Wake FYI Archives

February 1, 2008: Teacher Recruitment and Retention

In this issue of Wake FYI, information from the Wake County Public School System (WCPSS) and other national and state websites has been collected in an effort to inform readers about teacher recruitment and retention on a national and state level and in Wake County.  This year, the WCPSS hired 900 new teachers for the start of the 2007-08 school year. As our system continues to grow in size and more teachers become eligible for retirement, recruiting highly qualified teachers continues to be priority for the system.   Because recruiting and retaining teachers is an ongoing challenge, and because high-quality teachers are critical to student achievement, this edition of WakeFYI takes a closer look at the strategies and challenges of recruiting teachers to our district.

October 25, 2007: Magnet Schools

In this issue of Wake FYI, information from WCPSS and other external source websites has been collected in an effort to efficiently and effectively inform readers about magnet schools in Wake County Public School System.Since 1982, Wake County has offered magnet schools with innovative approaches to learning.The Wake County Public School System currently operates 36 magnet schools across the county. Since November 2006, the Board of Education has been evaluating these magnet offerings. Because they are a topic of increasing interest in Wake County, this edition of Wake FYI takes a closer look at magnet schools and the review process being used to evaluate them.

September 27, 2007: Countywide Growth

Growth is the single biggest issue facing Wake County and WCPSS for the foreseeable future.  Since 1980 the populations of Wake County and the school system have more than doubled.  This creates great opportunity for our community but also poses challenges as our elected leaders seek strategies to provide services and other resources for all our county’s citizens. Because growth is an important issue to citizens, this edition of WakeFYI will examine growth in Wake County and how the Wake County Public School System responds to that growth.

September 10, 2007: Curriculum Management Audit of WCPSS

A curriculum management audit is a comprehensive examination of how a school district develops, teaches, and evaluates its academic program. In other words, it is a top to bottom, exhaustive evaluation of a school district's core business: teaching and learning. Documents, interviews, and site visits are used to provide trained auditors with a thorough look at the school district against five standards in a rigorous review based on a generally accepted auditing model developed by the accounting firm Peat Marwick & Mitchell. Because all children deserve a quality public education system, this month's Wake FYI takes a closer look at improvements that can be made in Wake County Pubic Schools.

March 15, 2007: Assessing Student Learning in Wake County

The purpose of public schools is the education of children. Whether it is knowledge for knowledge's sake or the acquisition of information and skills leading to career opportunities, schools are charged with ensuring students learn. How we determine whether students are learning and what they are learning has always been the subject of debate. It is not enough that students spend the requisite amount of time in a school; what is vital is what they know when they leave school. Because student learning is the most important outcome of education, this month's Wake FYI takes a closer look at how learning is assessed in Wake County.

Feb. 15, 2007: N.C. Teacher Working Conditions Survey

North Carolina was the first state in the country to survey all of its teachers on the conditions under which they work each day. The survey was first conducted in 2002 and has been repeated biennially since then, most recently in spring 2006. The survey assesses teachers' views on five major domains: leadership, professional development, time, facilities and resources, and empowerment. Analysis of the data shows relationships between student achievement, teacher retention and the scores on the survey domains. Because retaining good teachers and ensuring success for all students are important, this month's Wake FYI takes a closer look at the North Carolina Teacher Working Conditions Survey.

Jan. 18, 2007: Charter Schools

In 1996 the North Carolina General Assembly passed legislation to allow charter schools.While Wake County currently has more charter schools than any other county in the state, there has been a growing discussion in our community that additional charter schools are needed. Support for more charter schools in Wake County stems from many reasons, including as a strategy to provide more seats for the growing student population, as well as a desire for an alternative to the traditional public schools in our community. Because they are a topic of increasing interest in Wake County, this edition of Wake FYI takes a closer look at charter schools.

Nov. 30 , 2006: High School Redesign

In recent years, concern about the quality of secondary education has resulted in efforts to restructure and re-culture high schools to enable them to better meet the needs of all students. This restructuring can include focusing entire schools or tracks of students within schools on specific career paths or courses of study; creating multiple small high schools within large schools; or expanding the high school experience through partnerships with community colleges, allowing students to earn both high school and associate degrees in five years.

