Oct. 22, 2009
           

New board members field questions about change  

The last-minute rush of school board campaigning has been replaced by a torrent of questions for newly-elected school board members about how much change they wish to bring to Wake County’s schools –  and how quickly they want to do so.

For the most part, those expected to form the new school board majority have said they have no interest in rushing to reassign thousands of students or immediately dismantling the magnet school program. Discussions have started, however, about ways to offer families more freedom to enroll students closer to where they live.

A call for neighborhood schools played a large role in bringing four new members to the nine-person school board. They will join current board member Ron Margiotta, who was often the strongest critic of the system’s current assignment policies.

The historic shift also included one particularly odd twist in the storyline. Even though candidate Cathy Truitt withdrew from her runoff race against John Tedesco and formally endorsed him this week, Tedesco said he is taking no chances and will continue to campaign unless the Nov. 3 election is formally cancelled.

That’s because almost immediately after Truitt withdrew, a small group of mostly African-American parents began looking for ways to elect her anyway. Having withdrawn, Truitt cannot be seated. So a Truitt victory would leave the seat empty and allow the current board to fill the vacancy and retain a majority.

But such a scenario is extremely unlikely, which is why most attention is focused on changes the incoming members want to make when they take office Dec. 1. The group has a multitude of issues it must tackle beyond student assignment.

Higher achievement among poor students, more rigorous courses for those who easily exceed current standards and questions about facilities will be waiting. More budget cuts are still possible. Enrollment projections suggest 10,000 new students during the next two years. And parents repeatedly told incoming board members – as they have said to current ones – that they want to feel more involved in decisions. It is a huge agenda.

“What is probably best right now,” Margiotta said this week, “is for everyone to just take a deep breath.”

Wake schools to make wider use of SAS software

In an abrupt change of direction, Wake school administrators are making sure every principal in the system has an account allowing them to access a SAS software program used to track and predict student progress on state-mandated exams.

The decision was announced at a school board meeting this week after board members listened to reports about an accountability program developed by SAS and a more commonly used program developed through the years by Wake County.

The use of the SAS software, known as EVAAS, was pushed into the spotlight in the final days of the school board elections when critics of the system asked why it was not being more widely used.

William Sanders, who helped develop EVAAS and is highly-regarded nationally, said he did not wish to get involved in the local election debates. But he did not shy away from declaring the merits of EVAAS when it comes to predicting student success and the early identification of students who are falling behind.

The approach used by Wake County differs in several key ways. One of the most obvious is adjusting expected academic growth based on family income or student disability. It also does not try to project student progress beyond the current year.

EVAAS is available for free to Wake, but was not being widely used. As recently as two weeks ago, the assistant superintendent for evaluation and research repeated earlier findings by the district that that the two models generate similarly useful results.

But this week, the district’s chief academic officer called it “an exciting tool” that she hopes to see widely used as part of the system’s push to let data analysis drive change in the classrooms. Sanders said SAS is pleased to help that effort “in any way we can.”

NC math scores remain above U.S. average

Fourth- and eighth-grade students in North Carolina continued to score above the national average on an exam used to gauge academic progress against their peers throughout the country. Results can be found here.

According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress – often called the Nation’s Report Card – North Carolina students achieved a slightly better than average score in 2009. The state began topping national averages on the test in 2000 after scoring well below average when results were first reported in 1990.

The results are based on a sample of students statewide and do not include local results. It does, however, provide enough detail to show white students, Hispanic students and those titled “English Language Learners” all score significantly higher in North Carolina than their peers nationwide.
   
The Nation’s Report Card is expected to be a more significant exam for all states if national efforts to create a common core of classroom standards are fully realized.

The exam also helps people compare what is expected of students at the state and national levels. Even though North Carolina students scored a bit above average, for example, is it clear the federal definition of proficiency exceeds North Carolina’s definition of a student working at grade level.

According to the results, 43 percent of fourth-grade math students in North Carolina scored at the proficient level on the national exam. But 81 percent of all fourth graders were considered to be at grade level by North Carolina’s standards. The differences were similar for eighth-grade math scores.

Common standards getting more attention

The push to create common academic standards throughout the country gained more momentum this week when federal officials announced a $350 million competition to help design national exams for specific subjects.

The announcement comes as the first draft of common curriculum standards continued to win mostly favorable reviews.

This week, the U.S. Coalition for World Class Math, a parent-based group of scientists, engineers and others who are closely following the issue, offered qualified support. Two weeks ago, the Fordham Institute offered generally positive reviews in a 61-page report.

While qualified support and generally positive reviews can hardly be considered a clarion call, it is a notable achievement in the education world where decades have been spent arguing about one approach compared to another.

North Carolina is among the 48 states participating in the effort to define a common core of classroom standards for all students. The work is being led by the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers.
 

Noteworthy…

…  John Wall of North Garner Middle School was named 2009 Principal of the Year by Wake County school officials this week. Fay Jones of Forest Pines Drive Elementary was named the 2009 Assistant Principal of the Year.  The announcement can be found here.

…  Wake school board Chairman Kevin Hill took the unusual step of briefly turning over his gavel to the vice chairman at Tuesday’s meeting so he could present the board with an award from the Council of Urban Boards of Education. The award was given to the system earlier this month to mark its efforts at retaining diversity in the schools.  Hill called it one of the proudest moments of his career.

Wake Education Partnership is a 501(c)(3) non-profit created in 1983 to support public schools, in part by educating the community on current school issues. Most of its financial support comes from local business. Send comments to Tim Simmons, VP Communications, at  tsimmons@wakeedpartnership.org