Considering how much supporters of the diversity policy made Charlotte-Meckkenburg schools a boogeyman during the school board campaign, the new board members arguably are having the last laugh now.

As noted in today's article, the new 2009 state report cards show that Charlotte's black and low-income students are outperforming their peers in Wake on state EOG and EOC exams.

"We're not saying that Charlotte is the right way, but the fact that they're doing better than us shows how poorly we've been doing," said new school board member John Tedesco in the article.

The new N.C. School Report Cards are out with 2008-09 school year data.

Since these report cards have been used in the past to compare Wake and Charlotte-Mecklenburg, let's revisit the issue again. Wake gets less money and does better overall than CMS, but CMS does better among several subgroups.

Let's start with test results.

CORRECTED CMS OVERALL PASSING RATE ON BOTH EOGS. 

In the age of H1N1 flu concerns, should high schools suspend policies that allow seniors with good attendance to skip some exams?

As noted in today's article by Anne Blythe, high schools typically reward seniors who have good attendance by allowing them to skip some final exams. For instance in some courses, a student with an "A" average in a class and less than three absences can skip that particular final exam.

But the attendance incentive can conflict with messages telling students not to come to school if they're feeling sick. 

Coincidentally, Supt. Del Burns has stressed the importance of good attendance in this and this recent Superintendent's Journal entries.

Wake wants to have its say in revising the federal No Child Left Behind program.

Some changes are expected now that the No Child Left Behind Act is up for congressional reauthorization. Various groups have proposed changes with Wake soon to be joining them.

“As one of the largest school systems in the country and one of the most successful, we think our input would be valuable," said school board member Lori Millberg at last week's board meeting.

The Wake vs. Charlotte question is coming up again following the release of the latest SAT results.

As noted in Sunday's Charlotte Observer, there's a big achievement and graduation gap between Charlotte's high-poverty schools and its more affluent ones. The graduation rate for black CMS students has been dropping.

The article also notes that Charlotte's black and low-income students are below the state graduation rate for those categories. But those same groups in Guilford, Wake and districts surrounding Charlotte generally topped state averages.

Why are fewer students in the Wake school system taking the SAT than before?

As noted in today's article, school officials think it's the recession causing fewer students to go to a four-year college where an SAT score would be needed.

Asst. Supt. David Holdzkom said the district's survey of seniors found more are now saying they plan to attend a community college, join the military or go directly into the workforce.

Wake's newest SAT results look good but there's one large question about them that needs to be addressed.

As far as good news, the average SAT score for the Wake school system rose 14 points for a combined math and reading average score of 1,073. Wake was tied for the third-highest average SAT score of the state's 115 districts.

Wake continues to be well above the state and national averages, which both dropped one point. The national average is 1,016 and the state average is 1,006.

UPDATE

Wake is reporting an average score of 1,074. They say the state got it wrong.

You can now see for yourself the kinds of questions that students are asked on the state's standardized tests.

State education officials posted online today copies of the end-of-grade and end-of-course tests that were taken this past school year. The goal is to promote transparency at a time when questions have been raised about what students are tested on.

Three versions of each state exam are offered annually. One version of each exam was posted online and will no longer be used in the state's testing program.

Click here to view the tests and the answer keys.

Guilford County Schools' Mission Possible program is often cited by school board critics in Wake County who argue that intensive funding is a better way than busing to help high-poverty schools.

Well, the newly released state ABCs test results may put a dent in that idea. Guilford County has 10 of the state's 75 low-performing schools this year, meaning the school's passing rate was under 50 percent and it didn't meet growth expectations.

Of the 10 low-performing Guilford County schools, nine are in the Mission Possible program. The passing rate was as low as 29.7 percent at one of the Mission Possible schools - Oak Hill Elementary.

Wake saw improvement on this year's latest round of ABCs results that can't be attributed to just the inclusion of retests in elementary and middle schools.

Wake had 12 Honors Schools of Excellence and Schools of Excellence, meaning at least 90 percent passed state exams and the school made growth. That's compared to four schools last year.

All 12 schools were in the western part of the county.