It took eight months, but the Wake County school board was finally able to agree on passing a middle school math placement policy.

As noted in today's article, the policy got over the hump when staff proposed a number of changes to both the policy and the placement criteria to win over the support of Democratic board members Christine Kushner and Keith Sutton to form a majority with Republicans on the issue. Click here for the adopted policy and here for the revised placement criteria.

"We raised our concerns and staff came up with some good suggestions to them that it was enough for me to support the policy," Kushner said.

The Wake County school board may make it possible for teachers to recommend that students be placed in a lower math class than recommended by the data.

During today's school board work session, board member Jim Martin said he's still not a fan of the new middle school math placement policy. But Martin said that if they're going to do it they should modify the wording so that a teacher can recommend a lower placement and not just the parent.

The board didn't object to including that wording. This is an example where school board member John Tedesco's absence today could impact the result.

UPDATE

The revised version of the math placement policy was approved 5-3 with board chairman Kevin Hill and board members Susan Evans and Jim Martin voting no.

Bell schedules, the math placement policy, the school budget and student assignment are some of the items that could draw a lot of attention at today's Wake County school board meeting.

The school board will discuss the bell schedules during the work session and vote during the regular meeting. We'll see today whether any changes are made by staff or the board to what's in the board packet.

Based on past meetings, you can expect people to make one more pitch to change the bell schedules for the schools that would see the sharpest shifts this fall.

Supporters and critics of Wake County's proposed math placement policy both sought the moral high ground during this week's school board discussion.

Critics of the policy argued that using too low a placement standard would do students a disservice and give them a weak math foundation. Supporters of the policy argued they were trying to promote equitable access to rigorous courses.

School board member Jim Martin got the discussion going Tuesday when he proposed a motion to indefinitely postpone the policy in favor of implementing this charge.

SEE UPDATE AT END OF POST

More to come later but, after much debate, the Wake County school board voted today to approve the math placement policy on first reading.

But beforehand, the board rejected board member Jim Martin's motion to indefinitely suspend the policy. Martin proposed replacing the policy with a charge that staff review the equity issues involved in placement. His charge also called for using a higher standard for placement.

Martin and fellow Democratic board member Susan Evans repeatedly complained that using 70 percent in EVAAS as the floor for math placement was too low.  But the Republican board members and Superintendent Tony Tata spoke in favor of the policy and against the motion.

Evans, Martin and board member Christine Kushner voted for Martin's motion. Martin voted against first reading of the math policy. (I'm not sure if Evans also voted no.)

Budgets and student assignment headline a long list of items on today's Wake County school board agenda.

 As noted in today's article, during the work session, staff will present recommended changes to the assignment plan based on the results of the first round of the choice selection process. The board has scheduled a vote on changes for the regular meeting.

Chief Transformation Officer Judy Peppler previously told the board they may recommend adjustments in four areas: whether seat set-asides should be allocated for some or all of the high-performing schools, the percentage of magnet vs. base students at some schools, options for students whose feeder doesn't include transportation and sibling priority in grades 1-5, 7-8 and 10-12.

After much discussion and revision, the Wake County school board is finally set to vote Tuesday on a math placement policy that reflects the new common core standards.

Staff is supposed to present this version of the policy, which has gone through at least six versions over the past year. Compare it to the version (pages 14-15 of this handout) that the board told staff to work from two weeks ago.

One difference in the latest iteration is that staff has apparently gone back to restricting teachers from using their judgment to recommend placing students in a class lower than student data suggests. They can recommend a higher placement.

How much change will take place at today's Wake County school board meeting as issues such as bell schedules, student assignment and the Panther Creek High lease deal are discussed?

Superintendent Tony Tata told reporters on Friday that changes are likely to be made to some schools in the bell schedule proposal based on the feedback from the online survey. How much change comes from staff and from individual board members remains to be seen.

The board is setting aside the first 90 minutes of the work session agenda that starts at 3 p.m. on the bell schedule.

As the Wake County school system moves to the common core for math, what role should teacher judgment play in placing students and what criteria should be used for placement in the super-advanced track?

As noted in today's article, the school board is supposed to discuss the math placement policy on Tuesday. A number of questions still have to be resolved, such as whether a policy is needed and whether an EVAAS probability predictor of 70 percent is the right floor for placement.

But another issue to be resolved is what to do about teacher judgment.

It's late so I'll keep it short.

The first reading of the revised middle school math placement policy was tabled Tueseay night at the suggestion of Wake County school board member John Tedesco. This came in an attempt to block a motion by school board member Jim Martin that would have nixed the policy entirely in favor of forming a working group to evaluate and stop tracking issues.

Martin questioned the need to have a districtwide policy on math placement when one doesn't exist for other subjects. He also criticized the use of the 70 percent EVAAS probability of success as the floor for placing students,

By passing Tedesco's motion, it moves the discussion of the policy to the next board meeting. Ruth Steidinger, senior director of middle school programs, said the middle schools will do math placement this month for the upcoming school year and need guidance soon on what criteria to use.