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North Carolina Education
News
March 2008
Copyright © 2008 Queue, Inc.
IN
THIS ISSUE:
Advanced Placement Results - North Carolina
Moving North Carolina Forward: High Standards
and High Graduation Rates
State Dropout Rate Increases In 2006-07
Nine Teachers Honored as Regional Teachers of
The Year; Teachers to Compete for Statewide Honor
North Carolina's Top Youth Volunteers Selected In
13th Annual National Awards Program
School Finance Redesign Project - North
Carolina
Terry B. Grier, Ed.D. Superintendent, Guilford County
Schools Greensboro, N.C.
More than 15 percent of the public high
school class of 2007 achieved at least one AP¨ Exam grade of 3 or higherÑthe
score that is predictive of college success. This achievement represents a
significant and consistent improvement since the class of 2002 when less than
12 percent of public school graduates attained this goal.
In its fourth annual "AP Report to the
Nation," the College Board (the not-for-profit membership association that
owns and administers the AP Program), focuses on educators' quantifiable
successes in helping a wider segment of the nation's students gain access to
and achieve success in college-level work. Of the estimated 2.8 million
students who graduated from U.S. public schools in 2007, almost 426,000 (15.2
percent) earned an AP Exam grade of at least a 3 on one or more AP Exams during
their high school tenure, the report documents. This is up from 14.7 percent in
2006 and 11.7 percent in 2002.
Earning a 3 or higher on an AP Exam is one
of "the very best predictors of college performance," with AP
students earning higher college grades and graduating from college at higher
rates than otherwise similar peers in control groups, according to recent
reports from researchers.
State
Reports:
http://professionals.collegeboard.com/data-reports-research/ap/nation
Full
report:
http://professionals.collegeboard.com/profdownload/ap-report-to-the-nation-2008.pdf
North
Carolina Report:
http://professionals.collegeboard.com/profdownload/North-Carolina-AP-Report-2008.pdf
After
conducting a thorough policy analysis, Achieve and Jobs for the Future
suggested in this report to North Carolina ways it can create a more coherent,
intentional, and aligned assessment and accountability system to improve both
achievement and graduation rates for struggling and out-of-school students. The
report includes a preliminary framework for next generation high school
accountability indicators that recognize and reward schools that help all
students graduate on time with a college and career-ready diploma.
The
recommendations were presented to an independent Blue Ribbon Commission on
Testing and Accountability in North Carolina. This report was part of Moving
Forward: High Standards and High Graduation Rates, a joint project of
Achieve, Inc., and Jobs for the Future and funded by Carnegie Corporation of
New York.
Full
report:
http://www.achieve.org/files/MovingNCForward.pdf
A total of 23,550 students - or 5.24 percent
of the students in grades nine through 12 - dropped out of school in the
2006-07 school year, according to the "Annual Dropout Event Report for
School Year 2006-07" today presented to the State Board of Education. The
dropout rate in 2005-06 was 5.04 percent or 22,180 students.
Forty-three percent of North Carolina's 115
school districts reported a decrease in dropout events with Washington, Clay
and Camden counties showing the largest rate decreases - approximately 50
percent decreases in each case. Large increases in a handful of school
districts pushed up the state average.
Efforts
to Improve High Schools
The issue of high school dropouts has
prompted significant work recently to improve middle and high schools so that
students are better engaged and supported in their learning. Specific efforts
expected to affect the dropout rate include:
á Literacy Coaches. The 2007 session of the General Assembly approved 100
additional literacy coaches for middle schools, increasing the total number to
200.
á Learn and Earn Early College High Schools. By the end of 2008, 76 Learn
and Earn Early College high schools should be operational or in planning across
the state. These schools provide students, particularly non-traditional college
students or students who could be first-generation college students, the
opportunity to earn an Associate's Degree at no cost while still under the
supervision and support of high school faculties. Early results of these
schools are promising. For 2005-06, the 12 Learn and Earn high schools in
operation that year had a combined ninth grade promotion rate of 96 percent,
while the statewide average promotion rate for that grade was 85 percent. Five
of the Learn and Earn high schools promoted 100 percent of their ninth graders.
á Dropout Prevention Grants. The Joint Legislative Commission on Dropout
Prevention and High School Graduation awarded 60 groups (school systems,
schools, agencies and nonprofits) across the state grants totaling $7 million
to help them in their efforts to reduce drop outs. The Commission will evaluate
the programs and decide whether expanding or replicating them will improve
graduation rates in the state.
