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.
Wake had 50 Schools of Distinction, meaning at least 80 percent passed state exams and the school made growth. That's up from 26 schools in 2007-08.
This means 39.7 percent of Wake's 156 schools were either Schools of Excellence or Schools of Distinction.
No Wake schools were designated as low performing.
The passing rates for elementary and middle schools did get a boost from the state including successful retests in the calculations.
But state officials say the retests were not a factor in calculating growth. The growth calculations are traditionally used to determine bonuses but no money was available this year because of the state's budget shortfall.
In Wake, 138 of the 156 schools, or 88.5 percent. made growth expectations. That's up from 85.9 percent last year.
Click here for the ABCs results.
Comments
Millbrook, Powell, River
Sun, 08/09/2009 - 21:35 — DotmedlinMillbrook, Powell, River Bend, Stough, York, Zebulon, Vandora Springs, Wendell: What is it that these schools are doing to achieve such high scores with so many poor, disadvantaged students? Just what are these teachers doing that other schools in the system need to know about? Congratulations to them!!
Millbrook and Powell are
Mon, 08/10/2009 - 10:37 — NWRaleighMomMillbrook and Powell are magnets with extra resources.
"Healthy Schools"
Sat, 08/08/2009 - 08:55 — Eric_BLet's look at Wake County compared to the other largest school districts in the state to see whether our schools are doing better or even if the diversity policy is succeeding at preventing "unhealthy schools."
Hmmm... Wake is the lowest among these largest districts despite our healthy schools policy. What's going on?
Data taken from http://abcs.ncpublicschools.org/abcs/
Hmmm... Wake is the lowest
Tue, 08/11/2009 - 13:22 — MorrisVMorrisHmmm... Wake is the lowest cost largest districts because of our healthy schools policy ....
If you want to rid your schools of poor kids you will need to sell the high funding model to taxpayers.
Prove it
Wed, 08/12/2009 - 08:30 — RichardAndersonHmmm... Wake is the lowest cost largest districts because of our healthy schools policy ....
Prove it. Go on. Show it. Then address the true cost in achievement.
What's going on?
Sun, 08/09/2009 - 14:41 — g88ky07MANY voters/parents have allowed people like Horace Tart, Beverley, Patti, Rosa and Lori to be elected and create AND support destructive policies like FYR/MYR, endless reassignments, early release and the list goes on and on and on and on...
62.8% meeting AYP, mind boggling drop out rate, unacceptable graduation rates and the MILLIONS of YOUR tax dollars that has been blown out the tailpipes of yellow boxes for years are the proof that CHANGE MUST HAPPEN in 8 weeks!
STOP IT NOW Wake County, and never EVER elect another "status quo" incumbent or candidate to handle decisions for your children AGAIN!
If you don't, add "taxing authority" to the list of destruction!
FYR
Tue, 08/11/2009 - 15:17 — RMC10Did anyone read the FYR applications that came in the mail yesterday?
Looks like you can have a handicapped child with special nutrition needs "prescribed" by a doctor, and get not only FYR but that special prescription nutrition.
Looks like you don't have to be a citizen to be eligible, but you have to provide a valid Social Security Number (huh?)
Can homeless, runaway and migrant children get free meals? They may be eligible, contact the migrant coordinator.
That explains why the State's ED% is so high as reported by ABC's by populations by FYR.
I'm not opposed to FYR, but when the income levels seem a little high , that probably qualifies a lot of students, and when you include so many children then use that high % to get more federal money, is it goodwill to students or is it windfall for school districts?
I hadn't read this letter before, but am amazed how many children get this benefit.
http://www.wcpss.net/child-nutrition/Free%20and%20Reduced/letter_to_parent.pdf
Not Meeting AYP Not So Healthy
Sat, 08/08/2009 - 14:12 — RMC10Although Wake County showed overall growth progress at 2.6% over 2007-08 scores, 57 schools did not meet AYP this year (that's 36.5%).Although reading, math and science AYP targets percents look very low (dumbing down the students), A little over 1/3 of the schools - even with retests could not meet those low targets.
Some of that 2.6 gain is a direct result of the retests, and additional gains were from the way the calculations and special needs and SWD's were moved around or out of the "participant" pool.So we're really comparing apples to oranges this year.
