October 22, 2010

Top News

Make a Difference Day

The Wake County Public School System will be participating in Make a Difference Day by collecting literacy kits at Central Services offices from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. on Saturday, October 23.

School system volunteers collecting donations for Early Literacy Kits at

Wake County Public School System Central Administration Building 3600 Wake Forest Road Raleigh, NC

Crossroads II Building Crossroads Office Park 110 Corning Road Cary, NC

Items needed to assemble the kit:

• One two-gallon plastic zip top bag
• New or gently used picture book for read aloud (Suggested titles)
• Notebook – spiral-bound or composition book
• 8-pack of crayons
• Pencil
• Glue stick
• Blunt scissors
• Pack of 100 3x5 index cards

Nearly 5,000 students in Wake County elementary schools have been identified for being at risk of not being on reading level this year. WCPSS has set a goal of collecting 5,000 literacy kits, so each of these students will have the resources they need to practice their literacy skills at home.

Gainey Provides Update on Volunteer Process

More than 35,000 people have applied to volunteer in WCPSS schools this year, Assistant Superintendent Stephen Gainey told the Board of Education in its Oct. 19 work session. Gainey said the district has cleared 28, 593 volunteers and is waiting for background checks on 6,406.

Dr. Gainey and WCPSS Human Resources which already oversaw criminal background checks for employment began managing volunteer checks this year with the consolidation of services. This year, the school district began requiring background checks on all volunteers. Once entered into the database, the volunteer will carry over after this school year.

More than $140,000 has been spent so far this year on background checks. Gainey said after initiating the program and building the database of volunteers this year, the costs should be much less next year. Board members asked about reducing costs by partnering with other agencies or seeking discounts.

Board Members Discuss Superintendent Search

At its Oct. 19 work session, the Board of Education discussed the latest steps in its search for a new superintendent. Board vice chair Debra Goldman who chairs the search committee said Heidrick & Struggles, a consulting firm hired by the board, has been interviewing candidates for the job. The committee met with representatives of the firm last week. The firm will list five to 10 candidates that the committee will narrow down to three to five people to be interviewed by the full school board in closed session. The next meeting of the search committee is November 1.

More News

Hargens Discusses Impact of Race to the Top

The state plans to invest more than half of the $400 million in federal "Race to the Top" funds in creating tools that school districts like Wake County will be able to use. The state will provide the Wake County Public School System $10.2 million and the district must submit plans for use of those funds by the end of November.

At the Board of Education work session on Oct. 19, Interim Superintendent Donna Hargens and Chief Business Officer David Neter described the Renaissance Model as a way to use the four-year, $10.2 million federal funds to make an impact in the district. The two-part plan will create a STEM anchor high school and provide a model to reinvent schools.

The STEM anchor high school would be the planned Wake NC State STEM Early College High School due to open in 2011-12. WCPSS has partnered with NC State to open the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) Early College to be located on the NC State campus. Hargens said as a STEM anchor high school, it could serve a network of STEM schools across the district.

The four schools with the lowest performance composites - Barwell Road, Brentwood Magnet, Creech Road and Wilburn – would be reinvented. Staff would be provided an opportunity to reapply or to transfer. Teachers with a record of student growth would be recruited with bonuses. Classrooms would be outfitted with the latest technology. There would be flexibility in the school day and school year to provide more instructional time. Teachers would earn performance pay for student academic growth.

Hargens and Neter noted there are still details to be worked out for these schools which would serve as demonstration schools for the rest of the school district.

In looking at the impact of the state’s Race to the Top plan, Hargens noted that WCPSS has implemented much of what the state is proposing. She pointed out that no WCPSS school appears on the state’s list of lowest achieving schools targeted for state turnaround efforts.

Haydon Reviews Importance of Planning Assumptions

Planning assumption will provide the foundation for the next school construction program, WCPSS Facilities chief Don Haydon told the Board of Education at its Oct. 19 work session. Haydon said the facilities staff is working on a draft set of planning assumptions that involves about 20 assumptions for facilities planning. Haydon said staff will be discussing these assumptions with the board in work sessions in the next two or three months. Haydon said the assumptions would include using 100 percent of seats in schools, the use of multi-track, year-round or traditional schedules, goals for renovations to older schools and the size of new schools. He said current enrollment projections indicate a need for space for 60,000 additional students in 10 years.