á High School Transformation. Two years ago, the Department of Public
Instruction and State Board of Education began serious work in partnership with
the state's chronically low-performing high schools to provide the support they
need for systemic change and improvement. NCDPI now has 35 schools in High
School Turnaround and 54 schools in High School Turnaround Assessment, the
first step toward improving each school.
á North Carolina Virtual Public School. The goal of the North Carolina
Virtual Public School is to provide students with courses that are unavailable
to them at their traditional schools or scheduled at times that students are
not able to access traditional brick-and-mortar courses.
á Learn and Earn Online. Learn and Earn Online enables students to register
and take online courses through any community college or through the University
of North Carolina at Greensboro iSchool at no cost to the student or their
family.
á EARN Scholarships. The EARN Scholarship provides incentives for students
and enables Early College high school students who are at or below 200 percent
of the poverty level and who complete an Associate's Degree with an acceptable
grade point average, to qualify to earn their baccalaureate degree debt-free at
one of North Carolina's public universities.
Other
Report Findings
Data analysis found that almost one-third
(32 percent) of all dropout events continue to occur during the ninth grade
year with 25 percent of dropouts leaving in 10th grade and 22 percent of them
dropping out in 11th grade. Dropout rates increase in frequency as students
reach 16 years of age. Seventy-eight percent of dropout events occurred between
the ages of 16 and 18.
Although the dropout rates for Black (6.16
percent), Multiracial (5.23 percent) and White (4.52 percent) students
increased in 2006-07, the dropout rate for American Indian students (7.71 percent)
fell to its lowest level in the last four years. The dropout rate for Asian
students declined (2.41 percent). The dropout rate for Hispanic students (7.66
percent) also declined - despite a large increase in dropout events. This is
attributed to a rapidly increasing Hispanic student population.
The 2006-07 school year also saw a slight
decrease (59.4 percent from 59.9 percent) in the number of male students
dropping out although they continue to be much more likely to drop out than
females.
State law requires school officials to record the reason for a
student's decision to drop out of school. In 2006-07, 51 percent of the dropout
events listed attendance issues as the reason for the student's decision to
drop out. Although schools are only to use this reason code for students who
drop out due to excessive absences that caused the student to become ineligible
or in jeopardy of becoming ineligible to receive course credits, there are
concerns that this code also is used to cover other reasons that may be
uncertain or unknown. There will be an "unknown" code added to the
2007-08 report, which should address this issue. Other common reasons reported
by schools include enrollment in a community college (13.6 percent) followed by
moved, school status unknown (10.6 percent) and academic problems (7.1
percent).
Dropout data have been collected each year
since 1988-89, although specific reporting methods changed in 1991 to conform
to new federal guidelines and in 1999 because of changes in the state's definition
of a dropout.
For the annual dropout rate calculation, a
dropout is defined as a student who:
á was enrolled in school at some time during the previous school year,
which is the reporting year;
á was not enrolled on Day 20 of the current school year;
á has not graduated from high school or completed a state or district
approved educational program; and
á does not meet any of the following reporting exclusions:
o transferred to another public school district, private school, home
school or state/district approved educational program;
o temporarily absent due to suspension or school-approved illness; or
o death.
North Carolina also collects a four-year
cohort graduation rate each year. This rate indicates the percentage of
first-time ninth graders who graduated from high school four years later.
The complete dropout report and district
level numbers are available online at http://www.ncpublicschools.org/research/dropout/reports.
Eight principals were recently selected to
represent their regions as regional Wachovia Principals of the Year and will
now compete for the title of 2008 Wachovia Principal of the Year. The winner
will succeed the 2007 Wachovia Principal of the Year, Craig Hill, former
principal of Kinston High School (Lenoir County Schools) and currently an
assistant superintendent with Wilson County Public Schools.
