August 12, 2011

Top News

Superintendent Tony Tata discussed his meeting with principals, assistant principals and Central Services administrators to lay out expectations for this year in his Friday, Aug. 12 news briefing.

Our Academic Efforts

In the Thursday meeting, school principals, assistant principals and Central Services administrators reviewed the student achievement audit of the school system and 2010-11 testing data.

Listen to Superintendent Tata's August 12 news conference 18 minute mp3 file

“The Wake County Public School System is strong,” said Tata. “When you look at our academic efforts over 2010-11, the leadership and hard work in our schools is evident.”

Superintendent Tata told the educators to examine academic data to determine how to best serve all children in the best manner possible.

“We are building a culture of continuous improvement in Wake County schools that leaves little room for complacency,” said Tata. “Where there is a clear need to redouble our efforts for all children, we will do that. And clearly, we do need to do that. We need to instill in our entire team a culture of continuous improvement which means constant self-reflection, honesty in admitting where we can do better and being proud of being able to take a step back and take a hard look at what it is that we’re doing and how we can serve all children in the best possible manner.”

Dr. Lindsay Page of the Harvard University Center for Education Policy Research Institute presented the academic audit, Trends in Student Achievement in WCPSS, to the school board several weeks ago and to the principals and administrators on Thursday.

“Dr. Page helped our team see that although the news is good about students meeting proficiency cutoffs, on average, if we just look at that as a measure of success, we have lost quite a bit of fidelity. Achievement gaps have persisted, even as more students are proficient,” said Tata. “Even more striking is the fact that economically disadvantaged students are falling behind over time, even if they start at the same achievement level. If you track the academic growth of the economically disadvantaged versus the non-economically disadvantaged third graders over time, we see achievement gaps are created in our schools.”

In her presentation, Dr. Page charted the achievement gap that grew during the course of a year in the third grade between students who started the school year in the same place.

“To me, that is a pretty telling fact. I don’t know what it tells us just yet,” said Tata. “We started some strong important discussions and conversations about these issues and others, and the answers will be different from school-to-school and student-to-student, but we need to do that hard work, disaggregate the data and get into what works and what does not work.”

Moving Forward

Superintendent Tata said analysis of state testing data shows the leadership and hard work in our schools is evident and the school system is doing many things right. Tata also identified some challenges:

• We’ve had steady, but modest, improvement in student proficiency over the years. We’re at high levels in most areas already, but we could be moving faster and higher.
• There’s a notable difference in reading and math proficiency, a significant notable difference.
• We need to know why we’re not accelerating learning enough to close subgroup achievement gaps, and we need to correct it. In particular, why do two children who start at the same place in third grade in our schools wind up in different places because of their economic status.
• A small number of our schools met AYP, and while that’s an exacting standard, it is a standard imposed on us, and we’ll be working to meet it.
• Finally, our graduation rate needs attention. It went up, but our African-American and Free and Reduced subgroups can improve.

“We are developing strategies to attack these issues and address these challenges as we move forward,” said Tata.

Success in Algebra I

Superintendent Tata called on principals to increase the number of students taking Algebra I in the eighth and ninth grade.

“One of the things that we know works is early success in Algebra I,” said Tata. “Students who take Algebra I by ninth grade - and eighth grade is preferable - are well positioned to be college-ready.”

Schools assigned students to Algebra I last year using data from EVAAS, a customized software system available to all NC school districts. EVAAS tools provide a precise measurement of student progress over time and a reliable diagnosis of opportunities for growth.

“Thanks to EVAAS data, we know that we have not been identifying all of those qualified students and we know who they are,” said Tata. “And we will do better in assigning them.”

In 2009-10, roughly 3,000 eighth-graders took Algebra I. In 2010-11, about 4,500 eighth-graders took Algebra I, an increase of around 1,500 students. Schools are projected to place 6,000 students in Algebra I this year.

Middle school math departments absorbed the influx of students in Algebra I. Central Services staff offered yearlong support to pre-Algebra and Algebra teachers, focusing on differentiation, and providing an online site for teachers to share their lessons and activities.

“My hat is off to our math teachers and the principals in the middle schools and those in Central Services who worked hard to make this first year successful and we’re going to do better in upcoming years,” said Tata. “Even with many additional students, the percentage of proficient students remained stable, and the percentage of successful Limited English Proficient students actually went up.”

In 2010-11, the school system placed 72 percent into Algebra I of those students that EVAAS predicted would be successful.

“So what happened to that other 28 percent?” asked Tata. “We had a conversation about that and it’s my expectation, and our board’s expectation, that every student who is predicted by EVAAS to succeed in Algebra I be placed in Algebra I – and we are drafting a policy for the board that spells out this obligation to our students.”

The school system will monitor the impact of this boost in academic rigor for students, examine the change in courses students will select once they’ve had success in Algebra and the support they may require.

More News

Student Conduct Policies Revised

At the Thursday meeting, Attorney Ann Majestic talked with principals about our new approach to discipline and suspensions.

“I have two priorities for our schools in this regard, and they are mutually inclusive: we must do everything we can for every student to support their academic success, and we must maintain safe and secure learning environments,” said Tata. “The policies we have implemented over the last few months have come as a result of frank conversations about how best to achieve both of those priorities, with the understanding that a seemingly needless long-term suspension short-circuits a student’s progress and may lead to more harmful behavior.”

The board approved revisions to Policy 6410, Code of Student Conduct, and Policy 6500, Due Process, updating the policies and complying with new state law.

“We are giving our principals more discretion to look at mitigating or aggravating factors in determining appropriate disciplinary actions,” said Tata. “I am empowering our principals to use their authority to support their school’s academic environments, and take the right steps both for campus safety and for helping students who need redirection.”

Traditional Schools Begins August 25

Traditional calendar schools will open on August 25. There are 109 WCPSS schools operating on the traditional calendar including 62 elementary schools, 21 middle schools, 22 high schools and four special/optional schools.

You can find more information to prepare for the new school year on our Back to School webpage.