2007-08 Superintendent's Plan for Student Success
Board Q&A
Questions and Answers 1 (100 KB Acrobat File)
Questions and Answers 2 (212 KB Acrobat File)
Questions and Answers 3 (164 KB Acrobat File)
The 2007-08 Superintendent's Plan for Student Success was presented to the Board of Education on March 77.
Executive Summary
March 6, 2007
Wake County Board of Education:
Working as a community of educators and stakeholders, with support of the broader community, we will ensure that every child educated in our school system graduates on time, prepared for the future.
This is my vision of the Wake County Public School System (WCPSS). Any vision that encompasses success for "every child" could be immediately criticized as being unrealistic or foolish. But we hold to it for two reasons.
First, in education the concept of "acceptable losses" has no place in establishing a vision. Parents and citizens alike expect WCPSS educators to give each individual child the attention and support necessary to be successful, and it is our constitutional duty to provide each child a sound, basic education. As a result, our strategic planning begins with the assumption that each child has the potential to achieve greater academic success, and then seeks to identify or leverage resources to maximize that potential.
Second, this vision is almost perfectly aligned with current state and federal approaches to educational governance and reform, from The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of 2001 to the North Carolina State Board of Education's newly-adopted vision that "every public school student will graduate from high school, globally competitive for work and postsecondary education and prepared for life in the 21st century." NCLB in particular sets the achievement standard as having 100 percent of all students performing at or above grade level by 2014. It is our duty to aspire to these high expectations and standards.
Strategic Direction
Since July 1, 2006, the WCPSS has aligned its planning and core business practices along four strategic directives that have provided important guidance toward the vision in a time of unprecedented enrollment growth, changing demographics, and elevated academic standards.
(1) Rededicating our focus on teaching and learning: Wake County students continue to demonstrate high academic performance, with average SAT scores and participation rates well ahead of state and national averages, a record number of students taking Advanced Placement tests, and an on-time graduation rate second only to Fairfax County, Virginia, in large urban districts across the nation. However, recent changes in the state's end-of-grade mathematics assessments have indicated the need for improvement in all North Carolina districts, including WCPSS. The State Board of Education has also adopted new goals for school districts in line with its "21st century" vision.
"Strategic planning begins with the assumption that each child has the potential to achieve greater academic success, and then seeks to identify or leverage resources to maximize that potential."
In light of these changes, and conscious of accelerating globalization and technological change, the Wake County Board of Education authorized a comprehensive independent curriculum management audit of WCPSS on February 6, 2007. Unlike prior independent assessments of the school system's business and facility management functions, the audit will evaluate the core business of the school system analyzing the management and quality of its academic program. The audit, based on a business model developed by the accounting firm Peat, Marwick, and Mitchell, will be conducted by the International Curriculum Management Audit Center of Phi Delta Kappa International over a six-month period.
(2) Retaining, recruiting, and training high quality employees: The core of a successful school system is its employees, both those who teach and those who support teachers. As Wake County continues to grow, the demand for high quality teachers continues to climb -- but as we continue to recruit teachers from across the nation, we must not lose sight of the stability and experience our veteran employees bring to our students every day.
We are analyzing and using data from the statewide Teacher Working Conditions surveys completed last spring in school improvement planning, reviewing the ratios of initially licensed teachers to mentors, and working to provide more effective induction programs to support new central services employees. We are also providing expanded leadership training at all levels in order to ensure that our employees are led by supportive administrators and continue their development as members of professional learning communities.
(3) Developing and implementing systems and structures to support schools, ensure accountability, and engage the community: While additional resources are necessary to support our growing student population, they are only part of the answer. Since July 1, a number of steps have been taken to make WCPSS's organizational structure more streamlined and effective. Ten percent of the former senior leadership positions were eliminated, including that of the deputy superintendent. Former area assistant superintendent positions were redefi ned as area superintendents with repurposed resources and accountability for school improvement planning in each of our 147 schools.