The regional Wachovia principals of the year
are:
|
REGION |
PRINCIPAL |
SCHOOL |
COUNTY |
|
North Central |
Cathy Moore |
Sanderson High |
Wake County Schools |
|
Northeast |
Arty Tillet |
First Flight High |
Dare County Schools |
|
Northwest |
Danny Cartner |
South Davie Middle |
Davie County Schools |
|
Southeast |
Lori Howard |
Clyde Erwin Elementary |
Onslow County Schools |
|
Southwest |
Debra Morris |
A.L. Brown High |
Kannapolis City Schools |
|
Sandhills/South Central |
Vicky Kirby |
Pate Gardner Elementary |
Scotland County Schools |
|
Piedmont-Triad/Central |
Nakia Hardy |
Broadview Middle |
Alamance-Burlington Schools |
|
West |
Thomas Keever |
Valley Springs Middle |
Buncombe County Schools |
Nine teachers were recently selected to
represent their regions and charter schools as regional Teachers of the Year
and will now compete for the title of 2008-09 North Carolina Teacher of the
Year. The winner will succeed the 2007-08 Teacher of the Year, James Bell, an
eighth grade English teacher at Chowan Middle School, Edenton-Chowan Public
Schools.
The regional teachers of the year are:
|
REGION |
TEACHER |
SCHOOL |
COUNTY |
|
North Central |
Paige Elliott |
Fuquay-Varina High |
Wake County Schools |
|
Northeast |
Sonya Rinehart |
John A. Holmes High |
Edenton-Chowan Public Schools |
|
Northwest |
Janice Raper |
Hurley Elementary |
Rowan-Salisbury Schools |
|
Southeast |
Ruth Parker |
Clinton High |
Clinton City Schools |
|
Southwest |
Bernard Waugh |
Kannapolis Intermediate |
Kannapolis City Schools |
|
Sandhills/South Central |
Trisha Muse |
Page Street Elementary |
Montgomery County Schools |
|
Piedmont-Triad/Central |
Cindi Rigsbee |
Gravelly Hill Middle |
Orange County Schools |
|
West |
Renee Peoples |
West Elementary |
Swain County Schools |
|
Charter Schools |
Freida Baker |
East Wake Academy |
Wake County |
The
National Association of State Boards of Education (NASBE) has made grants to
three state boards of education to promote more effective instruction to K-12
students about HIV prevention. The $13,000 grants are being made to the North
Carolina, Oregon, and Tennessee State Boards of Education.
ÒHIV
remains a dire threat to public health. And as with any communicable disease,
education must be a cornerstone of our prevention efforts. These HIV prevention
grants continue NASBEÕs long and proud tradition as a national leader in
promoting student health policies and of providing supportÑboth technical
assistance and financial resourcesÑto state boards of education,Ó said Brenda
Welburn, NASBE Executive Director.
The
HIV Prevention Policy and Program Improvement Initiative assists state boards of
education and state education agencies to more effectively provide K-12
students with the knowledge, skills, and attitudes needed to prevent HIV
infection. The grants will support intensive state capacity building to improve
HIV-related education policies and programs. The three state boards of
education developed specific action plans that reflect their particular stateÕs
needs.
The
North Carolina State Board of Education will develop an on-line training module for
school administrators to increase knowledge, attitudes and support for HIV
prevention education and emphasize the state's Healthful Living Standard Course
of Study (SCS).
The
grants are part of NASBEÕs HIV Prevention Policy and Program Improvement
Initiative,
a facet of the Center for Safe and Healthy Schools, which is supported by the
Centers for Disease Control and PreventionÕs Division of Adolescent and School
Health (CDC-DASH).
NASBE
represents AmericaÕs state and territorial boards of education. Its principal
objectives are to strengthen state leadership in education policymaking;
advocate equality of access to educational opportunity; promote excellence in
the education of all students; and assure responsible lay governance of
education.
Clayton
and Charlotte students earn $1,000 awards, engraved medallions and trip to
nationÕs capital
Honors
also bestowed on other top youth volunteers in North Carolina
Nicholas
Marriam, 15, of Clayton and Garrie Brocato, 13, of Charlotte were named North
Carolina's top two youth volunteers for 2008 by The Prudential Spirit of
Community Awards, a nationwide program honoring young people for outstanding
acts of volunteerism. The awards program, now in its 13th year, is conducted by
Prudential Financial in partnership with the National Association of Secondary
School Principals (NASSP).
Nicholas
was nominated by West Johnston High School in Benson, and Garrie was nominated
by Southwest Middle School in Charlotte. As State Honorees, each will receive
$1,000, an engraved silver medallion, and an all-expense-paid trip in early May
to Washington, D.C., where they will join the top two honorees Ð one middle
level and one high school youth Ð from each of the other states and the
District of Columbia for several days of national recognition events. Ten of
them will be named AmericaÕs top youth volunteers for 2008 at that time.
