This document presents data on the student performance of North Carolina students for the year 1994. Section 1 traces the development of school and student accountability measures, outlines the implementation of actions designed to enhance program equity throughout the state, and describes specific program and student performance standards as they have been established and modified over the past 20 years. The second section compares the performance of North Carolina students with that of students in other states and across the nation. Data are presented for the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), the Iowa Test of Basic Skills (ITBS), and the Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT). Overall, recent performance trends are mixed, but encouraging. Although black students have made greater gains on the average than white students and compare favorably with black students nationally, there remains a large gap between black and white students in North Carolina. Section 3 summarizes results of continuing efforts to make advanced educational opportunities available to a greater number of students statewide. An overview of the state's changing definition of "student competence" is provided in the fourth section. Section 5 summarizes the effects of 20 years of reform, the move to address national standards, and the redefinition of competence. In 1995, the state raised the achievement floor, the level at which all students seeking a high-school diploma must perform. Policymakers believe that students should be not only minimally competent, but proficient in the basic skills required of workers and learners in a technologically oriented society. (LMI)