Scholarship Honors Wake County Teacher

Applications from high school seniors for the Susan Ellis Roberts Scholarship are due Jan. 8, 2007. The scholarship, which honors a former Wake County teacher, was established in 2003 to annually award a Wake County public school graduating senior who has demonstrated a creative gift or special talent in visual or performing arts, leadership, teaching, entrepreneurship or other area of talent. The scholarship is a one-time award of $5,000 and may be used to pay for any educational expenses such as tuition, fees, or room and board. For more information and to download an application, visit our website.

Grants Focus on Instructional Enhancement

Applications for Food for Thought grants will be accepted online beginning Jan. 3, 2007. Food for Thought grants are open to all full-time Wake County Public School teachers, teachers’ assistants, school psychologists or counselors, social workers, IRTs and media specialists. This year’s Food for Thought grants will focus on more rigorous approaches to enhancing student success through collaboration. Instructional enhancement grants are designed to allow four or more teachers time to plan and reflect with colleagues in order to implement changes in teaching behavior that will positively affect student success and engagement in the classroom. More information is available on our website.

Support Public Education with a Gift to EduBrief

Together, we can make a difference for Wake County. Every child deserves to find quality in the classroom, and with your help, the Partnership is working toward ensuring excellent schools for our community. Our award-winning publications, EduBrief and Wake FYI, are just two ways we work to keep citizens connected with our public schools – your gift to the Partnership’s Annual Fund for Education helps support these publications, as well as the important work we do for teachers, principals and students across Wake County. When we invest in our schools, we build a better, stronger, more prosperous community for us all. And together, we all win. For more information or to make a gift online, visit our website.

School Board Receives Financial Report, Hears from Audit Committee

At its Dec. 5 meeting, the Wake County Board of Education received the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2006. The Board's independent certified public accountants, Cherry, Bekaert & Holland, LLP, have audited the general purpose financial statements and related combining and individual fund and account group statements and schedules and have rendered their unqualified opinion on them. The report indicates a strong financial position as a result of appropriate fiscal management, including realistic budgeting practices, effective cost controls, and sound cash management. The report was also reviewed by an independent Audit Committee, similar to the Sarbanes-Oxley requirements for publicly held companies. More information, including a list of committee members and a link to the CAFR, is available online.

Feedback Wanted for Growth Management Proposal

The Wake County Public School System will take comments on the reassignment proposal released this month until Jan. 2, 2007. You can comment online at www.wcpss.net, call 501-7998 or send e-mail to studentassignment@wcpss.net. The proposal is available online at the school district's Web site, www.wcpss.net. Follow these links for additional information:
- Article from The News & Observer about the proposed reassignment, which would send about 67 students from Washington Terrace children to Leesville Road Elementary
- Updates about WCPSS community engagement meetings held last month.

Board of Education Continues Discussion of Public-Private Partnerships

At last week’s Facilities Committee meeting, the Wake County Board of Education heard from Deputy State Treasurer Vance Holloman and Wake County Budget and Management Services Director Johnna Rogers on public private partnerships for school construction. Board members agreed to continue their discussion of the issue. More information, including links to Holloman’s and Rogers’ presentations, is available online.

State Board Approves New High School Course Requirements

The State Board of Education approved a proposed core course of study framework that will guide high school course requirements beginning in 2008-09. Current seventh graders would be the first students potentially affected by this change. This change would replace the current courses of study (college prep, college tech prep, career) from which students select their high school coursework. Graduates in the Class of 2011 could be the last group to graduate under the old courses of study framework, depending on the Board’s final action on this plan later this winter. The occupational course of study will continue to be available for students with disabilities if their individualized education program specifies it.

The proposed core framework requires that all freshmen entering high school in the fall 2008 participate in a 21 unit core course of study that will include a four-unit endorsement in a specialty area of their choice. The plan would place nearly all students in a college-prep curriculum that now includes courses in advanced math and two years of foreign language. Visit The News & Observer online for recations, including concerns that the plan could lead to more students failing and dropping out.

More Information Available Online from NCDPI

The N.C. Department of Public Instruction (NCDPI) offers the following new resources on its website:

• Student Support Services includes prevention, intervention, transition and follow-up services for students and families. This new site is home to information and resources for school social workers, counselors and psychologists and other student support staff.
• The new Parent, Family and Community site represents one of the many state-wide initiatives to educate, inform and advocate for stronger schools through involvement. This site is a collection of links and information addressing various aspects of education and involvement for parents, guardians and community leaders.
• Compiled by the Exceptional Children (EC) Division, the Disproportionality Report was created for school administrators and EC Coordinators and examines the status of racial/ethnic groups of children receiving special education services based on their representation in the general school population. Data are available from 2002-03 to 2005-06.
• The Annual Report on School Crime and Violence shows that, during last school year, North Carolina public schools reported 10,959 acts of crime and violence among the state's almost 1.4 million students, an increase from 2004-05 in the number of acts per student. More details, including district and school numbers, are online.
  

New Teachers Report Difficulties

This article from Teachers College, Columbia University, presents findings from a random sample survey study of 486 first- and second-year teachers in four states investigating the experiences of new teachers. Findings show that many novice teachers report that their work is solitary, that they are expected to be expert and independent from the start, and that they do not believe their fellow teachers share a sense of collective responsibility for their students or each other. Access the article online.

Rethinking 21st Century Schools

The New Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce, a high-powered, bipartisan assembly of education secretaries, business leaders and a former governor, has released a blueprint for rethinking American education from pre-K to 12 and beyond to better prepare students to thrive in the global economy. Although the report includes some controversial proposals, there is remarkable consensus among educators and business and policy leaders on one key conclusion: we need to bring what we teach and how we teach into the 21st century. Right now we're aiming too low. Today's economy demands not only a high-level competence in the traditional academic disciplines but also what might be called 21st century skills: Knowing more about the world; Thinking outside the box; Becoming smarter about new sources of information; and Developing good people skills. Can our public schools, originally designed to educate workers for agrarian life and industrial-age factories, make the necessary shifts? For more information, download the report and visit CNN online.

Time for a Long Winter’s Nap

Wake Education Partnership’s office will be closed from Friday, Dec. 22, 2006, through Monday, Jan. 1, 2007. We look forward to working with you in the new year – happy holidays from all the Partnership staff!

MAKE AN INVESTMENT

Your donations make the 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

Feb. 6: Wake Regional Education Roundtable from noon to 1:30 p.m.; hosted by the Wake Forest and Rolesville Chambers; discussion topic will be charter schools.

March 7: Pieces of Gold at 7 p.m.;Progress Energy Center for Performing Arts; tickets go on sale in January.