Nicholas, a freshman at West
Johnston High School, brings a smile and a gift to sick children in a program
he started after spending two years in the hospital fighting cancer. Nicholas
was just 6 years old when he was diagnosed with T-cell lymphoma. ÒI felt very
scared and saw my parents cry a lot,Ó he said. ÒI fought hard and finally won
my battle, but did not want the kids who were still struggling to feel alone.Ó
Nicholas
began collecting games and toys from friends and businesses to bring with him
when he went back to visit kids in the hospital where he had been treated. ÒThe
feeling was overwhelming,Ó he recalled. ÒI saw so many kids smile and laugh, I
knew I wanted to do this all of the time!Ó After his family moved from Maryland
to North Carolina, Nicholas formed a nonprofit foundation to celebrate five
years of remission, took his program to hospitals in the Raleigh-Durham area,
and recruited his cousin back in Maryland to continue his hospital visits
there. Nicholas now organizes fund-raisers and uses money from summer jobs and
grants to purchase the toys he leaves behind on his hospital visits. He also
does some public speaking, manages a board of directors, and handles his
foundationÕs paperwork. ÒItÕs the hardest thing I have ever done,Ó he said.
ÒBut I know it will make a difference to a child laying in a hospital somewhere
who is scared and lonely.Ó
Garrie, a seventh-grader at
Southwest Middle School, recruited a team of friends to help her raise more
than $36,000 for cancer causes and to organize events throughout the year to
increase cancer awareness. GarrieÕs interest in volunteering began when she
accompanied her mother to an American Cancer Society Relay for Life meeting
several years ago. ÒI listened to what was going on and I knew immediately I
wanted to be involved in this fight against cancer,Ó said Garrie.
She
gathered a group of friends together for the Relay for Life fund-raiser and in
only three months, GarrieÕs team raised more than $4,000 by selling homemade
valentines and bookmarks, and holding an Easter egg giveaway. When it was over,
Garrie kept her team together, not only for future relays, but also to stage
events focusing attention on breast exams, the dangers of cigarette smoking,
skin cancer prevention, and other cancer topics. She holds weekly meetings at
her home and sends out a regular newsletter to team members and sponsors.
Garrie also initiated an art supplies drive for cancer patients at a summer
camp, and shaved her head to show support for those suffering through
chemotherapy treatments. ÒI know that all that I have done is so small, but I
believe that if every person did one thing to make the world a better place,
then it would be,Ó Garrie said.
In
addition, the program judges recognized six other North Carolina students as
Distinguished Finalists for their impressive community service activities. Each
will receive an engraved bronze medallion:
Max
Cohen, 18, of Charlotte, a senior at Charlotte Country Day School, initiated a
school and community book drive that produced more than 3,000 used textbooks
and novels for underprivileged South African school children. He also
encouraged a friend at another school to conduct a similar drive, which
resulted in the shipping of an additional 1,000 books to the nonprofit
organization Books for Africa.
Erika
May, 13, of Cary, an eighth-grader at Lufkin Road Middle School in Apex, has
been tutoring and mentoring a homeless boy from her school for the past five
years. Erika, with help from her family, has helped the boy improve his grades
and provides him with opportunities that he never would have otherwise.
Svyatoslav
Petrov, 17, of Raleigh, a junior at Ravenscroft School, has been volunteering
for the past four years as a mentor to Russian orphans affected by the nuclear
plant disaster in Chernobyl, Ukraine, in 1986. In addition, he developed a
health education program to teach these children about healthy eating,
substance abuse prevention, and ways to improve their weakened immune systems.
Matthew
Sabo, 18, of Salisbury, a senior at Salisbury High School, collected thousands
of bottles of toiletries for victims of Hurricane Katrina, along with clothing,
furniture, cleaning supplies, tools and household items. He also raised $4,600
to purchase construction supplies to build houses in Pascagoula, Miss., where he
joined in the rebuilding effort.
Nathaniel
Sink, 18, of Lexington, a senior at West Davidson High School, constructed a
swing set and renovated the surrounding park grounds for a local tabernacle.
Nathaniel raised $6,000 to purchase materials, recruited a group of volunteers
to assist, and managed the project from start to finish.
