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Academic Year 2008-09

The purpose of the 2008-09 assignment pattern analysis is to provide information about the (radial) distance at which students live from the schools they attend (either by assignment or by choice). Please note that this study is not intended to measure travel distance of an individual student, but to give the general bounds within which students live from the school they attend (not from the closest school).

The summary data indicate that in 2008-09 nearly 21.8% of the WCPSS students have attended the school they went to by choice, while 78.2 % were assigned to the school they attended. A total of 79.7% of the students lived within 5 miles of the school they have attended - 86.6% of those assigned to a school lived within the 5 mile radius around the school, while only 55.1% of those who went to a school of choice lived within 5 miles of that school. It is interesting to note that these, and similar percentages by school category (elementary, middle, high), have changed very little from what they were in 2006-07 school year.

Academic Year 2008-09
Tables 2008-09 (click on links below to view or download documents)

SCHOOL SUMMARIES

Radial Distance (One-Mile Increments) and Assignment Type: Elementary, Middle, High

DISTRICT-WIDE SUMMARIES

Radial Distance (One-Mile Increments) and Assignment Type: District, Elementary, Middle, High

Radial Distance (Cumulative) and Assignment Type: District, Elementary, Middle, High

Radial Distance and F&R Program: District, Elementary, Middle, High

BY LEVEL SUMMARIES: 2006-07 and 2008-09

Radial Distance (5-mile, 10-mile) for District, Elementary, Middle, High Schools

School Roster, 2008-09

Note: There are many ways to judge/measure distance. They range from straight-line distance, to distance traveled on a school bus route, to distance traveled walking, to distance travelled by car, to indirect measures such as time traveled using different means. The straight-line distance between specified geocoding points (or radial distance) is a lower bound on the actual travel distance between these points. It is a repeatable measure that allows apples to apples comparison of the assignment distributions among different schools, and among different academic years. This may not be the case for distances measured using bus routes, or other travel measures. Please see Report 2006 for more information.

To inquire about the bus routes for WCPSS schools, please refer to the Transportation Department's web page: School Bus Transportation - Bus Routes and Stops at http://www.wcpss.net/transportation/bus_routes.html

Academic Year 2006-07
The purpose of the Distance Analysis, 2006-07 study is to inform the Board of Education, WCPSS staff and citizens of Wake County about the distance at which students live from the schools they attend. Please note that this study is not intended to measure travel distance of a particular student, but to give the general bounds within which student lives from the attending school.

Information is presented in visual format (maps) and tabular format for 143 individual schools (128,260 students total), and by educational level (93 elementary, 28 middle, 22 high), that includes traditional, magnet, year-round and modified calendar schools. The four special/optional schools: Longview, Mt. Vernon, Phillips, and River Oaks (345 students total) were excluded from the study.

Academic Year 2006-07
Maps and Tables (click on links below to view or download documents)

Summary Report: "Distance from Student Residence to School, 2006-07"

93 Individual Elementary Schools (2006-07)
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28 Individual Middle Schools (2006-07)
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22 Individual High Schools (2006-07) -html page
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Summaries (system-wide and by E, M, H level) (2006-07)
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Distance Analysis, 2006-07 Report

The school district summary provides, in tabular format, cumulative data across levels and schools by individual distance rings, as well as by radius, i.e., cumulative count of all attending students within an X mile radius around a school.

Also included in the information is the type of assignment by indicator codes (Appendix I). In this context, there are two primary groups of Wake school students: by assignment and by choice. The first category are those who are assigned to a school by the school administration based on the Board of Education assignment plan or the special needs of students. In the second category are those who submit an application to WCPSS and are then given an approval to attend a school parents have requested, e.g., magnet, year-round, or a transfer to a school other than their base (assigned) school. Students attending a school by choice, such as those going to magnet and year-round schools, or transfers, who use their own transportation, tend to live further from the attending school than “by assignment” students.

Examples below illustrate the distance analysis using the Broughton High School data for the 2006-07 academic year.

In the graph on the left, each green dot represents a student by place of residence (geocoded by street segment) going to Broughton High School by assignment, while each yellow dot represents a student going to Broughton High School by choice (after the students was admitted through an application process).
The table on the right shows an example of the number of students in each of the one-mile wide concentric rings around the school, the breakdown of student attendance by assignment and by choice categories, and the 5-mile attendance summary.

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