61 WCPSS schools named 2005 Schools of Excellence
August 4, 2004 - The Wake County Public School System had a record number of schools honored by the state including 61 named Schools of Excellence, according to the results of the 2004-05 state ABCs of Public Education announced today.
Highlights
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"The 104 schools honored as Schools of Excellence or Schools of Distinction is the largest number of schools we've ever had. That shows the hard work of teachers, students and parents," said Superintendent Bill McNeal. "I congratulate Green Hope High and Salem Middle for the recognition they earned. I am proud of the success schools enjoyed all across our county"
Fourteen of Wake County's schools had ABCs performance composite scores above 95 percent, and 9 of those 14 schools also met the high growth standard. First-year elementary schools Highcroft Road and Turner Creek Road were recognized as Honor Schools of Excellence and achieved high growth. Highcroft Road had a composite score above 99 percent and Turner Creek road had a composite score above 95 percent.
Davis Drive, Green Hope and Morrisville elementary schools had scores above 98 percent. Brassfield and Washington had scores above 97. Last year 22 schools had ABCs performance composite scores above 95.
Green Hope High and Salem Middle
Green Hope High School was named one of the state's Top 10 Most Improved
High Schools. Green Hope High had a composite score of 91.7 and was recognized
as an Honor School of Excellence with high growth. Salem Middle School was
named one of the state's Top 25 Most Improved K-8 Schools. Salem Middle
had a composite score of 95.3 and was recognized as an Honor School of Excellence
with high growth.
The new principal at Green Hope High is James Hedrick, who praised his school community. "I've talked with parents and staff and the one overlying factor I have found is that we have a dedicated group of teachers who are committed to student achievement," said Hedrick. "We have a great group of students who are committed to learning and want to do well. Our parents want to see their children succeed and we have a school community that values education and its benefits."
Matt Wight is principal of Salem Middle which first opened last year with more than 700 students in grades six through eight. Wight credited his students and teachers for the recognition. "The students who came to us were outstanding," said Wight. "I am very proud of our teachers who came from many different places to join together in a professional learning community, working collaboratively to deliver the best instruction to our students."
Schools of Excellence
Wake County had a total of 61 Schools of Excellence including 54 Honor Schools
of Excellence. These 61 schools had at least 90 percent of their students
perform at or above grade level and met expected or high growth. Honor Schools
of Excellence also met the federal standard of Adequate Yearly Progress.
The state will present a School of Excellence banner to each of the schools.
Last year, Wake had 64 Schools of Excellence.
The elementary schools named Honor Schools of Excellence include Apex, Baileywick, Ballentine, Baucom, Brassfield, Bugg, Cary, Combs, Davis Drive, Dillard Drive, Durant Road, Farmington Woods, Fuquay-Varina, Green Hope, Green, Hilburn Drive, Highcroft Road, Holly Springs, Jeffreys Grove, Jones Dairy, Lacy, Lead Mine, Leesville, Lockhart, Middle Creek, Morrisville, North Ridge, Oak Grove, Olive Chapel, Pleasant Union, Rand Road, Reedy Creek, Salem, Stough, Swift Creek, Timber Drive, Turner Creek Road, Vance, Wakefield, Washington, Weatherstone, Willow Springs, Yates Mill and York. The elementary schools named Schools of Excellence include Adams and West Lake.
The middle schools named Honor Schools of Excellence include Apex, Dillard Drive, Heritage, Ligon, Lufkin Road, Salem, Wakefield, West Cary and West Lake. The middle schools named Schools of Excellence include Davis Drive, Durant Road, Leesville Road and Martin.
At the high school level, Green Hope High was named an Honor School of Excellence for the second year in a row and Apex High was named a School of Excellence. This marked the second year in a row that a WCPSS high school had a composite score higher than 90 and earned recognition as a School of Excellence.
Schools of Distinction
Wake County had 43 Schools of Distinction. These schools had at least 80
percent of their students perform at or above grade level and met expected
growth. Last year Wake had 35 Schools of Distinction. Seven of those schools
reached the School of Excellence standard this time.
The elementary schools honored as Schools of Distinction include Aversboro, Brentwood, Briarcliff, Brooks, Carver, Creech Road, Douglas, Fox Road, Heritage, Hodge Road, Holly Ridge, Hunter, Joyner, Knightdale, Lynn Road, Millbrook, Olds, Penny Road, Powell, Root, Vandora Springs, Wendell, Wilburn, Wildwood Forest and Wiley.
The middle schools honored were Carnage, Carroll, Daniels, East Millbrook, Holly Ridge, Reedy Creek, Wake Forest-Rolesville and West Millbrook. Ten WCPSS high schools were honored including: Athens Drive, Broughton, Cary, Enloe, Fuquay-Varina, Leesville, Sanderson, Southeast Raleigh, Wake Forest-Rolesville, and Wakefield.
Seven schools honored as Schools of Distinction had ABCs performance composite scores above 89 percent including Creech Road, Douglas, Heritage, Hunter, Knightdale and Wildwood Forest elementary schools and Athens Drive High School.
Schools of Progress
Wake County had six schools recognized as Schools of Progress. These schools
had between 60 and 80 percent of their students perform at or above grade
level and met at least expected growth.
The schools recognized include East Garner Middle, East Wake High, Garner High, Knightdale High, Middle Creek High and Millbrook High.
57 schools achieving high growth
Wake had 57 schools achieving high growth, 55 achieving expected growth,
and 19 not meeting expected growth. None were low performing. Last year,
Wake had 58 schools achieving high growth, 47 achieving expected growth,
and 20 schools not meeting expected growth.
Three elementary schools - Fuquay-Varina, Knightdale and Millbrook - achieved high growth this year after being at below expected growth last year.
Four elementary schools had composite scores above 90, but did not meet expected growth. Nine elementary schools had composite scores above 80, but did not meet expected growth.
The ABCs of Public Education
The ABCs of Public Education is the state accountability program designed
to improve student achievement, reward excellence, and provide assistance
to schools that need extra help. This is the ninth year the state has reported
on schools with grades 3-8 and the eighth year for high schools.
The ABCs program focuses primarily on average growth shown by groups of students on state End-of-Grade testing in reading and mathematics. Average test results for a group of students at the end of one year are compared to the scores for those same students at the end of the prior year.
Since 1996-97, schools achieving high growth receive incentive bonuses equivalent to $1,500 per certified teacher and $500 per teacher assistant. Bonuses for schools meeting expected growth are equivalent to $750 per certified teacher and $375 per teacher assistant.
No Child Left Behind, the federal education law, requires an additional measure of school quality called Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP). AYP, which is included in the 2005 ABCs Accountability Report, focuses on subgroups of students with a goal of closing achievement gaps. It does not affect incentive awards for 2004-2005.
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