North Carolina has been a leading state in these efforts. With Governor Easley's Learn and Earn program, the creation of the New Schools Project to lead the Gates Foundation's work in our state, and local initiatives like Wake County's Small Learning Communities efforts, North Carolina is a hub of high school improvement. Because high school quality is so critical to the success of our students and our economic future, this edition of Wake FYI takes a closer look at high school redesign.

Oct. 19, 2006: School Leadership

Much of the conversation around improving education naturally involves classroom teachers and their ability to provide rich learning opportunities for all children. Just as important, however, is the leadership that shapes the educational environment at each school. A 2004 report from the Wallace Foundation concluded that school leadership is second only to teaching in school-based factors that influence student learning. With so much attention rightfully paid to teachers, the public often knows little about the leadership of our schools. This edition of Wake FYI takes a closer look at school leadership.

Sept. 21 , 2006: 2006 School Bond Referendum

On Nov. 7, 2006, Wake County voters will be asked to approve the sale of $970 million in General Obligation Bonds to support capital improvements for the Wake County Public School System. The full Capital Improvement Plan (CIP), approved in May by the Wake County Board of Education, totals $1.056 billion. Of that amount, $675 million goes to build new schools, purchase land for future schools, and provide immediate student space through the use of mobile units and the conversion of schools to a multi-track year-round calendars. The remaining $380 million pays for renovations at existing schools, technology, and bringing schools up to compliance with environmental and Americans with Disabilities Act requirements.

There have been a number of controversies surrounding the CIP and the accompanying bond package, ranging from the concern over school conversions to year-round calendars to why a bond is needed to pay for these capital costs. With such an important vote facing our community it is critical that Wake County citizens become informed about the issues. In this edition of Wake FYI, we take a closer look at the 2006 school bond referendum.

Aug. 17, 2006: N.C. Teaching Working Conditions Survey

In 2002 North Carolina became the first state to survey all of its teachers on the conditions under which they work. The survey was developed after extensive research by the North Carolina Professional Teaching Standards Commission (NCPTSC) to identify the areas which most affected the work of teachers and were most likely to get teachers to remain in teaching and ensure high achievement for all students. The five domains NCPTSC identified - leadership, professional development, time, facilities and resources, and empowerment - are the same five still used to assess working conditions in North Carolina and also in other districts and states around the country which have adopted our state's model. The survey has now been conducted three times in North Carolina, most recently in spring of 2006, with school, district and state-level data providing vital knowledge on the environments in which our teachers work every day. As Governor Mike Easley has said, "Teacher working conditions are student learning conditions." In this edition of Wake FYI, we take a closer look at the North Carolina Teacher Working Conditions Survey.

July 20, 2006: Education Planning and Funding

Many groups at both the state and local level are involved in discussing, planning for, or funding education in Wake County. In just the past two months there have been several important actions with education implications. During a two-week period from late June to early July, for instance, both the Wake County Board of Commissioners and the North Carolina General Assembly approved their Fiscal Year 2007 budgets. Funds from these budgets make up more than 90 percent of the operating budget for the Wake County Public School System. In this edition of Wake FYI, we take a closer look at several of the plans adopted recently in Wake County that have an effect on education in our community.

June 15, 2006: Teaching Quality

Research has shown that the single most important factor in influencing student learning is the quality of the teacher. While this conclusion is widely accepted within education circles and beyond, so often a community’s resources and energy must be focused on many areas other than recruiting, developing and retaining a quality teaching staff. In Wake County, the challenges we face in addressing the growth in our student population and providing quality facilities for all students have at times diverted our attention away from the educators who teach our children. In this edition of Wake FYI we take a closer look at teaching quality.

May 18, 2006: Year-Round Schools

For more than 15 years, the Wake County Public School System has included year-round schools as options for parents and students in our community. While the school district has been lauded in the past for providing this choice, it has recently been sharply criticized for considering wide-scale conversion of existing schools to multi-track year-round calendars as a way to deal with the enormous growth in student enrollment. In this edition of Wake FYI, we take a look a closer look at year-round schools.

April 20, 2006: Growth in Wake County

It is nearly impossible to discuss any education issue in Wake County without discussing the tremendous growth in student population the school system has experienced in recent years. Because growth is inextricably linked to other important issues, the first edition of Wake FYI will address the growth in our community. From the demographic makeup of our student population, to the efforts to recruit and retain quality administrators and teachers, the challenges posed by the growth in our community must be dealt with throughout all levels and departments of the school system.