Website Notes Archives

Study Help For Students Upgraded

The Make the Grade Resource Center , which collects lesson and test review materials for elementary, middle and high school students, has been upgraded. New lesson reviews have been added and more previously existing material has been linked in.

More review materials will be added to the site as the year progresses.

Posted by Paul Cory at 01:57 PM on August 27, 2008 | Leave Feedback

School Directory Improvements

Over the past several months, we've improved the information available in the online School Directory. The School Directory is the single most popular feature on this Website.

We've added direct Calendar download links and information about before- and after-school programs to school pages.

We've also added Google Maps links to the printer-friendly directions pop-ups, and cleaned up the directions formatting some. The links work for almost all our schools. Our very newest schools (Mills Park ES, for example) may not be in any online mapping service yet, not even Google's. Also, keep in mind that Google's directions may not be exact.

Finally, we've revised our Schools-by-Level (Elementary, Middle, High and so on) listings to provide more information up front.

Posted by Paul Cory at 09:44 AM on July 31, 2008 | Leave Feedback

No Charge, No Appointment Tdap Clinics in August

North Carolina law now requires a booster shot of Tdap (tetanus/diphtheria/pertussis) for all children entering sixth grade on or after August 1, 2008.

Wake County Human Services (10 Sunnybrook Road, Raleigh 919-212-7000) has set up the following No Charge, No Appointment clinics for rising sixth graders who need booster shots. Parents, remember to bring your child's shot record to the clinic.

August 7th
9-11 am and 1-3 pm
Northern Regional Center
350 E. Holding Avenue, Wake Forest, NC
919-562-6300

August 15th
9-11 am and 1-3 pm
Eastern Regional Center
1002 Dogwood Lane, Zebulon, NC
919-404-3900

August 21st
9-11 am and 1-3 pm
Southern Regional Center
130 North Judd Parkway
Fuquay Varina
919-557-2501

Posted by Paul Cory at 04:11 PM on July 29, 2008 | Leave Feedback

Board Work Plan Posted

The Board of Education's 2008-2011 Work Plan is available for download as an Adobe Reader file.

Posted by Paul Cory at 10:21 AM on July 28, 2008 | Leave Feedback

Curriculum Management Audit Quarterly Update

Implementing the recommendations of the Curriculum Management Audit is a crucial piece of our effort to improve the school system: to make the leap from good to great.

Our latest quarterly report on our progress was delivered to the Board of Education today by Chief Academic Officer Dr. Donna Hargens.

You can check out the updated summary of our progress and learn more about the Curriculum Management Audit at our One Stop Info Center. The latest issue of Curriculum Matters our quarterly newsletter covering the implementation of the Audit is also available in Adobe Reader format.

Posted by Paul Cory at 01:58 PM on July 15, 2008 | Leave Feedback

Understanding WCPSS's Participation in the National School Lunch and Breakfast Programs

WCPSS provided students 69,000 free and reduced-price meals daily in the 2007-08 school year through the National School Lunch and Breakfast Programs. Senior Director of Child Nutrition Marilyn Moody has provided an overview of the program including the application process, eligibility, and verification on the Child Nutrition Services website. Read on for a quick summary.

The National School Lunch Program and its offshoots are part of the United States Department of Agriculture, administered statewide by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction and locally by our Child Nutrition Services (CNS) department. The USDA establishes guidelines for determining eligibility for free and reduced-price lunch or breakfast based on the parents' or guardians' income levels.

All families are given the opportunity to apply for free and reduced-price meals; a letter to households includes income eligibility requirements. USDA regulations do not require proof of income with the application form. One fourth of eligible students are "direct certified" through the Wake County Department of Human Services and do not need to apply.

CNS retains documentation for five years (rather than the USDA-minimum three years) and follows the USDA process for reviewing families' eligibility, focusing on a three-percent sample of family applications with household incomes within $1,200 of the annual eligibility limit. WCPSS may also pull additional applications to verify "for cause," if there has been a reported suspicion of false information. The verification process is rigorous, and if families fail to respond or are unable to support their income status they are removed from eligibility. The three-percent sample is not representative of the entire number of students approved for free or reduced-price meals because the range within $1,200 of the eligibility limit is the most prone to errors.

The North Carolina Department of Instruction reviews CNS's application and verification processes annually and conducts an extensive audit every five years.

