The one figure that people kept repeating out of Thursday's Wake County school board economically disadvantaged student performance task force meeting was 35 percent.

As noted in today's article, 35 percent is this year's gain in Algebra I enrollment under the new EVAAS placement guidelines compared to last year's total. There was a 26 percent increase in pre-Algebra enrollment. Overall, the gain for both courses was 30 percent.

"I know this is new for a lot of principals, but I want to really thank all of you for taking on the challenges," said school board member John Tedesco, chairman of the task force at Thursday's meeting. "Because of that we saw measurable gains. You can’t dispute that. A 35 percent increase is impressive."

UPDATE

SEE END OF POST FOR THURSDAY'S POWERPOINT PRESENTATION ON MATH PLACEMENT UPDATE

Most Wake County students aren't in class yet but we've already got the 2010-11 finalists for Principal of the Year and Assistant Principal of the Year.

The Principal of the Year finalists, announced on Thursday, are James Argent of Lake Myra Elementary, Pamela Kinsey-Barker of Brassfield Elementary, Teresa Winstead of Durant Road Elementary, Cathy Williams of East Garner Middle and Dana King of Millbrook High.