Superintendent Tony Tata will answer parents’ and citizens’ questions in a live, interactive chat session on Friday, July 1, at 10:00 a.m.

The online Virtual Town Hall will be held at the Wake County Public School System’s website at www.wcpss.net. A link to the chat will be available on the front page at 9:45 a.m. Participants can log in and submit questions in advance as well as during the hour-long event. Questions will be moderated for time, to protect confidential information and to avoid abusive or off-topic subjects.

The live replay of the July 1, 2011 Virtual Town Hall is now available.

Newsweek recognized Green Hope High for being 206^th in the nation in the magazine’s America’s Best Schools national rankings.

The magazine reported that Green Hope had a graduation rate of 93 percent, an average SAT score of 1715 and 97 percent of graduates were college bound. 

Other WCPSS high schools recognized in the national rankings include Panther Creek High at 410, Enloe Magnet High at 421 and Apex High at 447. 

This year the magazine revamped the methodology for its rankings. Newsweek enlisted a panel of experts to measure a school’s success in turning out college-ready  students and now score high schools on six components: graduation rate (25%), college matriculation rate (25%), AP tests taken per graduate (25%), average SAT/ACT scores (10%), average AP/IB/AICE scores (10%), and AP courses offered (5%).

Newsweek sought data from more than 10,000 public high schools across the country to compile its 2011 list of top high schools in America. In order to be considered for the list, each school had to complete a survey requesting specific data from the 2009-10 academic year. In total, the magazine staff assessed more than 1,100 schools to produce its final list of top 500 high schools.

You can read more about the magazine rankings here.

What does “Adequate Yearly Progress” mean for our schools, especially those receiving Title I funding? This video podcast explains AYP.

The Board of Education received the results of an outside audit on closing achievement gaps between student groups that Superintendent Tata said will provide a baseline for the school system in addressing students’ academic needs.

Dr. Lindsay Page of the Harvard University School of Education said the audit indicated WCPSS students score higher than the state average and are continuing to grow academically as the state increases instructional standards.  She said the gap in average achievement between the district and the state has narrowed somewhat.

Page noted there are different academic measures to consider. Composite results show the percent of students achieving proficiency. Scale scores are a measure of an individual student’s results on testing. Page said the different measures provide different information. 

Page showed analysis that indicated composite scores and scale scores are improving over time, but there is little change in the achievement gaps between student groups. Substantial gaps remain between students who do not receive free and reduced price lunch and those that do, as well as Asian and white students compared with minority students. 

Page said the audit found that schools that demonstrate high levels of growth in reading generally demonstrate high levels of growth in math. She said schools with a high proportion of free and reduced price lunch students exhibit less growth than schools with a low proportion of free and reduced price lunch students, though there are exceptions.

You can review the powerpoint presentation on the audit made to the board here.

The Board of Education named Michael Armstrong as principal of Bugg Magnet Elementary and appointed retired principal Charles Langley as interim principal at Middle Creek Elementary at its meeting Tuesday.

Armstrong has served as assistant principal at Combs Magnet Elementary since 2008. Prior to that, he was the magnet coordinator at Combs and a teacher at Bugg Magnet Elementary. Earlier, he worked as an elementary teacher in Asheville, NC. 

Langley has served as an interim principal at East Garner Elementary, West Lake Middle, Middle Creek Elementary and West Lake Elementary. He retired in 2008 after serving as principal of Willow Springs Elementary for 14 years. Earlier, he worked as assistant principal at East Millbrook Middle, West Millbrook Middle and Whitley Middle. 

The board named as assistant principals Travis Shillings at Olive Chapel Elementary, Kenneth Kirk at Sycamore Creek Elementary, Lynne Peters at Wilburn Elementary, Jessica Burroughs at East Garner Middle, Lacey Peckham at Martin Magnet Middle, Marla Mondora at Moore Square Magnet Middle, Mark Maultsby at Garner Magnet High, Beverly Smith at Garner Magnet High, Emily Mountford at Holly Springs High, Glenn Dansky at Millbrook Magnet High, Susan Taylor at Panther Creek High and George Harden at Southeast Raleigh Magnet High.

The Wake County Board of Education re-elected Ron Margiotta as board chair and elected John Tedesco vice chair at its annual meeting on Tuesday.  The board retained Tharrington Smith as its legal counsel.