Two High Schools Honored for Graduation Rates

Two Wake County Public School System high schools were among 20 North Carolina high schools honored by State Superintendent June Atkinson for having the highest four-year cohort graduation rates in the state for the 2009-10 school year.

Green Hope High School and Panther Creek High School were congratulated by Atkinson as she highlighted the importance of high school graduation for all students in a ceremony Wednesday in the State Education Building in Raleigh.

Governor Beverly Perdue, Interim Wake Superintendent Donna Hargens and Wake County Board of Education Chair Ron Margiotta joined Superintendent Atkinson in congratulating Green Hope High Principal Jim Hedrick and Panther Creek High Principal Rodney Nelson.

"More than report card grades, state test scores, or SAT results, the graduation rate reflects our ability to keep students engaged in school and learning so that they will earn a high school diploma," said Atkinson. "While I commend the 30 districts and schools we celebrate today for reaching rates of nearly 85 percent or higher, we must do more to ensure every student makes it to graduation day with the skills needed for success in the future."

Green Hope was honored for NC high schools with 400 to 499 seniors. The four-year Green Hope High graduation rate is 92.6 percent and the five-year rate is 94.3 percent. The state began this recognition program in 2008. Green Hope has been recognized for its high graduation rates in each of the three years since the recognition program began. 

The four-year Panther Creek High graduation rate is 92.8 percent while the five-year rate is 97.7 percent. Panther Creek High was honored for NC high schools with more than 500 seniors. Panther Creek received this honor in its first year of eligibility with the Class of 2010 becoming the first class of seniors to graduate from Panther Creek, one of Wake County's newest high schools.

AP Participation and Exam Scores Continue to Rise

The number of WCPSS students taking Advanced Placement (AP) courses and exams continued to grow in 2009-10. Between 1996-97 and 2009-10, the number of students taking AP exams has increased by 238 percent, and the number of exams taken has increased by 269 percent.

In 2009-10, 5006 WCPSS students took 10,288 exams and 76.4 percent had scores of 3 or higher. This is significantly higher than the state where 59.4 percent of tests had scores of 3 or higher. The average WCPSS exam score increased from 3.36 in 2008-09 to 3.39 in 2009-10 and surpassed the state score of 2.89.

AP exam grades determine whether a student is qualified to receive college credit or advanced placement into a higher level course in college. The scores are reported on a 5-point scale. A score of 3 or above is required to be qualified.

Evans Outlines Student Assignment Timeline

WCPSS Growth and Planning Senior Director Laura Evans talked to the Board of Education in its Oct. 19 work session about reviewing the assignments for 2011-12. Evans said only one school – Walnut Creek Elementary – is due to open next year. The timeline reviewing and improving assignments for 2011-12 includes community discussions in November on the impact of opening Walnut Creek Elementary, as well as other small changes to relieve overcrowding.  The school system staff would hear input on new assignments, overcrowding and other proposed changes, and have the opportunity for dialog with parents. The detailed timeline describes the numerous steps the board and staff would take in finalizing assignments for the 2011-12 school year.

District Improvement Letters Mailed

Wake County families will soon receive a letter that describes the school district’s progress in moving out of the No Child Left Behind federal designation of District Improvement, school administrators told the Board of Education in its Oct. 19 work session. WCPSS Title I coordinator Willi Webb explained that a district enters improvement status when the district's students miss achievement goals for two years in a row in math or reading in all three grade spans (3-5, 6-8, 9-12). WCPSS test scores for 2008-09 moved the district out of improvement for reading. Unfortunately, the district missed the goal for math and continues in district improvement in math.

Dr. Hargens Visits Brooks Second-Grade Teachers

Interim Superintendent Donna Hargens spent some time in the five second-grade classrooms at Brooks Magnet Elementary last week. For Hargens, it's the third of a series of visits she plans to make to schools with Tama Bouncer of Wake NCAE to connect with teachers and get a firsthand look into the classroom. In the coming weeks, she plans to visit classrooms from kindergarten through high school.

At Brooks, Dr. Hargens visited the second-grade teaching team before the start of school. Then she visited each of the second-grade classrooms where she found the teachers helping students to understand measurement as they drew house blueprints and created monster meter measurers.
Click to listen to Dr. Hargens Visits Brooks Second-Grade Teachers  This is an 8 minute mp3 file. You can see photos of Brooks first graders working on measuring here.