News-Record.com

Six school construction projects from the 2003 construction bond are complete or will be by the start of school. That leaves 16 other projects to finish between now and 2008 (Jamestown and Guilford middle schools timelines are unknown as they lack funding). You can find a current timeline of all projects on the Guilford County Schools Web site as well as a summary by GCS Chief Operating Officer Kevin lear.

We won't know until math results are released in October, but more than likely the number of Guilord County Schools required to offer free tutoring will double for 2006-07.

Guilford is one of seven districts that could put tutoring before transfers under the No Child Left Behind sanctions. (The state must be approved for the pilot program first, however.)

Educators say it makes more sense to offer tutoring first, then allow students to transfer from failing schools. What do you think?

The deadline to request bus transportation for 2006-07 is Monday.

Not sure if you need to apply? Here's the lowdown on who does:
*Magnet/options students
*Students at traditional schools who have moved
*Students at traditional schools who did not ride last year

Here's what the district says (scroll down a little bit) about transportation requests.

Download a request form here.

School board member Amos Quick wants to see students at low-performing high schools score better on end-of-course tests. But Quick, who questions the effectiveness of middle colleges, believes Guilford County Schools can do it without implementing a host of alternative schools.

Quick wants to see intense remediation for the lowest-performing students, believing that would boost test scores for the entire school. He said he plans to advocate this in upcoming meetings.

"It's not rocket science as to what we need to do," Quick said last week.

What do you think? Is the district more likely to improve academic performance (and student motivation) with its non-traditional high schools and other programs? Or would remediation be a more cost-effective solution?

*Update: I just got off the phone with board Chairman Alan Duncan. He said the district tried remediation programs a few years ago but they didn't meet expectations. Look for a fuller story on this in the next few days.

I thought this article might interest some of the readers here, seeing as Guilford County Schools is debating cuts after not getting as much money as requested from the county to run the district in 2006-07. (This is from the Mackinac Center for Public Policy in Michigan.)

Different state. Different funding system. But this could apply to any district in any state.

For those of you who read today's paper, here is a link to a 2003 bond summary by Kevin Lear, chief operating officer with Guilford County Schools. I didn't realize until Friday that Lear left Northern Elementary School off the summary. I will try to get him to add it this week.

All states, including North Carolina, submitted teacher equity plans to the U.S. Secretary of Education by last Friday. However, the department is not making the plans publicly available yet.

Guilford County Board of Education approved this year's $156.7 million local budget at 12:14 a.m. today. The board found itself with little wiggle room to make decisions, given the district has already hired teachers at Mission Possible schools and board members have approved some contracts for teacher training.

Should results from a student safety survey be used to guide district programming and training?

The school board discussed this issue Tuesday. See survey results here.

Budget discussions came toward the end of the meeting and we couldn't get many details in today's paper. Read tomorrow's edition to see what will be cut to balance the 2006-07 budget.

Much attention has been paid to the higher standards in reading placed upon our schools by the public and private sectors, but we need to take a better look at what teachers are bringing with them to the classroom. The National Council on Teacher Quality released in May a report on how schools of education are preparing its students to later teach reading in elementary schools.

This is the first time I've heard of this being done, but a school board president in Ohio weary of personal attacks prohibited public comments for three months. I haven't heard much in the way of personal attacks at the GCS meetings I've covered since April but it's clear from blog posters that many residents question the quality of leadership in Guilford County Schools. It's also clear folks here aren't the only ones waving pitchforks. Was this a responsible move?

For some, Guilford County Schools' release of adequate yearly progress results tomorrow will garner accolades and feelings of accomplishment. For others it will spark disappointment, resignation or frustration. For all, those feelings will be tempered by uncertainty, as the district only has preliminary and partial results to release.

Last year, 58 percent of local elementary and middle schools met AYP goals after minimum passing rates for reading and math were raised, compared to 72 percent in 2003-04. Only five of 20 high schools made AYP in 2004-2005 compared to 10 the previous year.

