As promised, here's a spreadsheet showing which courses are available this school year at each Wake high school.
You'll soon notice that some schools have a lot more courses than others. For instance, the spreadsheet caused school board member Lori Millberg to ask why East Wake High had so few advanced courses compared to Enloe High.
(I should throw in this disclaimer from the district that it's a draft document that could be revised.)
It's expected that Enloe will have a lot of honors and Advanced Placement courses. After all, its magnet theme is Gifted and Talented/International Baccalaureate Center for Humanities, Sciences, and the Arts.
Features of this magnet theme are:
1. Extensive elective menu for exploration of interests, acceleration, and rich, in-depth study in all subject areas to enhance the standard course of study
2. Foreign language instruction offered through high school
3. Expanded visual and performing arts opportunities
4. Extensive AP course offerings in high school
This spreadsheet came about as part of a review by the school board's student achievement committee on how to "provide equal access to comparable programs, services, and opportunities to impact student success."
This charge is an outgrowth of the curriculum management audit finding "that some inequalities exist" for "comparable programs, services, and opportunities."
Millberg is leading the charge as chairwoman of the student achievement committee.
School board member Beverley Clark said one reason that East Wake High might not have so many advanced courses is due to the fact that it's been split into four separate small schools. She said it could make it harder to get enough students together to offer some classes.
Comments
Good Online Offerings
Mon, 10/26/2009 - 15:54 — beautygirlzIt's nice to see some traditional high schools offering up some online courses. We work with students who are looking to complete their high school education by taking an accredited online GED program. I feel that if more high schools start to offer online classes, this will keep a lot of students from dropping out and encourage them to get their diploma.
district offers
Tue, 08/18/2009 - 04:56 — jeffhardyI think this is similar to what other districts are offering
Jeff
( GED online | high school diploma online | Divorce advice for men | software testing training | Adult High School )
comparison
Mon, 12/01/2008 - 14:46 — ncdad1Wake County Schools are amazingly diverse compared to the segregated schools I attended. I grew up in “neighborhood schools” which meant they were for white kids. Black kids had their own “neighborhood school”. We were separate but equal supposedly.
I see parallels in the call for “neighborhood schools” which, many times, are code words for avoiding diversity and the civic responsibility to educate all kids well.
Neighborhoods here are typically segmented by income; therefore, any “neighborhood school” would be conveniently segregated by income too. You can see it in the reassignment comments people express fears that adding more “free lunch” children to their “neighborhood school” will lower their property values or take resources away. And there is truth to that given that low income kid requesting fewer advanced classes so fewer advanced classes are offered and the resources migrate to wealthier schools. Similarly, more affluent schools have enough participation, donations and fundraising to send the French class trip to Paris or the Band to the Rose Bowl.
Affluent people should not cloister themselves in “neighborhood schools” to avoid coming in contact with poorer kids nor should they shuffle these kids off to someone else. Affluent people should not donate land to build private neighborhood schools in their community. Everyone has an interest and responsibility to make sure all children get a great education. I think public school is a lot like the water department where everyone should get about the same level of service, irrespective of income. If you want something different, there is always private school.
Although I would agree that
Tue, 03/17/2009 - 04:39 — nanguyAlthough I would agree that course content and how the course is put together is important, the online teacher and how the teacher teaches with the online content is even more important, and probably a better predictor of academic success.
( life experience diploma and online high schools )
I have major issue with the
Tue, 12/02/2008 - 05:52 — vsheehanI have major issue with the code word crapp. Remember when you assume you make an A$$ of you and me. People want community schools because they want their kids to have a close knit family feel at their schools. The high F&R schools that do well have that community feel. They have an active PTA they have a sense of this is my school. It has been well documented. By the way does that mean the poor kids in Raleigh who want to go to their neighborhood schools are racist too? There are a large number of parents at the high F&R schools who do not like being bused around . They instead want the resources to improve their school. Does that make them racist?
I know life would be a whole lot easier for the BOE if their labels of Cary parents as racist were true but they are not. Tuff luck you’re going to have to improve the system besides just labeling people who do not agree with you. If people were avoiding diverrsity they would just move to Benson.