For more details, read the full report.

Posted by Chip Sudderth at 10:46 AM on July 15, 2008 | Leave Feedback

The New School Connection: Our Favorite Stories

We've just posted the July 2008 episode of The New School Connection. This time we're looking back at our favorite stories from the past year, including a look at the Helping Hands mentoring program, an inspirational band teacher, a different kind of career fair for students, and more.

Posted by Chip Sudderth at 05:33 PM on July 10, 2008 | Leave Feedback

Updated Graduation Info

No, the schedule hasn't changed. However, we have added some more helpful information to our 2008 Graduation Schedule page.

Our most recent addition is information about arrival times, handicapped access, banned items, environmental conditions and related information for graduations taking place at Reynolds Coliseum and Memorial Auditorium. Click on the Info for Graduates & Guests link for the appropriate venue.

Also, for those attending graduations at Reynold Coliseum, we have added a parking map that you can download and print.

Posted by Paul Cory at 02:20 PM on May 21, 2008 | Leave Feedback

Online Tool Tracks Mobile Classroom Assignments

Our Facilities Department's website now has a new online tool to help you track the movement and usage of mobile classrooms in the Wake County Public School System. Just click on any school to see the status and number of mobile unit additions (and the associated town/county review and permitting process) and removals.

Posted by Chip Sudderth at 03:33 PM on May 09, 2008 | Leave Feedback

What Do You Think of Our New Front Page?

WCPSS website administrator Paul Cory has been hard at work making improvements to our new front page, which went live yesterday. I asked him why it has a new look, and his answer was, "Bigger monitors."

When you visit a web server, it can detect how large your computer screen is. Paul surveyed the data and found out that our customers are using larger, higher-resolution displays than they were the last time we refreshed the website, so we took that into account to hopefully give you a better web experience.

With more space to work with, we think our new front page is easier to read and use. Our side navigation bars have better spacing and larger text. Our search bar at the top of the screen is wider and easier to find. The new design also helps us better highlight our multimedia resources such as our blog and our audio and video podcasts. (You can now subscribe to our blog and podcast feeds from the front page.)

We'll have a more formal user survey in the future, but if you have any comments that you can't wait to leave, feel free to use the link below. Our goal is to keep improving the website to make it more useful to you, whether you're a parent, citizen, educator, student or visitor. Thank you!

Posted by Chip Sudderth at 12:22 PM on May 08, 2008 | Leave Feedback

New Reports on Student Outcomes

The Evaluation and Research Department has just released three new reports bringing together a large amount of student achievement information at the elementary, middle and high school levels. You can use these reports:

• to learn about basic trends in outcomes for WCPSS students over time;
• to study achievement gaps over time;
• to get a sense of the number and percentage of students who are doing well and how many students may need additional assistance to succeed; and
• to understand what practices might help in efforts to assist students in need.

You'll find the reports on their website in PDF format for elementary, middle and high schools.

Posted by Chip Sudderth at 03:33 PM on May 01, 2008 | Leave Feedback

Magnet Programs Newsletter Now Online

WCPSS's Magnet Programs office has just posted the latest issue of their Magnet Matters newsletter. Check out the news of local, regional and national award winners, updates from our International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme schools, and a note about a fascinating community-strengthening event at Centennial Middle.

Posted by Chip Sudderth at 02:16 PM on April 17, 2008 | Leave Feedback

Test-Taking Tips for Parents

We've just added a list of tips to help parents help their children perform their best on testing days.

Posted by Paul Cory at 03:28 PM on April 16, 2008 | Leave Feedback

Your Schools on TV: This Month's 'New School Connection'

We've got a really good program this month on The New School Connection, our TV show that lets you know what's happening in your schools. Our "Answer Man" Jeff Nash's daughter, sixth-grader Casey, introduces you to Apex Middle's dynamic band instructor. (Tune in next month to see if Casey lets her Dad resume his own hosting duties!) We also take a look at Parent Liaisons' roles in promoting family involvement, find out why today's media centers and media coordinators bear little resemblance to the libraries and librarians of past years, see how technology enriches learning and teaching, and review how demographic change is affecting WCPSS.

It's a feature-filled show; we hope you'll give it a watch.

Posted by Chip Sudderth at 04:32 PM on April 02, 2008 | Leave Feedback

What Works in Teaching U.S. History?

