, and Ray Street Academy, the district’s alternative school setting. ABSS holds full-accreditation withAdvancED, formerly known as the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.
District At A Glance
ABSS 2015-2016 Student Demographics
Am. Indian / Asian / Hispanic / Black / Pacific Islander / White / 2 or MoreRaces
.45% / 1.39% / 24.83% / 22.03% / .12% / 46.91% / 4.28%
ABSS Class of 2014-2015 Senior Survey Results*
(1,488 total surveys completed *most current year available)
Plan to Attend 2 or 4 Year College/University / Plan to Enter Workforce / Plan to Enlist in Military Service / Other80% / 13% / 5% / 3%
ABSS 4 Year Cohort Graduation Rate in 2014-201582.1% (highest rate recorded in district history)
ABSS Staff
ABSS has nearly 1,800 licensed professional staff members among more than 2,900 district employees. More than 73% of ABSS staff members live and work in Alamance County.
ABSS offers a wide array of challenging coursework including 20 Advanced Placement courses for high school students and selected virtual classes at the Career and Technical Education Center (CTEC) in conjunction with the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics. ABSS offers Project Lead the Way, a rigorous engineering curriculum, at CTEC, along with numerous opportunities for students to earn industry-recognized credentials in the district’s robust career and technical education program. In addition, ABSS high school students have the opportunity to earn dual enrollment credits (both high school and community college credit) for courses completed in the North Carolina Career and College Promise program and with selected courses at Elon University.
Beginning in the 2016-2017 school year, ABSS will open a Fire Academy for high school students in the first phase of a new Municipal Services Academy as part of the district’s specialized programs focus that includes foreign language immersion programs, youth leadership programs and school-wide arts programs in select elementary schools. In addition, Alamance-Burlington Schools, in cooperation with the Alamance Chamber, Alamance Community College, and 7 area businesses, launched a new industry apprenticeship program offering selected high school students the opportunity to earn an all-expenses paid 4-year apprenticeship, 2-year community college degree in Mechatronics, and guaranteed employment upon completion of the program. The first cohort of apprentices in the Career Accelerator Program (CAP) will begin work at the participating industries in August, 2016.
The only school district in the Piedmont-Triad region of North Carolina to offer a comprehensive Science Olympiad program for elementary schools, ABSS also provides a variety of rigorous STEM-related opportunities at the elementary, middle and high school levels, including makerspaces and innovation labs.
Class of 2016 Results
- The Alamance-Burlington Class of 2016 earned $16 million in merit-based scholarship awards from 105 different colleges and universities in 21 states and the District of Columbia.
- Class of 2016 graduates earned acceptance letters from more than 200 colleges and universities from 36 states, the District of Columbia and Great Britain.
- Some of the nation’s colleges and universities with the lowest admission rates were among schools offering ABSS graduates a slot in their incoming freshmen classes, including:
Columbia University / Princeton University
Massachusetts Institute of Technology / The United States Naval Academy
Duke University / Vanderbilt University
University of Southern California / Davidson College
- ABSS had a total of 133 students earn AP Scholar designations in all 4 categories, including: National AP Scholars, AP Scholars with Distinction, AP Scholars with Honor and AP Scholars.
- The Class of 2016 earned the following distinctions:
United States Presidential ScholarNational Merit Scholar Finalist
National Coca Cola Scholar2 Morehead-Cain Scholars
2015-2016 Alamance-Burlington Schools Public Information Office