By the way bussing kids all over the place to meet your political views is much more disrespectful and harmful . As I have stated before in other states the system added more resources to lower income schools. Scores went up and higher income families moved in to the neighborhood. So in the end it’s not that people are avoiding low income kids but avoiding lower scores. I avoid a part of Raleigh because the scores were not good enough and the AP selection at the HS was not to my standards. You want high income families in low income schools then up the scores at those schools. That is not racism but being a good parent. WCPSS has to stop putting the cart before the horse if they ever want to increase diversity.
examples
Tue, 12/02/2008 - 10:46 — ncdad1"The high F&R schools that do well have that community feel. They have an active PTA they have a sense of this is my school. It has been well documented. "
It probably would be good to go through the data on the WCPS site and list some of the high performing low income, low English schools so we can all go see what they are doing right.
Huh
Tue, 12/02/2008 - 11:13 — Voice_of_Reason_Which ones, are you being sarcastic? It's not what they are doing right, it what they are doing wrong. Shuffling children around has done nothing for them. Fix the problem, don't spread it around to hide it.
I agree 100%
Tue, 12/02/2008 - 09:04 — Voice_of_Reason_See there is common ground. The best way to improve an area is to grow a good school in that community, not to ship the community elsewhere. Too badthe BoE doesn't get it.
Another Point of View
Mon, 12/01/2008 - 23:08 — Voice_of_Reason_OPTIONS FOR PEOPLE WITH MONEY
Option 1. Work, study real hard, and risk wealth to live in a run down house and go to a school far away from my home. I'm sure everybody aspires to do this ---right. Then make sure I don't pay more taxes, you know the taxes I would pay in the house I could afford. You would know that's fair. Especially if I were a minority. Because it would not be fair to society if I lived better than anyone else. And yes, my kids must mix with children of a lower economic strata because those children's behavior will influence my children for the positive. My children will be at a great advantage for this in the future .
Option 2 - Live in a big house, pay high taxes, get into a mediocre school if I want to keep my children in public school (just to get something out of my tax money). My children will attempt to influence in a good way the lower economic strata children because they have an obligation to do so even if they are beaten up, spoken to with gutter language, or ridiculed because of their affluence.
Option 3 - Live in a smaller house, pay less taxes, and send my child to private school.
Option 4 - Be like you, a "good citizen" respect all what our elected leaders do and call anyone that disagrees a racist or an elitist.
Option 5 - Do nothing, suck it up; after all, ignorance is bliss.
Oh yeah, let's look at research: The #1 determining factor for a child's school outcome is not the facility, it's not the teacher, but it's his/her parents, friends, and acquaintances. AND the SCOTUS ruled that busing for race is illegal. And of course, there is no data to support the diversity policy is helping STUDENTS.
BUT THE #1 REASON WHY I OPPOSE DIVERSITY BUSING --- IT DOES NOTHING FOR THE CHILDREN AND COSTS A LOT -- That takes wealth and race out of the equation.
But I could look at it in another light: Why don't we bus children from rural counties into Wake County's "urban environment" to be fair? Those children do not get the same opportunities that "urban" kids do. Then we should give them free bus service when they get older so they can have the same opportunities for jobs that we get. Yes, this is nonsense, but it makes about as much sense as diversity busing.
Option 6
Tue, 12/02/2008 - 14:42 — ncdad1What happened to Option 6 of rolling up your sleaves and making more of your school than it was before your kids attended. Someone made that great schools you aspire to attend great through their sweat, donations and leadership long before you set your sites on it. Running away, giving up, living in ignorance is not the American way. Build things up and leaving it better than you found it is the American way.
Option 6 is great- Ending Busing can make it work
Tue, 12/02/2008 - 17:18 — Voice_of_Reason_If we had community schools where communities can take pride in, option 6 would be option 1. What great schools are you talking about - BTW? Magnet ones? Didn't I say I wasn't living ITB? It is hard to creat a community spirit when the community is so spread out and keeps changing.
But great point for the anti diversity busing group, when will you join?
Community
Tue, 12/02/2008 - 20:27 — ncdad1We have community schools ... we are all part of Wake county schools. You shouldn't only give your time and talents to the small group of people that live within walking distance of your home. Community is bigger than your street.
Then why stop at county level
Tue, 12/02/2008 - 21:45 — Voice_of_Reason_Let's go state wide ! We could have buses with TV's with diversity education videos to kill the time riding.