Our Evaluation and Research Department recently completed a study of effective practices among WCPSS U.S. History teachers. Here's a quick summary:

• Effective U.S. History teachers had strong content knowledge, prepared their own materials, taught reading and note-taking skills, used time wisely and connected history to themes across time.

• Relationships with students were of utmost importance. Effective teachers gave frequent positive feedback, believed that all students could succeed and created an atmosphere of mutual respect.

Of course, there's more detail in the full report (PDF). You can also find more reports from our Evaluation and Research team posted to their departmental website by topic and date.

Posted by Chip Sudderth at 10:41 AM on April 01, 2008 | Leave Feedback

Acronym Glossary

Ever trip over an unfamiliar acronym in an educational report, such as CogAT or ASVAB? We have, and we work here. :-)

So, to help you, and us, understand the all of these educational acronyms, we have created an Acronym Glossary. More than 300 acronyms in use throughout WCPSS are defined and presented in alphabetical order.

In addition, we've made it possible for people adding items to the WCPSS Website create pop-up definitions of acronyms to their documents, to make looking up unfamiliar acronyms as quick and painless as possible.

Posted by Paul Cory at 01:54 PM on March 26, 2008 | Leave Feedback

2009-10 Calendars

2009-10 Instructional Calendars are now available. Multi-track year-round, modified, and traditional calendars can be downloaded in Adobe Reader format. There's also a comprehensive calendar that displays all three calendars together.

Posted by Paul Cory at 11:51 AM on March 18, 2008 | Leave Feedback

Teacher Job Fair Reg Open

Come work where you can make a difference!

With three new elementary schools opening, and a student population that's expected to grow by more than 6,000 students, we have a lot of positions to fill for the 2008-09 school year.

We'll be looking to fill many of those positions at our Spring Teacher Job Fair on Saturday, April 19th.

To attent, you must preregister online. Preregistration runs from March 7th - April 14th.

Posted by Paul Cory at 09:44 AM on March 07, 2008 | Leave Feedback

State Strongly Recommends Flu Vaccination

The NC Department of Public Instruction and the NC Department of Health and Human Services have sent out a letter strongly recommending, " all eligible children be vaccinated against influenza." We have posted the letter as an Acrobat Reader file to our Parents page for your convenience.

Posted by Paul Cory at 09:33 AM on February 14, 2008 | Leave Feedback

False Virus Alerts

Wednesday morning (Jan. 2), McAfee Antivirus released a virus definitions file that caused users to receive false virus alerts when visiting the WCPSS Website. The McAfee software was erroneously identifying one of this site's JavaScript libraries as a virus/trojan.

A few hours later, McAfee released an updated virus definitions file that corrects the problem: http://isc.sans.org/diary.html?storyid=3803

Posted by Paul Cory at 09:56 AM on January 03, 2008 | Leave Feedback

2007 Financial Report

The Fiscal Year 2007 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) is now available.

Posted by Paul Cory at 10:18 AM on December 12, 2007 | Leave Feedback

High School Exit Standards Info for Parents

North Carolina has implemented two new High School Exit Standards for students who entered ninth grade for the first time during the 2006-2007 school year:

1. passing the end-of-course (EOC) assessment in five courses ( English I, Algebra I, Civics and Economics, Biology, and US History)
2. successfully completing a Graduation Project.

Detailed formation about the exit standards in general and the graduation project in particular is now available.

Posted by Paul Cory at 10:22 AM on December 06, 2007 | Leave Feedback

Demographics Resource Center Updated

The Demographics Resource Center website has been updated for 2007-2008. New data are posted for 20th-day membership by grade and school. Quick Facts and Maps have been updated as well.

Posted by Paul Cory at 04:18 PM on December 04, 2007 | Leave Feedback

CEM Presentation and Handout

The presentation and handout from the Community Engagement Meetings are now available for download.

Posted by Paul Cory at 08:42 PM on October 31, 2007 | Leave Feedback

Special Education Handbook Updated

The 2007-08 Special Education Services Supplement to the Student/Parent Handbook is now available.

