Don’t Wait: International Students Should Register Now
Center for International Enrollment Assists Rising Kindergartners with Testing Requirement
The Wake County Public School System’s Center for International Enrollment (CIE) opened its doors last September in an effort to ease the registration process for our international families. With the start of the 2010-11 school year quickly approaching, CIE staff is reminding families not to wait until school starts to register. Instead, beat the rush by registering now.
All rising kindergartners, regardless of language spoken, must enroll in WCPSS by registering at their base school. Information on base school assignments can be obtained by calling the Customer Service Center at 850-1600.
Once they are registered, rising kindergartners who speak a language other than English at home will be required to complete an assessment known as the W-APT. The W-APT measures the English language proficiency of students enrolling in the school system. It helps to determine whether or not a child is in need of English language instructional services, and if so, at what level.
The school will give families a date, time and testing location for the assessment during the registration process. The assessment is administered by CIE staff and takes about 30 minutes for a kindergartner to complete.
Larry Savage, director of ESL, said his staff is expecting to test a large number of rising kindergartners prior to the start of the 2010-11 school year.
“We are expecting to test around 1,500 kindergartners this year,” he said. “So the sooner families register, the sooner students can get tested and beat the summer rush.”
W-APT testing begins April 24. Testing will be conducted every weekend with the exception of May 29-30 and July 3-4.
Any students other than rising kindergartners who need to register because they are moving to WCPSS from another district and they speak a language other than English at home must register at the CIE, located in the Central Services building at 3600 Wake Forest Road.
To register, families should call 919-790-6444 to make an appointment with a CIE staff member. Staff members speak Spanish, French and Portuguese and are available to assist families with the enrollment paperwork and to provide general information about the school system. While there, students will be able to complete the W-APT assessment on site.