BTW ncdad1 I would like to compliment you on keeping this bantering civil, it is rare in this type of discussion. Name calling is more the trend.
Thanks ... I typically
Fri, 12/05/2008 - 14:40 — ncdad1Thanks ... I typically don't have time to look at these blogs but business is slow ... I truely believe what I say .. now it may be wrong or misinformed but that is why a good dialog allows us to find common ground.
As you know from previous posts I am strange - we homeschooled, don't have a TV, typically choose to live in the most urban place we can from Atlanta to DC and now have the kids in public school. My base premise continues to be "what's the goal". I think the goal is a good average education for every kid. I don't think we should segment kids by race, income, ability, ethnicity, religion, etc. by school though ok by classroom. I don't think you can expect much more from government. They are not set up to excel. I also think that powerful people will manipulate the system, metrics, politician to their benefit. I understand that is human nature and I think less powerful people would do the same if they were informed, energized, and on the ball. I may regret one day fighting for the losing team but it seems the right thing to do.
What we in Wake County have when you peel off the platitudes
Tue, 12/02/2008 - 21:27 — Dadof3A Potemkin utopia, with one of the highest non-participation by families in the public school system in the nation. We also see WCPSS supporters that resort to a McCarthy-esque character defamation of those who disagree with the Ed junta.
Pfft.
Mon, 12/01/2008 - 16:37 — Bob_SconceIf affluent parents want to send their kids to Paris, so what? They're not depriving poor kids of anything--a trip to Paris is hardly part of the meat of the curriculum.
Using your "water service" analogy, the difference is that affluent people get to have hot tubs and swimming pools. These, like the Paris trip, are add-ons that they're paying for themselves.
The school district should provide a quality "floor" for education at all schools. If parents at a school want to invest and get their students above the floor, more power to them -- that takes nothing away from other schools.
Paris
Tue, 12/02/2008 - 10:49 — ncdad1It is not as simple as high income parents being able to send their kids to Paris. The problem comes when the French class needs 10 people to go to get the group discount and pay for the teacher's fare. The wealthy schools has 15 people sign up and the poorer school has 5.
Why do it in the first place?
Tue, 12/02/2008 - 11:09 — Voice_of_Reason_If you want to get French immersion, Quebec province in Canada is a lot closer and much cheaper. Besides if the school system wants to do this, make the offering county wide, not by school. And yes if you want your kids to go, you should pay. This is not core education. Equal opportunity does not equate to equality. It life in America, I prefer it to Communism. We will never be all equal and have equal means otherwise why try to succeed? It's one of the "big 10": "Though shall not covet thy neighbor's goods." And no, I'm not rich, nor am I poor.
That’s good as long as
Tue, 12/02/2008 - 06:12 — vsheehanThat’s good as long as the system realizes at low income schools you need more resources for the population to reach educational standards. Affluent families can afford tutors and educational activities like math camp. The population at low income schools cannot and for those kids to reach the standards(higher standards then 43% correct) the system has to give more resources to those schools. Especially lower class size as lower income schools have kids whose families are under a lot of stress and that shows as disruptive behavior in school. People who have LD and did not come from an affluent family(Bush) are more likely to have low wage jobs. Most LD issues are genetic. Therefore there will be more kids with educational issues at low income schools and the system needs to adjust for this.
Ehh....
Tue, 12/02/2008 - 10:28 — Bob_SconcePart of the problem is in figuring out the right measurements. I think "passing rate" is wrong, because it's so dependent on the student population and creates incentives to move students around instead of teaching them.
It appears that the most successful programs for reaching "at risk" kids involve (1) setting expectations early and (2) working with them closely from then on. The model adopted by the school board does neither of these--they're shuffled around as needed to make per-school numbers look good. Unfortunately, because they have successfully fudged the statistics, they have gotten their egos stroked by a lot of good press and are, thus, unlikely to change course without a big shift in the board's composition.
keep in mind...
Sat, 11/29/2008 - 12:03 — JonesSausagethat the courses may have different course numbers (and thus spreadsheet listings) for different schools, depending on if they are 4x4 Block, A/B alternating day block, or traditional schedule...thus why you may have to search to find the right classes for your particular school.