Posted by Paul Cory at 10:41 AM on October 16, 2007 | Leave Feedback

Subscribe to our Video and Audio Podcasts

If you have software that allows you to subscribe to podcasts such as Apple's iTunes, you can automatically receive the latest Wake EduCasts (video) and WCPSS Podcasts (audio) by adding this address:

http://www.wcpss.net/announcements/index.xml

In iTunes, go to the "Advanced" menu and choose "Subscribe to Podcast...".

Our video podcasts are in the QuickTime format. Our audio podcasts are standard MP3 files.

Posted by Chip Sudderth at 02:24 PM on August 21, 2007 | Leave Feedback

New Search Engine

As we talked with various groups about how we could improve the WCPSS Website, a better site search engine kept showing up at the top of the list of most wanted upgrades. It was a top vote-getter in our Website User survey last month. The Board of Education's Community Relations Committee also discussed it in their focus group session on the Website.

And now we've done something about it. Starting today, the WCPSS Website search is powered by a new search engine. It's faster and more accurate than our previous search engine.

It's Google.

The WCPSS Website search is now powered by a Google Search appliance. This gives you all the goodness of the Google search algorithm, without any distracting ads.

Posted by Paul Cory at 03:28 PM on July 03, 2007 | Leave Feedback

AG Parents Survey

An online survey of AG parents is currently underway.

Posted by Paul Cory at 09:17 AM on June 07, 2007 | Leave Feedback

Grade 6-8 Math EOC Review Available

Review questions for the EOC Math exams for grades 6-8 are now available.

Posted by Paul Cory at 10:19 AM on May 29, 2007 | Leave Feedback

High School Graduation Map & Traffic Link

A downloadable map of the Reynolds Coliseum area with extra details of interest to folks attending high school graduations as well as link to updated NC State traffic information affecting graduations are now available on the 2007 High School Graduation Page.

You are strongly encouraged to download and print out the map (412 KB Adobe Reader file). It should be a big help in navigating the NC State campus.

Posted by Paul Cory at 02:41 PM on May 23, 2007 | Leave Feedback

BOE Plan For Student Success

The Board of Education's Plan for Student Success for 2007-08 is now available for download in Adobe Reader format.

The Plan for Student Success details the proposed budget for the 2007-08 school year, including how much local funding the BOE is requesting from the Wake County Commissioners.

Posted by Paul Cory at 09:26 AM on May 16, 2007 | Leave Feedback

Good News About Wake Schools and Students

Just about every other week, Bill Poston gathers all of the school and student highlights we've learned and sends them to you in our Good News newsletter. Just this week, he reported on WCPSS's four Morehead-Cain Scholars, Daniels Middle's victory at the 2007 Battle of the Books, WCPSS's second annual Hispanic/Latino Middle and High School Conference, and much more.

If you're subscribed to our online newsletters, you'll receive the Good News newsletter automatically. If you have any school news to share or have any suggestions, give Bill Poston an electronic shout at bposton@wcpss.net.

Posted by Chip Sudderth at 04:00 PM on March 28, 2007 | Leave Feedback

New Facilities Website

The new Facilities Design and Construction Website is now live. It contains much useful information about current and previous building programs.

Posted by Paul Cory at 01:57 PM on February 15, 2007 | Leave Feedback

Pre-Kindergarten Application Forms

Pre-Kindergarten application forms are now available. The application packet covers all WCPSS pre-kindergarten programs.

Posted by Paul Cory at 03:52 PM on February 09, 2007 | Leave Feedback

2007 Teacher Transfer Fair

Pre-registration for teachers eligible for the 2007 Teacher Transfer Fair is now underway. To be participate in the Fair, one must be a current WCPSS teachers who has applied for and been approved to be eligible for a transfer.

The Fair is February 15 in the Leesville Rd. High School cafeteria. Online pre-registration is open through February 13. The fair is a great opportunity for current teachers to meet with school representatives and be considered for 2007-08 open positions.

Posted by Paul Cory at 08:57 AM on February 01, 2007 | Leave Feedback

See the Apex Tech Fest, and Help Us Test Web Video

The latest episode of The School Connection included the following segment about Apex High's Academy of Information Technology and their recent Tech Fest. We're considering publishing Flash videos of our programming to our website, so as a test-firing we're re-presenting that segment here. Please use the feedback link below to let us know if this format works for you (and your computer!) and whether you prefer it to the QuickTime format we've been using. Thanks!

Update: Here's a link to a QuickTime file (with a more modern compression scheme than we have used in the past) for comparison's sake.

