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Superintendent Burns Calls for Elimination of Achievement Gaps

Supporting Information (76 KB Acrobat File)

Complete Text of Dr. Burns' Speech (88 KB Acrobat File)

Midterm Report Newspaper Insert (4.8 MB Acrobat File)

January 8, 2007 - In his midterm report to the community today, Superintendent Del Burns called for the elimination of the achievement gaps in the Wake County Public School System.

“There are significant achievement gaps in our schools,” said Burns. “We must concern ourselves with each of our students’ academic growth -- those who are academically gifted as well as those who are academically challenged.”

Burns’ call for action follows a curriculum management audit he requested that studied WCPSS and brought back a series of recommendations, with a number one recommendation of eliminating the achievement gaps.

Despite the reputation WCPSS has earned as a strong academic school system based on Advanced Placement and SAT scores well above state and national averages, an on-time graduation rate that is near the top of the nation’s urban school districts and more than 90 percent of elementary and middle school students scoring at grade level or above on state testing, Burns said more must be done.

For 2006-07, the on-time graduation rate for all WCPSS students was almost 80 percent. However, the graduation rate for students on free or reduced price lunch was 63 percent; for students with disabilities was 57 percent; and for limited English proficient students was 44 percent.

Burns has refocused his strategic directive of teaching and learning to learning and teaching. Putting learning first focuses attention on results, especially student academic success.

“Focusing upon results supports our purposeful change into a learning organization for the current century,” said Burns. “We will be a school system constantly going to the data, going to our community; going to outside experts, parents and business volunteers – to continuously improve our school system. This will help us realize our vision of having all students graduate on- time, prepared for the future and bind us all together in support of the children of Wake County.”

“Being a good school system isn’t good enough anymore,” said Burns. “We requested and underwent a comprehensive curriculum management audit that presented a number of findings and recommendations revealing opportunities for improvement. That audit is a tool that we must use to chart our course.”

Completed in September of last year, the curriculum management audit is an independent review of school system educational operations identifying areas where the school system could improve results, align policies and practices and move closer to the system’s vision of every child graduating on-time, prepared for the future. Each of the audit’s 117 suggestions for improvement was categorized into eight recommendation areas. To ensure accountability, a senior level administrator has assembled a team that is responsible for planning and implementing each of these recommendations.

“We have been studying the audit closely. We are eager to use it. The audit is our tool for purposeful change,” said Burns. “We have also been moving forward with establishing Professional Learning Communities in our schools, to provide a team-based approach to solving new challenges in the classroom.”

Professional Learning Communities allow the school system to meet the needs of students by providing a team-based approach to challenges faced in the classroom. What once was a teacher operating in near-isolation in the classroom has now emerged into a collaborative, information-driven process among teachers where they share ideas and strategies to reach all students.

“We are a strong school system with a strong foundation,” said Burns. “There is no gimmick, no parade of new programs, and no silver bullet that will have a lasting effect on students’ ability to graduate on time, prepared for the future. Instead, our change must be purposeful, it must be strategic, and it must strengthen our culture of learning and teaching.”

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