You'd be better served following the column for a certain school to see what it offers, rather than looking across a specific row with the erroneous assumption that such is the only listing for that particular course.
Major Inaccuracy
Thu, 11/27/2008 - 10:23 — HSeducatorAs a high school educator in Wake, I know that my school and most other high schools in Wake offer AP English III and IV! These are important AP courses that almost all high schools offer, not just Apex & Enloe as your chart implies. I'm not sure how such an inaccuracy slips through. Inspite of your disclaimer, this mistake paints a misleading portrait of course availability that only furthers misunderstanding between parents and the school system.
Also
Tue, 12/02/2008 - 20:33 — ncdad1Also not reflected is the spreadsheet is the number of sessions of each class offered. The "Y" does not reflect the real situation. Some schools have multiple session of each AP class which allows some students to take more of them. At other schools, student can only take one AP class at a time becuase of the limite number of sessions offered.
The spreadsheet was prepared
Thu, 11/27/2008 - 16:12 — KeungHui (author)The spreadsheet was prepared by Central Office, based on feedback from schools, and given to school board members.
HSeducator Mr Hui
Thu, 11/27/2008 - 11:04 — vsheehanHSeducator
Mr Hui tried(Thanks) and right now that spreadsheet is the only comparison of High school classes that the public has access to. Do you know were people could get better access to a comparison of all the HS classes?
I must admit it was a little disturbing to see how many classes Enloe had compared to all the other schools. I think Enloe could lose some of those classes to free up funding so HS like KH could offer more AP classes.
the list is just wrong
Thu, 11/27/2008 - 17:28 — HSeducatorClearly (and unfortunately) the spreadsheet is full of inaccuracies. Confirming this, a quick check of Knightdale High's website found they offer 16 AP courses, including several not listed on the spreadsheet.
All of the Wake high schools offer a full range of AP courses. True, Enloe does have some unique classes - but it is designed that way and open to all students as a magnet program. For the most accurate course information for your student's school, consult the school's website or call student services.
True, Enloe does have some
Mon, 12/01/2008 - 14:51 — NWRaleighMomTrue, Enloe does have some unique classes - but it is designed that way and open to all students as a magnet program.
____________________________________
When I hear that Enloe open to ALL students my blood boils...
These two kids i knew
Wed, 02/25/2009 - 10:45 — jasonlaThese two kids i knew figured getting a fake degree and getting out early was a good idea they ended up in college not sure where they are now but they hated their high school as did a lot of other kids the teachers were horrible.
Amen...
Mon, 12/01/2008 - 15:04 — JSBinNCmy blood boils and I want to start scratching eyes out.
Enloe is a school that students are ELIGIBLE TO APPLY FOR. IT IS NOT "OPEN" TO EVERYONE. Precious few get the chance to attend relatively speaking.
Nothing in WCPSS is open to everyone.
Mr Hui Thank you for the
Thu, 11/27/2008 - 02:03 — vsheehanMr Hui
Thank you for the spreadsheet!!!! : )
I saw from it that the Magnet we were looking at for our kid didn't have that much more then our base HS. So if the behavior at the Magnet is of the wall we can pull our kid out with out fearing he would lose out on certain avance classes.
I think Wake needs to look at what AP course fit most Colleges basic req. for freshmen and come up with a basic package af AP course for all the schools. I believe Ap classes are as necessary as bathrooms at HSs. Plus WCPSS will cause people to not move to certain areas because of the shortage of AP classes.
AP Cal
AP English
AP World Hist
AP Physics
I haven't done a lot of
Tue, 11/25/2008 - 15:16 — raleighreaderI haven't done a lot of research into it yet but from what I've been told by an eastern Wake parent, students apply for which of the 4 schools they want to go to but they aren't guaranteed a spot. How does that work, Keung? Do all the kids have access to all of the courses or are they limited to only certain ones depending on which 'school' they get into?
Wow - not very equal.........
Tue, 11/25/2008 - 12:46 — Chris_HMy child is graduating from Panther Creek (1st Senior Class) after a year at Green Hope in 9th Grade and 3 years at Panther. Overall I have been happy but no SAT Prep, Limited AP Courses, and no Padaeia Courses have been disappointing for him. I also think the lack of Votech classes has not been for some kids at that school.
