School improvement planning provides a mechanism for identifying needs and establishing a common approach to meeting those needs at the school level. 
Effective school improvement planning contributes to overall school performance by:

• Establishing an understanding of the “big picture” of a school's current state, including student achievement, school environment, teacher community, parent community, and administrative issues;
• Reaching consensus across the school community on which needs represent the highest priorities for action based upon the potential to improve overall student and school performance; and
• Identifying for implementation goals and strategies, including specific targets, indicators and milestones required to address the school priorities.

School improvement planning is more than a plan, it is a framework for change--a map that identifies the school’s destination and requires both decision-making and action from a variety of stakeholders to reach that destination in the most direct route. As Dr. Sam Redding wrote in The Mega System Handbook, “High-functioning schools and schools cited for their effectiveness do the right things, do them continuously, and always look for ways to improve. Schools that fail with comprehensive school reform do so not for lack of resources, other than time, but for want of determination and internal discipline.” North Carolina Schools are required to submit a School Improvement Plan (SIP) to the local board of education for review; approval is required by federal and state regulations (Public Law 107-110, the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, section 1101 et seq., and Article 8B School Based Management & Accountability Program) to improve student performance. The plan shall remain in effect for no more than two years (e.g. FY 2016 to FY 2018), however; the plan can be amended as often as is necessary or appropriate. NCDPI Website: http://www.dpi.state.nc.us/program-monitoring/planning/

If a school has been identified as low-performing as provided in § 115C-105.37 and the school is not located in a local school administrative unit identified as low-performing under G.S. 115C-105.39A, within 30 days of the initial identification the superintendent shall submit to the local board of education a preliminary plan for improving both the school performance grade and school growth score, including how the superintendent and other central office administrators will work with the school and monitor the school's progress. Within 30 days of its receipt of the preliminary plan, the local board shall vote to approve, modify, or reject this plan. Before the local board votes on the preliminary plan, it shall make the plan available to the public, including the personnel assigned to that school and the parents and guardians of the students who are assigned to the school, and shall allow for written comments. The Improvement Plans for Low Performing Schools and Low Performing Districts in accordance with G.S. 115C-105.37(a1)(5) and G.S. 115C-105.39A(b)(5) are at http://www.ncpublicschools.org/schooltransformation/
for the 2015-16 school year.
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Due to a lack of assessment data during the 19-20 academic year, the state lists of Low-Performing schools and State Low-Performing districts stayed the same for 20-21. Low-performing identification continues pending assessment data from the 20-21 school year.