Long range planning for growth is being increased, including the use of data and methodology provided by the Operations Research/Education Laboratory at North Carolina State University for determining the location of future schools. We are also strengthening our community engagement by bringing together teacher, parent, principal and support staff advisory councils for regular unifi ed summits.
(4) Expanding fiscal accountability: WCPSS and the Wake County Board of Education have taken a number of affi rmative steps to increase the transparency and oversight of our fi nancial management. A Chief Business Offi cer with MBA and CPA credentials along with more than 24 years of for-profi t business experience has been hired and is assessing business practices from a non-educator's perspective. As recommended by Summerford Accountancy following their fraud vulnerability assessment, WCPSS is currently conducting an internal risk assessment. Budget managers' certification requirements are under review as well.
Significantly, the Wake County Board of Education has established North Carolina's first independent Audit Committee to review the findings of external audits, similar to Sarbanes-Oxley requirements for publicly held corporations.
The 2007-08 Plan For Student Success
WCPSS's primary budget document is the Plan for Student Success. It contains a detailed budget for FY2007-08, including detailed business cases for new or expansion items, and a further three-year strategic plan. The initial plan is developed by the superintendent and staff and submitted to the Wake County Board of Education. Once approved, the board presents the plan to the Wake County Board of Commissioners, requesting the local funding needed to support it.
As in the 2006-07 Plan for Student Success, this year's plan is narrowly focused on responding to Wake County's student enrollment growth, with a projected net gain of 8,000 students on the 20th day of classes. To respond, WCPSS opens seven new schools in 2007: North Forest Pines Drive, East Garner, and Sanford Creek elementary schools; East Cary and the "M5" Wendell middle schools; and the East Wake schools of Engineering Systems and Arts, Education and Global Studies. (This last development completes East Wake High's transition into a campus of four smaller schools with distinctive programs.) Three schools given an "early start" on modular campuses move into their permanent facilities: Forest Pines Drive, Holly Grove, and Wakelon elementaries. Three additional ninth grade centers will come into operation to provide additional space for students while aiding students' transition into high school. Nineteen elementary and three middle schools will also transition to multi-track year-round calendars in order to serve more students in existing facilities.
Opening new schools and expanding use of the year-round calendar requires increased operational funding for the school system, including approximately $3.2 million in recurring expenses associated with the transition of 22 schools to a multi-track year-round calendar in accordance with the Capital Improvement Plan jointly adopted by the Wake County Board of Education and Wake County Board of Commissioners in 2006. The primary operational expense driven by enrollment growth lies in personnel. Approximately 82 percent of WCPSS's total funding pays for employee salaries and benefi ts, and approximately 95 percent of WCPSS's positions are school based. Regardless of where they are located, a projected 8,000-student increase requires additional teachers, teacher assistants, child nutrition specialists, bus drivers, and other staff to support them.
Additional funding is requested for improving certifi ed, non-certifi ed, and extra-duty compensation supporting Strategic Directive 2, "Retaining, recruiting and training high quality employees," and for other adjustments requested due to inflation and commitments by the Wake County Board of Education. Requests for funding new initiatives are sharply limited for two reasons. First, it is recognized that Wake County citizens made a signifi cant investment in the school system's infrastructure through the November 2006 bond referendum. Second, the results of the comprehensive independent curriculum management audit are not yet known and may prompt other changes in WCPSS's academic program.
Conclusion
The Wake County Public School System has a long and proud history of courageous choices made by the Board of Education, by strong leaders in our community and by administration. We are privileged to stand on the shoulders of giants -- providing a vantage point to see how much more work is needed to extend academic success to all of our students. We are proud of our students' current accomplishments and our school system's current performance, but we are not content with a grade "on the curve."
Instead, we choose to hold to the vision and redouble our efforts on behalf of all of Wake County's students.
Respectfully Submitted,
Del Burns, Ed.D.
Superintendent