Posted by Chip Sudderth at 05:05 PM on December 15, 2006 | Leave Feedback

Improved Node Map

Growth and Planning has improved the node map that is one of the downloads associated with the Draft Reassignment Proposal. The map now includes major roads and school locations, as well as the node boundaries.

It's significantly bigger than before as well. :-)

Posted by Paul Cory at 03:24 PM on December 11, 2006 | Leave Feedback

Magnet Info Sessions and School Visits

The schedules for the 2007 Magnet Information Sessions and Magnet School visits are now posted in the Magnet Resource Center.

Posted by Paul Cory at 10:25 AM on December 01, 2006 | Leave Feedback

Fall Job Fair

The WCPSS Fall Job Fair is scheduled for Saturday, December 2, 2006. Online pre-registration runs November 6-26. More details are available.

Posted by Paul Cory at 10:44 AM on October 06, 2006 | Leave Feedback

Bus Routes Now Available in the School Directory

A school's morning bus routes are now part of its School Directory entry. Just click on the Bus Routes link on the upper right portion of the school's page to see them.

The bus routes will be updated regularly by the Transportation department throughout the year.

Posted by Paul Cory at 03:21 PM on August 30, 2006 | Leave Feedback

The August School Connection is Online

The latest episode of The School Connection showcases the opening of Wake County's five new year-round elementary schools and introduces viewers to the principals of Wake County's two newest high schools. Students and parents are reminded of the school system's dress code, and the new graduation requirements affecting this year's incoming freshmen are explained.

You can watch The School Connection on Raleigh and Cary public access television or through QuickTime on the WCPSS webpage. You can find it all right here!

Posted by Christy Barnett at 11:35 AM on August 09, 2006 | Leave Feedback

August Lunch Menus

The August and early September lunch menus are now up in printer friendly Adobe Reader (PDF) format. We apologize for the delay in posting.

Posted by Paul Cory at 11:27 AM on August 08, 2006 | Leave Feedback

2006-07 Year-round Track Out Calendar

The 2006-07 Track Out Calendar for multitrack year-round schools is now available from our 2006-07 Instructional Calendars page.

The Track Out Calendar makes it easy to see when the various tracks are on vacation throughout the year.

Posted by Paul Cory at 05:18 PM on August 04, 2006 | Leave Feedback

QuickTime Upgrade Recommended for WCPSS Web Video

We're currently producing our GrowthCasts, the School Connection TV show and other video material in a format older versions of QuickTime can view. But we think we can get more attractive video -- and maybe even shorter downloads! -- if we switch to QuickTime 7, the current version. We're not ready to go there just yet, but if you'd like to go ahead and upgrade your QuickTime Player, an installer for the standalone version is here. If you already use iTunes software, your upgrade for iTunes and QuickTime is here.

Posted by Chip Sudderth at 11:20 AM on July 24, 2006 | Leave Feedback

"Who's My Area Superintendent?"

With the organizational changes we wrote about this week coming into place, WCPSS's area superintendents are beginning to take on a new role in working with principals to improve our schools. Here's a list showing which schools are served by each area superintendent.

Posted by Chip Sudderth at 11:42 AM on July 14, 2006 | Leave Feedback

July's School Connection is Online

The latest episode of The School Connection introduces you to new superintendent Dr. Del Burns, looks back at the 32-year career of previous superintendent Bill McNeal, profiles WCPSS Teacher of the Year Gladys Madauss, and shows how teachers at Turner Creek Elementary are using the great outdoors to get students excited about learning.

You can watch The School Connection on Raleigh and Cary public access television or through QuickTime on the WCPSS webpage. You can find it all here!

Posted by Chip Sudderth at 11:41 PM on July 07, 2006 | Leave Feedback

Reviewing the Research on Latino Achievement

The WCPSS Department of Evaluation and Research has begun a new publication, the E&R Research Alert, which will be a quarterly review of recent studies and findings from across the country. The first report is a review of Fragile Futures: Risk and Vulnerability Among Latino High Achievers.

As always, you can visit the E&R webpage for the latest research and information about WCPSS student achievement.

Posted by Chip Sudderth at 03:45 PM on June 08, 2006 | Leave Feedback

Download QuickTime for WCPSS Website Videos

The WCPSS Website uses Apple's QuickTime Player for video content, including The School Connection and the weekly GrowthCast. The link above will take you to Apple's website for a standalone installer.