It becomes hard to oppose the retests when it was done with SBE
approval and encouragement, NC as a state gets praised as joining the
top states in education. The NCLB, state, federal funds will flow a
little faster, and WCPSS reputation just got a little shinier.
Determining AYP From ABC's (Begin Copy)
However, the SBE approved a few modifications to the accountability system that affect AYP calculations for the 2008-09 accountability cycle. These include the following:
1. Retest scores (first retest only) for EOG reading and mathematics (grades 3-8) were incorporated in the calculation of AYP. Students scoring in Achievement Level II were required to take a retest; students scoring in Achievement Level I could “opt in” to take the retest at the parents’ request. The higher of the two scores (original score or first retest score) was used in calculating AYP. Consequently, AYP results for 2008-09 are not comparable to results for previous years.
2. For AYP purposes, students taking the OCS EXTEND2 assessments were counted as non-participants. The SBE made this decision after the U.S. Department of Education (USED) disallowed the use of NCDPI’s OCS assessments for AYP because the link between the general curriculum and the OCS curriculum was judged to be insufficient during the Peer Review process. For this reason, OCS students were included in the denominator but excluded from the numerator.
3. When an existing Students with Disabilities (SWD) subgroup missed its AYP target, scores for students with disabilities (SWD), who exited their SWD category within the previous two years were included in AYP calculations. (This is similar to a provision that had been available for students with limited English proficiency.)
This document describes the general approach for determining AYP in any year. It must be read with the above modifications in mind. (end of copy)
Schools vs Children again.
Fri, 08/07/2009 - 22:40 — SDR256Yes, WCPSS makes families jump through hoops and enslaves children to long bus routes so that their SCHOOLS can look better. We've all known that. (better SCHOOL scores, more kudos & promotions for administrators!) Meanwhile CHILDREN are being shuffled around to hide their problems, finesse the statistics and not solve the individual problems. Considering the pain they foist on the public, these results don't look worth it.
The news keeps getting worse
Thu, 08/06/2009 - 20:47 — MorrisVMorrisThe news keeps getting worse and worse for WSCA.
Make that drink a little
Fri, 08/07/2009 - 09:48 — g88ky07Make that drink a little stronger, but don't drink and drive, or drink and blog, cause it doesn't work for you!
Sigh
Thu, 08/06/2009 - 21:16 — Dadof3Do not feed the troll.
Answer to Question and More
Fri, 08/07/2009 - 16:29 — RMC10On that ABC report left hand column click on Determining AYP Status and scroll down and you will see Safe Harbor and Confidence Interval explained.
Also on that ABC homepage - Determining AYP Statrus, note in the first couple of paragraphs the change in calculations as a result of the retests 2008-2009, where the retest score becomes the score that is counted, which may indeed account for the 2.6% improvement in Wake County scores overall.
Also changes in calculations noted in in paragraphs 2 and 3 again could positively affect the improved scores.
Finally on the ABC Homepage under the List Search, scroll down to Schools Not Meeting AYP - scroll down to Wake where you will see 57 (36.5%) Wake County Schools did not meet the AYP this year. There's also several other ways to List Search filter and compare scores to other counties.
Ah statistics!
AYP codes?
Thu, 08/06/2009 - 12:19 — croaswifeSome schools have CI (confidence interval applied) and SH (safe harbor) - is anyone familiar with these terms and what they mean? Thanks!
confidence intervals and safe harbor
Sat, 08/08/2009 - 21:49 — klanders65The CI being applied roughly means that a school has a target, but the scores have error in them. You can apply a statistical test to determine whether the achieved score is "statistically significantly" different from the actual score. (This is a legitimate thing.)
Safe Harbor: I don't know what NC's Safe Harbor is, but what the feds offer is that if a school doesn't make the target proficiency levels, if their lowest achieving students make significant progress (some set amount) then they have "safe harbor."
I know NC uses Safe Harbor, but I don't know what the amount is.
Good progress ... let's stay
Thu, 08/06/2009 - 11:28 — MorrisVMorrisGood progress ... let's stay the course
nice to hear some good news.
Thu, 08/06/2009 - 10:35 — CaryCurmudgeonnice to hear some good news.