EduFact:

The $970 million school bond will help build 17 new schools, provide major renovations for 13 existing schools, provide technology replacements and upgrades, and fund land and start-up design for 13 additional schools. Visit the Partnership's site for more information about the bond.

Annual Meeting to Celebrate a Community United

Limited seats are still available for the Partnership’s 2006 Annual Meeting on Oct. 12 from 7:30 to 9:30 a.m. at the McKimmon Center. Come network with other business and government leaders, parents, teachers and community representatives and celebrate the 30th anniversary of the merger of the Raleigh City and Wake County school systems into the Wake County Public School System. To purchase a ticket or a corporate table, visit our web site.

Partnership Launches Redesigned Web Site

Take some time this week to visit Wake Education Partnership’s new and improved web site at WakeEdPartnership.org. In addition to a new look, the site offers better navigation and more information for anyone interested in cultivating world-class public schools in Wake County. From the site, visitors can learn about the school bond, register for Partnership events, check out programs for teachers and community members, download research reports, and make an investment in the Annual Fund for Education.

Wake Schools Win Challenge Grants

Fifteen Wake County public schools will start the new school year with some additional funding. The schools won challenge grants from Wake Education Partnership through their participation in the 2006 Annual Fund for Education campaign. The school challenge is an awards process in which schools compete within categories based on the number of employees at each school. The awards allow the Partnership to recognize outstanding schools based on a variety of achievements they have made throughout their individual campaigns. Awards of unrestricted grant money ranging from $125 to $1,500 are given to the schools that represent the highest standards of merit in dedication to their campaign.

Register to Vote in Wake County

To vote on Nov. 7, you must be registered by Oct. 13. For information on how to register or to check if you are already registered, visit http://www.wakegov.com/elections or call the Wake County Board of Elections at (919) 856-6240. This site also offers information about polling locations and one-stop voting, which begins Oct. 19 at the Board of Elections.

Three Middle Schools Slated for Year-Round Conversion

The Wake County Board of Education last week board voted to convert East Wake, North Garner and Salem middle schools to a year-round calendar for 2007-08. As a result, thousands of students will be moved to new schools next year. Many current year-round students will be required to return to their converted base schools. Other students will then be reassigned to existing year-round schools to replace the departing children. The board will allow rising fourth-, fifth-, seventh- and eighth-graders at existing year-round schools to stay where they are if their base schools are converted.

Wake expects 42,000 more students by 2010. Year-round schools can handle 20 percent to 33 percent more students than traditional schools by splitting students into four groups and keeping the building into constant use. The middle school conversions offer a way to help families keep their children on the same calendar if they also have children at the converted elementary schools. At East Wake, North Garner and Salem, most students will come from year-round elementary schools.

The board also unanimously passed a resolution asking the General Assembly to study the programs in the state's charter schools and determine whether the cap on charters should be increased. For more, visit The News & Observer online.

Mentoring for New Principals Gains Policy Attention

A growing number of states are providing new forms of coaching and training for novice principals in the hope of turning what’s often a sink-or-swim experience into one more likely to lead to improved school performance. State-led initiatives to create a mentoring program for all new principals have been launched recently in Alaska, Arizona, Illinois and Missouri. In addition, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Mississippi, and Pennsylvania have contracts with the National Institute for School Leadership, a private group that trains principals in such skills as strategic planning. For more, visit Education Week online (requires free registration).

For more about what Wake Education Partnership is doing to support new principals, visit the Triangle Leadership Academy (formerly the Wake Leadership Academy) online.

U.S. Child Poverty Trends on the Rise

Over the past 10 years, U.S. child poverty rates took two sharp turns: a major reduction from 1993 to 2000 followed by a slight hike from 2000 to 2004. Both shifts have been even more dramatic for black and Hispanic children. Exploring the driving forces behind trends in child poverty offers insights on policy, as well as on the well-being of children, since child poverty is associated with many negative outcomes in later life -- low earnings, reduced educational attainment, teenage childbearing, and physical and mental health problems. A recent brief from the Urban Institute shows that economic conditions, together with parental education and work, are the dominant factors behind recent changes in child poverty. Changes in the share of families headed by single parents seem to have played almost no role in the recent changes in child poverty. According to the analysis, the 1993 to 2000 drop in child poverty is largely due to improvements in the job market, especially for less-educated workers. The economic downturn beginning in 2000 hit all families, even those with more education, but the families of black children were hit hardest.

School Choice Doesn’t Always Create Competition

Research from countries with broad school choice initiatives has become particularly relevant to the U.S. with the passage of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and the potential for all students in failing schools to gain access to new schooling options. A new paper from the National Center for the Study of Privatization of Education (NCSPE) at Columbia University examines school choice policies in New Zealand, where 91 percent of primary students and 84 percent of secondary students attend their first choice school. Roughly 30 percent of students do not attend the schools closest to their homes, suggesting some competition for students between schools. The paper examines the impact of school choice on student achievement, showing that low-income schools are less likely to produce qualified students and that competition does not appear to have induced these schools to improve. The author argues that most schools in New Zealand do not face structural competition, defined as five or more competing schools in close proximity, and most school leaders are not threatened by consistent competition.

Report Projects Education Statistics to 2015

A new publication from the National Center for Education Statistics provides projections for enrollment, graduates, teachers, and expenditures in elementary and secondary schools, and enrollment and degrees for college and universities. For the nation, the report offers data on enrollment, teachers, graduates and expenditures for the past 14 years and projections to the year 2015. Some highlights from the report: enrollment in public elementary and secondary schools rose 18 percent between 1990 and 2003 and is projected to increase an additional 6 percent between 2003 and 2015; between 2003 and 2015, private school enrollment is expected to increase by 7 percent; college enrollment rose by 25 percent between 1990 and 2004 and is projected to increase a further 15 percent by 2015; the number of high school graduates increased by 21 percent between 1990-91 and 2002-03 and a further increase of 6 percent is projected by 2015-16.

Make an Investment

Your donations make Wake Education Partnership's work possible. Please help us continue to support excellence in public education in Wake County by making an investment in the Annual Fund for Education today. When we invest in our schools, we build a better, stronger, more prosperous community for us all. And together, we all win.

Mark Your Calendar

Oct. 3: Wake Regional Education Roundtable from noon-1:30 p.m. at Flavors Restaurant on the Wake Technical Community College Campus. Registration for this event is at capacity, but waiting list registration is available online.

Oct. 12: Annual Meeting from 7:30-9:30 a.m. at the McKimmon Center. "A Community United: Celebrating 30 Years of Courageous Leadership." Join us for a celebration of the 30th Anniversary of the merger of the Raleigh City and Wake County School Systems. Register online today.