We will only get partial scores tomorrow because the state is still reviewing the results of new end-of-grade math tests. The Guilford County Board of Education also pulled Title 1 funding from the county's poorest high schools last year to keep them from facing possible AYP sanctions.

Read a full report on this in Wednesday's paper (assuming district scores are released on time). What do you expect this year?

UPDATE: Results in many districts across the state, including Guilford, have been delayed. Read more.

A U.S. Department of Education study released this month found that public school students performed about the same as private school students after controlling for socioeconomic and demographic factors.

The study covered National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) assessments of fourth- and eighth-graders at more than 6,000 public and private schools.

The study has its critics. You can find more background about this (and federal legislation introduced this week for a national voucher program) from the National School Boards Association.

Do you support a national -- or state, for that matter -- voucher program? Does it have promise to improve through competition our public school system?

We asked for Advanced Placement results by school earlier this week. I noticed today that the list is postd in the superintendent's weekly Friday Notes.

Some folks have asked us for the school-by-school breakdown, so here it is. Note: This does not include the International Baccalaureate (IB) test results.

Participation ranged from 93 students taking one or more AP class (Early College at Guilford) to 593 (Northwest) students, not including Greensboro and GTCC Middle Colleges, which both reported no AP students.

Number of tests taken ranged from 197 (Weaver) to 1,021 (Northwest).

Percentage of students passing the tests: Ranged from 6% (Dudley) to 81% (Early College).

If you don't want to wait to click on the link for the complete list, here's a look at just the percent and # of students scoring 3 (out of 5) or higher at each school and the district. A 3 or higher can earn a student college credit.

Andrews: 16% - (74)
Dudley: 6% - (19)
Early College at Guilford: 81% - (198)
Eastern: 13% - (40)
Grimsley: 64% - (622)
Central: 27% - (117)
Northeast: 37% - (107)
Northwest: 62% - (636)
Page: 50% - (392)
Ragsdale: 55% - (255)
Smith: 12% - (31)
Southeast: 29% - (125)
Southern: 27% - (75)
Southwest: 32% - (194)
Weaver: 63% - (124)
Western: 41% - (382)
Greensboro Middle College: 50% - (1)
GTCC Middle College: 0 0

District: 42.4% - (3,392)
In all, 4,149 students took 7,993 exams.

Guilford officials haven't released test score data yet (still waiting on AYP, too, although that is supposed to be released Tuesday morning, we've been told).

But this afternoon, the state sent me information on Dudley and Smith high schools, which were among originally 19 schools targeted by Superior Court Judge Howard Manning Jr. for a history of poor performance on state tests. He called it "academic genocide."

Here's our online story for AYP results.
We'll have some more detail in tomorrow's paper. Check out the district's site for details on individual schools.

Once I put a graphic together comparing local school districts, I'll put a link up here.

Teachers in Guilford County will get more planning time starting with the 2007-08 school year.

Gov. Mike Easley signed into law this week legislation that would require at least five hours a week of duty-free lunch periods and instructional planning time for teachers in the state. North Carolina will be the first state in the nation in which a team of teachers will decide how and when to establish planning time, according to the National Governors Association. Rep. Maggie Jeffus sponsored the bill.

The law is in response to state working condition surveys in which teachers said they do not have adequate time for planning.

Education Week (registration may be required) takes a look at this topic in its latest edition.

I thought it might interest some of you out in Chalkboard land.

Guilford is one of seven districts that has been approved for a one-year pilot program for the 2006-07 school year to switch the transfer/tutoring sanctions connected to Adequate Yearly Progress.

Read more in tomorrow's News & Record.

Until then, here's the state's announcement from today. And here's an Associated Press story (registration may be required).

Frazier Elementary has joined the SMOD squad. The school will require students to wear a "Standard Mode of Dress" - or uniform - when school starts Aug. 25.

They join a growing list of schools striving for uniformity. I'm not sure who all is still requiring uniforms, but at one time the list included, but was not limited to: Guilford Middle, Aycock Middle, Allen Middle, Hairston Middle, Dudley High, Bluford Elementary, Vandalia Elementary, and Murphey Traditional and Hampton Leadership academies.