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Okay, can someone please explain to me how this makes sense? In one paragraph, the parents are saying this:
“My main concern is the quality of education. That was the main reason we moved into the neighborhood that we are in, is to get the quality of education,”
And in another, they are saying this:
“There is no evidence to show if you bus a kid across town, they do better,”
"We aren't in the Bronx, N.Y. We aren't in Detroit. This is Wake County, and those lower-income students can and should get the same education in their own communities,”
I mean, is it only me, or are these statements going completely against each other? I mean it sounds like they don't want their kids going to Cary High instead of Apex b/c they aren't going to get as good of an education, but if the students get transferred from Cary High into Apex, they won't get a better education.
This is why I don't understand why people get so concerned about schools, especially when they either don't have kids, or their kids are very young. The schools change every year.
My main concern is the quality of education. That was the main reason we moved into the neighborhood that we are in, is to get the quality of education
I guess Nander Brown didn't read this before moving into the neighborhood:
WCPSS: Student Assignment Process (http://www.wcpss.net/growth-management/student-assign-process.html - broken link)
Quote:
Quote:
Reassignment Process
Factors Considered in Reassignment
Due to changing demographics and the influx of new families in to Wake County, the development of a reassignment plan is an ongoing process. These major factors provide the framework for reassignment:
The opening of new schools
Crowding at existing schools
Year-Round expansion/conversion
School facility improvement/expansion
Transportation - travel time
Magnet transportation offerings
Diversity indicators:
socioeconomic indicators using the percentage of students who qualify for free/reduced priced lunch
growth trends over the past years
academic achievement as reflected by reading scores for students in Grades 3-8
While the school district believes strongly that racial diversity within its schools enhance the education of all students, race is not a factor in assignment of students.
Whether you agree with it or not WCPSS makes no secret about it.
Quote:
There is no evidence to show if you bus a kid across town, they do better
Since 2000, school officials have used income as a prime factor in assigning students to schools, with the goal of limiting the proportion of low-income students in any school to no more than 40 percent.
The effort is the most ambitious in the country to create economically diverse public schools, and it is the most successful, according to several independent experts.
Quote:
Some experts said the academic results in Wake County were particularly significant because they bolstered research that showed low-income students did best when they attended middle-class schools.
Apex is a great highschool though; and yes it has better test scores and if i'm not mistaken more AP opportunities than Cary High. Yes that may have something to do with the fact that it draws from a higher-income area than Cary High does. Yes, that second comment from the article is contradictory to the first. (I think what they were trying to say was that instead of bussing kids from poorer area schools to more affluent area schools to better their education opportunities, they should focus on making sure that all schools in all neighborhoods offer the same opportunities). BUT...I have to admit that if we still lived in Apex, and my kids were trasnferred from Apex High to Cary High, I wouldn't be happy about it. It's also very different for highschools. I'd agree that it's usually the PARENTS who make too big of a deal out of elementary reassignments, but students themselves at the high school age also get really upset about it (understandibly IMO).
Last edited by just_sayin'; 11-24-2008 at 12:00 PM..
The funny thing about school programs is that you can't please everyone. Some love year round and some love traditional. Some love ethnic (I mean economic ) equalization in schools and others want to keep neighborhood schools. This battle will go on forever.
I think the residents of Apex should be happy that they have good schools and even happier that their children might have the opportunity to go to Cary schools. It's a win win for them.
Why should they be "even happier" that their kids would have the "opportunity" to go to Cary High school when it is further from their homes, and not as high performing as Apex High School?
Cary High's scores and Apex's scores are not that different. The only significant difference I saw was in English, but Cary High is moving out two nodes of primarily non-English speaking students from the trailer parks on SE Maynard, so I suspect that will go up significantly after this reassignment. Other than that, the scores are pretty similar and Cary high actually has one more AP class than Apex does. I don't know so much about the distance but the ones getting moved to Cary High are already in Cary elementary and middle schools to begin with. I guess it was just fine to specifically choose that neighborhood for the schools, go to both Cary elementary and middle schools, but suddenly it's across the earth and back to stay in Cary for HS.
We have a friend who was supposed to go to Panther Creek and has now been rezoned to Cary. She said the drive is about the same either way, just opposite directions.
In all, I think the plan is great for Cary High. We already thought it was a great school and I think this plan is only going to strengthen it!
The funny thing about school programs is that you can't please everyone. Some love year round and some love traditional. Some love ethnic (I mean economic ) equalization in schools and others want to keep neighborhood schools. This battle will go on forever.
I think the residents of Apex should be happy that they have good schools and even happier that their children might have the opportunity to go to Cary schools. It's a win win for them.
There are no Apex or Cary schools. There are Wake County schools with physical addresses in Cary or Apex. Cary High scored a 83.3 v. Apex High's 88.7 on its performace composite on the NC ABCs. In general, Wake County schools in Apex perform much better in terms of test scores than many Wake County schools in Cary--especially the ones that aren't in West Cary.
The difference between the composite scores is one percent. Not very significant IMO. Cary high also had higher scores in several math areas and a lower score in English due to the fact that they have a significantly LARGER non English speaking population which are mostly getting ready to be moved out of Cary High. Once you look into all the factors, I think the two schools are mostly equitable and Cary's scores will go up next year. Considering that Cary high has a higher percentage of low income familes and a higher percentage of non-english speakers than Apex to deal with, their scores are actually very good.
The difference between the composite scores is one percent. Not very significant IMO. Cary high also had higher scores in several math areas and a lower score in English due to the fact that they have a significantly LARGER non English speaking population which are mostly getting ready to be moved out of Cary High. Once you look into all the factors, I think the two schools are mostly equitable and Cary's scores will go up next year. Considering that Cary high has a higher percentage of low income familes and a higher percentage of non-english speakers than Apex to deal with, their scores are actually very good.
I don't know what you mean by 1% (how is a performance composite 88.7 only 1% better than 83.3?). Apex High's scores were the 2nd highest for a high school in the county. The highest scores were at Green Hope, Apex, Panther Creek, Leesville then Cary High.
Anyway, I think you missed my point. I was responding to the comment that parents should be "even happier that their children might have the opportunity to go to Cary schools. It's a win win for them." It's absurd to say that the students assigned out of Apex are somehow better off in a "Cary" school just because it's in Cary. Apex High is a very good school.
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Can't Please Everyone
) equalization in schools and others want to keep neighborhood schools. This battle will go on forever.