We're not currently providing the GrowthCast in an iPod-with-video friendly format because we know that there are a lot of people out there with older versions of QuickTime. If the demand is there, however, we'll see what we can do -- just leave your feedback below. In the meantime, you can automatically download the latest GrowthCasts to your computer and watch them in Apple's iTunes music and video player. Just go to the "Advanced" menu, choose "Subscribe to Podcast...", and paste this address into the dialog box: http://www.wcpss.net/announcements/index.xml.

Posted by Chip Sudderth at 05:05 PM on June 02, 2006 | Leave Feedback

2006-07 Transfer Forms

2006-07 Student Transfer Forms are available for download in English and Spanish (En Español). Transfer requests must be postmarked on or before June 1, 2006.

The Office of Growth Management will notify you, in writing, of the status of your transfer request within seven to ten days after receiving it. If your on-time transfer request is denied, you will be given instructions on appealing the decision to the Wake County Board of Education.

Transfer forms are also available in all Wake County Public Schools, the Customer Service Center and the Office of Growth Management.

Posted by Paul Cory at 08:56 AM on May 19, 2006 | Leave Feedback

A Video Guide to the Business of WCPSS

This month's episode of The School Connection is an easy-to-follow guide to the 2006-07 Plan for Student Success. Consider this "Budget 101" on the funding methods, costs and needs of the Wake County Public School System.

Congratulations are due to host Christy Hardee, who is finishing up her honeymoon and will be returning to us this week as Christy Barnett.

Posted by Chip Sudderth at 04:30 PM on May 15, 2006 | Leave Feedback

Board of Education's Plan for Student Success Now Available

The Board of Education's Plan for Student Success is now available for download. The Plan for Student Success goes to the County Commissioners on May 15.

Posted by Paul Cory at 04:30 PM on May 10, 2006 | Leave Feedback

End-of-Grade Test Prep Materials

The North Carolina Department of Public Instruction has placed extensive information about the required end-of-grade tests on its Website. The information includes test preparation materials, such as sample test items.

http://www.ncpublicschools.org/accountability/testing/eog/

Posted by Paul Cory at 03:33 PM on April 20, 2006 | Leave Feedback

Student Assignment Hearing Dates

The schedule for the March public hearings on the 2006-07 Student Assignment Plan, due for release on Feb. 14, is below; a full timeline for the student assignment process is available.

• 6 p.m., March 1, 2006 - Public Hearings at N. Garner Middle School and Wakefield High School
• 6 p.m., March 2, 2006 - Public Hearings at Green Hope High School and Sanderson High School
• 6 p.m., March 6, 2006 - Public Hearings at Middle Creek High School and Knightdale High School

Posted by Paul Cory at 03:22 PM on February 10, 2006 | Leave Feedback

Teacher Transfer Fair

Online registration for the Teacher Transfer Fair is now open. The Fair will be held on Monday, Feb. 20 from 3-5 pm in the cafeteria of Leesville Road High School.

Registration runs through Feb. 19 at midnight. This Fair is only for current WCPSS teachers who have applied for and been approved to be eligible for a transfer.

Attendees will have the opportunity to briefly meet with school representatives and to submit a cover letter and a resume for consideration for a possible position for the upcoming 2006-2007 school year.

Posted by Paul Cory at 02:13 PM on February 07, 2006 | Leave Feedback

Kindergarten Health Assessment

You can now download the Kindergarten Health Assessment Report form from our Forms Resource Center. It's listed under the medical forms.

The form must be completed by a doctor for every child entering kindergarten. It is due by the first day of school.

Posted by Paul Cory at 11:21 AM on February 02, 2006 | Leave Feedback

2005 Financial Report

The 2005 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report is now available in Adobe Reader format. It covers WCPSS finances for the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2005.

Posted by Paul Cory at 03:38 PM on January 24, 2006 | Leave Feedback

The Latest School Connection

The January School Connection, which airs on Raleigh and Cary community access TV, is now online with a look back at the highlights of 2005 and a special dance performance by Powell Elementary students. Tune in next month for a special program devoted entirely to growth management.

Posted by Chip Sudderth at 05:01 PM on January 13, 2006 | Leave Feedback

Merry Mathmas!