The
School Finance Redesign Project (SFRP) encompasses research, policy analysis,
and public engagement activities that examine how K-12 finance can be
redesigned to better support student performance. SFRP addresses the question,
"How can resources help schools achieve the higher levels of student
performance that state and national education standards now demand?"
To accomplish
this purpose, the project is studying governmental policies, finance
structures, and professional practices; it is assessing policy options for
finance redesign; and it is developing decision making tools for policy makers
and educators.
See
report on project work to date, which focuses on North Carolina, Ohio, Texas, and
Washington state:
http://www.schoolfinanceredesign.org/pub/workingpapers.shtml
Named the 2008 North Carolina Superintendent of the Year by the
North Carolina Association of School Administrators, Terry Grier has worked to
advance academic rigor and achievement, giving all students the chance to
succeed, while improving public education during his eight-year tenure with
Guilford County Schools, Greensboro, N.C.Õs third-largest school district with
an ever-growing student enrollment of more than 71,000.
In 2006, Grier led GCS to become one of the first districts to
address the educational crisis of teacher turnover and shortage in highly
impacted schools. Initiating Mission Possible, the district used an incentive
program designed to attract, retain and reward both teachers and administrators
who achieve results in select schools. During the past seven years, the
districtÕs dropout rate has been cut in half. In 2005, the National Dropout
Prevention Center presented GCS with its Crystal Star Award of Excellence in
Dropout Recovery.
The districtÕs success with AP and IB courses attracted the eye of
Newsweek magazineÕs Challenge Index. For the third consecutive year, Grimsley
High School was ranked among the top 100. The number of AP Exams taken by GCS
students has increased from 2,864 in 2000 to 8,393 in 2007. To encourage
participation in higher-level courses, GCS has implemented an AP Diploma
program. A student who takes five AP courses and receives a grade of 3 or
higher on each exam is issued an AP Diploma. During a Cool to Be Smart awards
ceremony last summer, 236 students received an AP/IB Diploma, and one student
won a new car, five won a laptop computer and six won a $1,500 college
scholarship.
To attract the interest of high school students who do not excel
with the traditional high school curriculum, Grier pioneered the districtÕs
first middle college high school program, which includes six different middle
colleges located on separate college campuses. He implemented one of the first
Early Colleges to allow gifted high school students to take courses on a
college campus, many becoming full-time college freshmen during what would have
been their junior year in high school. Grier has published more than 50
articles in educational journals and is a frequent speaker at national and
state educational conferences. He has been featured in national educational
publications such as: Education Week, Urban Educator and Scholastic
Administrator for his innovative ideas and proven leadership in education. He
earned his doctoral degree in education from Vanderbilt University. On July 1,
Grier will become the new superintendent of the San Diego Unified School
District.
New
Fordham report on teacher labor agreements in America's fifty largest districts
In the era of No Child Left Behind,
principals are increasingly held accountable for student performance. But are
teacher labor agreements giving them enough flexibility to manage effectively?
A new report from the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, The Leadership Limbo: Teacher Labor
Agreements in America's Fifty Largest School Districts (http://ce.edexcellence.net/dsp_emailhandler.cfm?eid=43665&uid=42295), attempts to answer this
question and others.
The main findings:
á Thirty, or more than half,
of the 50 districts have labor agreements that are ambiguous. The collective
bargaining agreements and the formal board policies in these districts appear
to grant leaders substantial leeway to manage assertively, should they so
choose.
á Fifteen of the 50 districts
are home to Restrictive or Highly Restrictive labor agreements. Nearly 10
percent of the nation's African-American K-12 students population attend school
in the 15 lowest-scoring districts--making these contracts major barriers to
more equal educational opportunity.
á Districts with high
concentrations of poor and minority students tend to have more restrictive
contracts than other districts--another alarming indication of inequity along
racial and class lines.
á The labor agreements of the
nation's 50 largest districts are particularly restrictive when it comes to
work rules.
á Most of these agreements
are also quite restrictive when it comes to rewarding teachers for service in
hard-to-staff subject areas such as math and science, with 31 actually
prohibiting districts from doing so.
á Five of the fifty districts
in the analysis can claim relatively "flexible" teacher labor
agreements that explicitly give leaders broad authority to manage their schools
effectively. The five are Guilford County, North Carolina; Austin, Dallas, and
Northside, Texas; and Fairfax County, Virginia.
Full report:
http://ce.edexcellence.net/dsp_emailhandler.cfm?eid=43663&uid=42295