My last comment is of the Life Guarding Training - as a parent who spent quite a bit of money getting her child certified, this does not seem fair at all to kids at other schools. I think the Magnet thing gets a little out of hand with the breadth and width of offerings. Could we tone it down a little and even things out a bit?
Why is East Wake
Tue, 11/25/2008 - 12:26 — JSBinNC...split into 4 separate small schools? What does that mean?
Thanks...
The idea is that high
Tue, 11/25/2008 - 12:52 — KeungHui (author)The idea is that high schools have gotten too big and impersonal, helping lead to a high dropout rate. So you operate a smaller high school of around 500 students as a way to build relationships between staff and students. East Wake High was split into four separate schools that have their own themes.
Click here for the New Schools Project for more detailed info.
Good for the goose
Tue, 11/25/2008 - 18:22 — joeciullaThis is a good concept... I wonder why it cannot be applied to WCPSS as a whole.
Paid for by who?
Tue, 11/25/2008 - 16:14 — g88ky07How are they going to down size high schools when ALL these overcrowded ES and MS are going to be dumped right into them?
The level of incompetence is beyond Ripley's Believe It or Not!
The board make up is not encouraging....
Tue, 11/25/2008 - 14:28 — fiestamomI went to the New Schools Project website. Just clicking through the first 5-6 names that make up the staff, seems like it's all people who have spent their entire professional careers in public education. Ugh. The last people I want "innovating" our high schools are people who are entrenched in the education bureaucracy. Ex: Geoff Coltrane :
"Geoff holds a bachelor's degree in elementary education from
UNC Chapel Hill and a master's degree in public policy with a
concentration in social and education policy from Duke University."
Sorry, but educated in social education policy raises a red flag for me. That's the same type of people who are behind the whole diversity bussing mess we're already in.
Rather than be encouraged by this group, it scares me.
Well...
Tue, 11/25/2008 - 23:34 — Bob_SconceIt's interesting how something that should be a positive--a masters of public policy--can turn out to be a negative. The problem, IMO, isn't the degree, as much as it is (1) the reliance on educational theory without recognizing the difference between "theory" and "practice" (often a misunderstanding of statistics), and (2) "political-correctness" capture in the Ivory Tower.
Examples, under (1), are extrapolating from statistics that say "Often, poor students at schools with a diversity of affluent and non-affulent students do better than poor students at schools with lots of poor students" to "We can make poor students do better by mixing them in with richer students" (Classical mistaking correlation for causation). Under (2), we see a strong bias towards "diversity."
As a result, common sense is often abandoned, and we see schools trying to create "diverse" schools in the belief that they will improve education, and going to great lengths to do so. As long as the school is diverse, it doesn't matter how far the kids have to travel. And, since the studies "show" that this should work, we can ignore actual results in the school that show poorer students doing worse when bussed to affluent schools.
No worries
Tue, 11/25/2008 - 15:44 — Dadof3FM, not to worry. They're "experts." That's ALL you need to know.
For those missing the sarcasm, B.F. Skinner also felt that parents lacked the expertese in the debacle that was the 60's. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B._F._Skinner That "expert" was way off, too, as is any endeavor that tries to shoehorn humanity into a theorotical construct.
Thanks! When I look at
Tue, 11/25/2008 - 13:52 — JSBinNCThanks!
When I look at the 4 Year Graduation rate (cohort?) it is 63.7. Do you know if that is broken down further into percentages for each of the 4 "schools"? (Like are certain schools graduating at a higher rate?)
It's for the whole school.
Tue, 11/25/2008 - 15:59 — KeungHui (author)It's for the whole school. They didn't start the first small school at East Wake until 2005. They opened one more in 2006 and the last two in 2007.
Haves and have-nots
Tue, 11/25/2008 - 12:08 — Bob_SconceSo, the school board want to provide "equal access" to programs? How about dropping things like "History of Film," Ballet, "Advanced Television Production and "Science fiction and fantasy" at Enloe and adding AP calculus BC and IB programs at other schools?
Of course, that would mean taking way from ITB schools and adding to OTB schools.
Can anyone comment how does
Tue, 11/25/2008 - 11:03 — NWRaleighMomCan anyone comment how does this compare with what other districts offer ?