As a special holiday treat for our high school students, the newest installments in The Success Series video study guides are now coming online.

This year, Geometry and Algebra I join AP-Calculus and AP-Statistics in our Success Series line-up. All 29 Geometry lessons and all 35 Algebra 1 lessons are now up.

The Geometry and Algebra I video study guides will also be available for loan on DVD at WCPSS high schools the first week in January. But why wait?

Posted by Paul Cory at 11:00 AM on December 22, 2005 | Leave Feedback

New Server

On Friday, Dec. 2, the WCPSS Website switched to a new, bigger, faster stronger server. If you didn't notice, I did my job right.

If you did notice one of the small hiccups inevitable in migrating such a large, complex site from one machine to another, hopefully it didn't last long.

The upgrade was driven by three factors: ever increasing traffic, the increasing complexity and interactivity of the Website, and the need for greater relaibility.

Traffic to this Website continues to grow at a healthy pace. For example, traffic for October 2005 was up about 29% compared to traffic for October 2004.

As the Website grows in complexity, interactivity and utility, it requires more and more horsepower to keep things speedy, especially under peak loads. At high demand times, such as days with snow delays or early closings, parts of the site were noticeable slower.

And finally, the Website has been taking on a ever larger role in the school system' communications efforts, especially in inclement weather and emergency situations, when Web traffic can spike at loads 10 to 20 time normal, or more. We can't afford to have it get overloaded and go down.

So we moved to a more capabable server. One that has faster processors, more processors, more RAM, and faster hard drives. One that sports RAID arrays and rendundant power supplies to reduce the likelihood of hardware failure. And one that can easily handle the current load, and future growth.

Posted by Paul Cory at 04:25 PM on December 05, 2005 | Leave Feedback

Fall Job Fair: Preregistration Ends Dec. 1

Just a reminder that Thursday, Dec. 1 is the last day to preregister for the Fall 2005 Job Fair. There will be no at-the-door registration - you must preregister online to participate.

The Fall Job Fair being held on Saturday, Dec. 3rd, at Knightdale High School (middle and high school teachers) and Forestville Elementary School (elementary school teachers). You can get full details, a list of participating schools and the link to the online preregistration form from the Fall 2005 Job Fair Information Page.

Posted by Paul Cory at 01:12 PM on November 30, 2005 | Leave Feedback

2005-06 High School Planning Guides

The 2005-06 High School Planning Guides and the 2005-06 Post-secondary Planning Guide are now available for download. In addition to updated versions of the freshman (student and parent) planning guides, there are now sophomore and junior student planning guides as well.

Posted by Paul Cory at 01:49 PM on September 19, 2005 | Leave Feedback

School Construction Report

The latest issue is online. Susbscribers to our e-mail newsletters receive the Report in their in-boxes.

Posted by Chip Sudderth at 03:46 PM on September 09, 2005 | Leave Feedback

Web Traffic Surges

Back-to-school means a big surge in Website usage. The first week of school, this Website handed out some 472,182 pages. In comparison, traffic during July averaged about 366,000 pages a week.

We worked hard over the summer to improve the Website. We added a Newcomer Resource Center to help parents better navigate the system and a Demographics Resource Center so the public can have access to data about our explosive growth.

The 2005-06 Student/Parent Handbooks are also available for download in English and Spanish. Parents are also encouraged to check out the Child Nutrition section of the Website for school lunch menus and payment plans.

Posted by Paul Cory at 09:51 AM on September 06, 2005 | Leave Feedback

Demographics Resource Center

Wondering how fast WCPSS is growing? Curious as to what percentage of the student body has English as Second Language?

You can get your answers from the newly opened Demographics Resource Center. It offers geographic and demographic data on students and schools, socioeconomic diversity, growth issues and enrollment projections.

Posted by Paul Cory at 11:18 AM on August 11, 2005 | Leave Feedback

Helping Newcomers Find Their Way

When arriving in one of the largest and fastest growing school districts in the country, parents and children new to Wake County sometimes need some help finding their way. To that end we've created the online Newcomer Resource Center, with helpful links to how to register for school and apply for magnet programs, what kinds of services are available for students, and how to understand the different ways WCPSS's success is measured (the state ABCs, federal No Child Left Behind standards, and so on). You can get to the Resource Center through the "Newcomers" link on the front page's navigation column, or through the above link.

