July 22, 2011

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In his weekly news conference today, Superintendent Tony Tata reviewed the Wake County Public School System performance on the federal No Child Left Behind Adequate Yearly Progress standard.

Superintendent Tata Reviews State Testing Results

Last week Superintendent Tata shared a preliminary academic report on some of the school system’s strengths and areas for improvement based on a preliminary look at the 2010-11 results of student performance on state accountability tests.

Listen to Superintendent Tata's July 22 news conference 20 minute mp3 file

He noted that:

• More students in most subgroups we track were proficient according to state standards;
• Proficiency increased positively for all elementary and middle schools while remaining flat for high schools; and
• WCPSS high schools saw a two-point rise in the graduation rate.

He discussed the findings of the Harvard academics audit, which showed that performance on state end-of-year tests scale scores indicate that student subgroups have been improving at about the same rate, and that the achievement gaps are not closing.

The NC Department of Public Instruction will release its report on state end-of-year testing in August.

Superintendent Tata to Work with Principals to Improve AYP Results

This week, Superintendent Tata discussed the federal No Child Left Behind Adequate Yearly Progress results released by the NC Department of Public Instruction yesterday.

Adequate Yearly Progress is an all or nothing measure of student subgroups, on average about 25 for any given school. The state raised performance standards considerably for 2010-11 on the way to a 100 percent proficiency standard for 2014.

Reading targets for elementary and middle schools went up from last year where you had to have 43.2 percent of students proficient to this year when 71.6 percent of students had to be proficient. Math targets for elementary and middle schools went from 77.2 percent to 88.6 percent.

High school reading went from 38.5 percent to 69.3 percent.  For math, rates increased from 68.4 to 84.2.

Of our 103 elementary schools, 18 made AYP for each of their measured subgroups. One middle school made AYP out of 32. Three of 24 high schools made AYP. None of our alternative schools made AYP.

Twenty-two of the school district’s 163 schools, or 13.5 percent, met the No Child Left Behind Standards. Another 38 WCPSS schools missed AYP by one or two targets.

“No Child Left Behind holds us accountable for every student,” said Tata. “Some of our schools that did not make AYP are on average high performing schools. Some of the schools that did make AYP have more work to do to improve proficiency and growth across the board. All of our schools need to accelerate their efforts to close achievement gaps. We are diving into the analysis of all this.”

Tata said he wants to look at the data behind the numbers to find how the school system can capture success where it is and broaden it throughout the system.

“We will be pulling together a team of principals from elementary, middle and high school levels to help us examine what went right and what went wrong in our approach this past year to AYP,” said Tata. “We will have a very concerted effort to move toward the AYP standards for the 2011-12 school year.  We will work with this group to determine if we have any impediments that are preventing our schools from achieving AYP so we can mitigate or eliminate them. Clearly, there is probably going to be fertile ground out there with the number of schools that did not make AYP.”

You can find more information about AYP here and more on WCPSS 2010-11 results here.

Superintendent Tata Congratulates Schools that Made AYP

Superintendent Tata offered his congratulations to the 22 WCPSS schools that made Adequate Yearly Progress for 2010-11.

The schools are East Wake School of Health Science, East Wake School of Engineering Systems and Wake Early College of Health and Sciences and Wakefield Middle. The 18 elementary schools are Alston Ridge, Briarcliff, Carver, Cedar Fork, Davis Drive, Fuquay-Varina, Highcroft, Hilburn Drive, Lake Myra, Lead Mine, Olds, Olive Chapel, Rand Road, Reedy Creek, Wakelon, Wildwood Forest, Yates Mill and Zebulon.

“By earning AYP after the targets have been moved to a very challenging level, these schools have demonstrated high expectations in their students and their ability to meet high standards,” said Tata. “Through our work to strengthen schools through the STEM and Global studies networks, our efforts through the budget to protect teachers and classrooms and our aggressive use of data, I expect additional schools to follow their lead in the coming school year. We will have a very concerted effort and strategy to do so.”

More News

Central Services Moves to New Offices in Cary

The consolidation of WCPSS Central Services departments and functions to the Crossroads office complex in Cary is well underway. Growth and Planning just completed its move. Important dates coming up are:

• Customer Service and the Center for International Enrollment moves on August 1;
• Magnet Programs move on August 3;
• Community Services and Student Due Process moves on August 15, and
• The school board moves on August 29.

Most of our public functions will be at Crossroads I, which is 5625 Dillard Drive in Cary. The school board begins meeting there on Sept. 6.

You can find more information about the move here.

WCPSS High Schools Provide Freshman Camps

High schools are holding freshman camps over the next month to help our rising ninth graders make the transition from middle school. Each school has a customized program. Many include information sessions for parents, as well as relationship building and orientation activities for students. The first camps begin on July 26 for the STEM Early College, Fuquay-Varina and Sanderson.

You can find more information on the camps here.

Sales Tax Holiday Scheduled for August 5-7

North Carolina’s annual tax holiday on items such as clothing and school supplies will occur Aug. 5-7. The holiday starts at 12:01 a.m. on Friday, Aug. 5, and runs through 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 7.

The following items will be considered tax-free:

• Clothing, footwear and school supplies of $100 or less per item;
• School supplies of $300 or less per item;
• Sports and recreation equipment of $50 or less per item;
• Computers of $3,500 or less per item; and
• Computer supplies of $250 or less per item.

For more information, click here.