Seven WCPSS High Schools Honored by ABCs of Public Education

October 5, 2006 - For the second year in a row, Green Hope High School was recognized as an Honor School of Excellence, according to the high school results of the 2005-06 state ABCs of Public Education announced today.

Green Hope High
Named Honor
School of Excellence

Green Hope was one of only three schools in the state recognized as an Honor School of Excellence and was the only one of those three to achieve high growth. Green Hope is also the only traditional comprehensive high school among the three.

More than 90 percent of Green Hope High students were successful on the state's assessments, even though two new assessments were figured into high school scores and the state made adjustments to its growth standards. In order to achieve Honor School of Excellence standards, Green Hope also had to make Annual Yearly Progress (AYP) under the federal No Child Left Behind Act and to meet their state-specified expected growth standards.

Six WCPSS high schools were honored as Schools of Distinction. The schools had more than 80 percent of students scoring proficient on state assessments and met growth standards. Apex High and Athens Drive High were recognized as Honor Schools of Distinction for reaching the 80 percent mark and meeting high growth. Broughton High, Cary High, Leesville Road High and Wakefield High were recognized as Schools of Distinction for reaching the 80 percent mark and meeting expected growth. Only 28 North Carolina high schools earned recognition as Schools of Distinction.

Six WCPSS high schools were recognized as Schools of Progress. The state ABCs of Public Education recognizes schools that have more than 70 percent of students successful on the End-of-Course-testing and meet growth standards as Schools of Progress. Fuquay-Varina High and Wake Forest-Rolesville High were recognized as Honor Schools of Progress for reaching the 70 percent mark and meeting high growth. Garner High, Millbrook High, Sanderson High and East Wake School of Health Sciences were recognized as Schools of Progress for reaching the 70 percent mark and meeting expected growth standards. There were 146 North Carolina high schools recognized as Schools of Progress.

"State and federal standards are demanding more of our students," said Superintendent Del Burns. "Our high school teachers want to make sure our students are up to meeting these new demands. Students are getting more individual attention and being challenged to take rigorous classes. We are aligning our efforts toward one vision: that all our students will graduate on time, prepared for the future."

More tests, more challenging courses, more stringent standards
The eight End-of-Course tests the ABCs of Public Education have used to track student progress for the past eight years include Algebra I, Algebra II, English I, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Geometry and Physical Science. The two additional tests included this year were US History and Civics and Economics.

"While EOCs do not measure every aspect of the high school program, they are an important indicator of how well specific courses are being taught and learned," said David Holdzkom, WCPSS Assistant Superintendent for Evaluation and Research.

WCPSS high school students are being encouraged to take more challenging courses. Through efforts such as Advanced Placement vertical teaming at high schools and AVID classes at middle schools, more students are being challenged to take Honors, Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate courses in high school. WCPSS students took 7,176 Advanced Placement exams for 2005-06. That's an increase of 800 additional tests taken in just one year.

The 2005-06 results are the first provided using the state's new ABCs formulas developed in 2005 to replace the original ones. The new formulas were developed after the General Assembly directed the State Board of Education to complete a thorough evaluation of the ABCs standards. This evaluation highlighted reasons for re-developing the ABCs formulas based on more recent growth rates and on lessons learned from a decade of experience with a statewide accountability model.

Prior to the rollout of the new standards, simulation studies conducted by DPI predicted that fewer schools would meet the new standards, particularly at the high school level. For example, 10 WCPSS high schools achieved "High Growth" in 2004-05. However, had the new 2005-06 standards been in place in 2004-05, none would have done so.

Because this year's ABCs results are based on new formulas, state school accountability officials cautioned against comparing results to previous years.

Meeting Growth Standards
Under the more stringent standards, five WCPSS high schools - Green Hope High, Apex High, Athens Drive High, Fuquay-Varina High and Wake Forest-Rolesville High - achieved high growth.

Nine WCPSS high schools - Broughton High, Cary High, Garner High, Leesville Road High, Millbrook High, Philips High, Sanderson High, Wakefield High and East Wake School of Health Sciences - met expected growth.

Five WCPSS high schools - East Wake High, Enloe High, Knightdale High, Middle Creek High and Southeast Raleigh High - did not meet growth standards. As a result, those schools did not qualify for ABCs of Public Education recognition.

WCPSS had no schools designated by the state as low performing schools.

WCPSS Compared with North Carolina Schools
A total of 81.2 percent of WCPSS students taking End-of-Course test were proficient compared with 71.4 percent of all North Carolina students' End-of-Course results. 73.7 percent of WCPSS high schools made expected or high academic growth compared with 57.4 percent of all North Carolina high schools.

In other urban North Carolina school districts, 72.8 percent of Guilford high schools made expected or high academic growth compared with 68.8 percent of Charlotte-Mecklenburg high schools; 28.6 percent of Durham high schools and 26.7 percent of Forsyth high schools.

Meeting Annual Yearly Progress Standards
Nine WCPSS high schools met Annual Yearly Progress Standards under the federal No Child Left Behind Act. Apex High, Broughton High, Cary High, East Wake High, Enloe High, Fuquay-Varina High, Green Hope High, Leesville Road High and the East Wake School of Health Sciences met AYP.

WCPSS high schools met 94.7 percent of targets under AYP. Of the 19 WCPSS high schools in this ABCs of Public Education report, nine met AYP and five were within two targets. Five others missed three or more targets.

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 high schools.

The ABCs program provides incentive awards to teachers, principals and other certified school-based staff, in addition to teacher assistants. In all schools that attain the High Growth standard, certified staff members each receive up to $1,500 incentive awards and teacher assistants receive up to $500. In schools attaining Expected Growth, certified staff members each receive up to $750 and teacher assistants receive up to $375. This year, funds for incentive awards will be released to local school districts following the November release of the K-8 ABCs accountability results with the goal of districts being able to provide the incentive awards in December to all staff who earn them.

No Child Left Behind requires an additional measure of school quality called Adequate Yearly Progress. AYP focuses on subgroups of students with a goal of closing achievement gaps.

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2005-06 ABCs of Public Education for WCPSS High Schools
School
Expected
Growth
High
Growth
Performance
Composite
ABCs Status
AYP
Apex
Yes
Yes
87.1
School of Distinction
Yes
Athens Drive
Yes
Yes
83.6
School of Distinction
No
Broughton
Yes
No
82.0
School of Distinction
Yes
Cary
Yes
No
84.4
School of Distinction
Yes
East Wake
No
No
58.8
Priority School
Yes
Enloe
No
No
82.9
No Recognition
Yes
Fuquay-Varina
Yes
Yes
76.7
School of Progress
Yes
Garner
Yes
No
67.6
School of Progress
No
Green Hope
Yes
Yes
91.2
Honor School of Excellence
Yes
Knightdale
No
No
66.9
No Recognition
No
Leesville Road
Yes
No
85.8
School of Distinction
Yes
Middle Creek
No
No
76.7
No Recogntion
No
Millbrook
Yes
No
73.8
School of Progress
No
Phillips
Yes
No
31.5
Alternative School
No
Sanderson
Yes
No
78.3
School of Progress
No
Southeast Raleigh
No
No
71.3
No Recogntion
No
Wake Forest-Rolesville
Yes
Yes
78.6
School of Progress
No
Wakefield
Yes
No
83.5
School of Distinction
No
East Wake School of Health Sciences
Yes
No
72.7
School of Progress
Yes