If you have some suggestions for the Newcomer Resource Center, you can leave feedback for webmaster Paul Cory through our Ask WCPSS page.

Coming soon: the Newcomers' DVD, made possible thanks to increasingly affordable digital video technology. More details to follow when the DVD's available....

Posted by Chip Sudderth at 10:46 AM on August 04, 2005 | Leave Feedback

Another Way to Read the Announcements

You may have noticed this tiny link at the bottom of the right column: Syndicate this site (XML). Clicking on it in a standard Web browser gives you a fair bit of gibberish, but you can use this link in a type of software called an RSS Newsreader. These programs gather headlines and entries from a variety of news sites and weblogs which support RSS syndication, enabling you to download a lot of information from different sources in an easily managed format.

There are a lot of RSS Newsreaders out there. I haven't used enough to offer a solid recommendation, although I know that the open source Firefox web browser and Thunderbird E-mail clients from the Mozilla Foundation handle RSS feeds right out of the gate, the latest version of Mac OS X includes an RSS-enabled version of the Safari browser, and Microsoft is working on RSS support in the next versions of Windows and Internet Explorer. If you're a news junkie and like to gather lots of information at a time, you might try an RSS Newsreader -- and please add us to your list!

Posted by Chip Sudderth at 02:54 PM on July 28, 2005 | Leave Feedback

Plan for Student Success FAQ

We've just posted a Frequently Asked Questions page about the school board's 2005-06 Plan for Student Success. This FAQ offers all of the basics in one place, so check it out.

Our complete resource center for the Plan is here.

Posted by Chip Sudderth at 02:05 PM on June 02, 2005 | Leave Feedback

Another Way to Stay Informed

Our e-mail newsletters provide a brief overview of recent news and upcoming events. You can subscribe to The School Connection, our newsletter for the general public; Online Connection for WCPSS employees, and The School Construction Report for news about our capital building program. Click on the link above to read the latest issue or have it sent direct to your in-box.

Posted by Chip Sudderth at 09:16 AM on May 31, 2005 | Leave Feedback

Summer School Update

Extended Learning Programs and Preschool Services has just announced that Central Registration for Summer School 2005 will be cancelled if all seats are filled during the base school registration period that ends on June 14.

If you are thinking about attending Summer School, you should get in touch with your base school's contact person as soon as possible. Full Summer School 2005 information, including the list of contacts for each WCPSS high school, is available on the Summer School 2005 Web page.

Posted by Paul Cory at 09:32 AM on May 25, 2005 | Leave Feedback

Busy Job Fair

Saturday's Teacher Job Fairs will be busy affairs. How do I know? Because this year, for the first time, we offered online pre-registration to job fair attendees through the Website. The response was impressive: more than 2,700 applicants pre-registered.

While the sheer quantity of people registering exceeded expectations, the real value was the vast improvement in the quality of information we were able to collect about the applicants. For the first time ever, we received information about years of experience, awards won, board certification, states licensed in and certifications held before the day of the fair. This gives our Human Resources folks a greater opportunity to direct attendees to the schools most interested in their skills, which should improve the effectiveness of the fair for the school principals (who do the hiring) and the prospective teachers.

In addition, we can use the information to improve our recruiting efforts. By matching hiring information with job fair pre-registration data, for example, recruiters can look for information such as which out-of-state colleges and universities are providing us with new teachers. They can then make sure we recruit there again next year.

This is just a first step in using the Website to improve our recruitment efforts. There's more to come.

Posted by Paul Cory at 03:21 PM on May 20, 2005 | Leave Feedback

Your Schools, on TV

Every month, you can see the best that Wake County's schools have to offer from the comfort of your living room on The School Connection. Hosted by Christy Hardee, The School Connection tells the stories of our students, teachers and schools, providing news and information that paints a vivid picture of the opportunities, challenges and diversity within WCPSS.

The School Connection airs on public-access cable channels throughout Wake County; you'll find a schedule at the above link. But you'll also find segments from the show in QuickTime for on-demand viewing, including a complete archive of our past shows (including student performances!). We're experimenting this month with a larger file format -- we hope making the show easier to view will make up for the longer download times. Please let us know what you think.

Posted by Chip Sudderth at 10:55 AM on May 20, 2005 | Leave Feedback