What are those goals?
What will be used to measure student diversity? How will the three factors be applied? What schools will be impacted by this student reassignment process? The answer to this question has not been concretely determined. Schools that will certainly be impacted include: A. G. Cox Middle, E. B. Aycock Middle, C. M. Eppes Middle, (New) Lakeforest Elementary, Sadie Saulter Elementary and Third Street School (Pre-K ). Other elementary schools with a strong potential to be impacted include Ridgewood, Creekside, W. H. Robinson, Eastern, Elmhurst, South Greenville, Wahl-Coates, Falkland, H. B. Sugg, Sam D. Bundy, Wintergreen Primary and Wintergreen Intermediate. Will the Board really listen to parents and interested community members? Yes. In fact, the Board has taken specific steps to ensure that in this upcoming student assignment process there are various methods for the community to give input and to receive feedback. This 2010 Student Assignment webpage on the PCS website is new and will be used as a vehicle by which the community may obtain updated information on an ongoing basis. It will provide a complete and updated listing of all meetings and functions at which the student assignment issues will be discussed and will track the Board’s receipt of various types of student assignment data, Board deliberations, and Board decisions. Will race be used as part of the criteria in the development of new or revised student assignment plans/maps/scenarios presented for Board consideration in the 2010 Student Assignment Process? Student achievement – not race – will be the critical factor used to measure the diversity of proposed assignment areas. ORED has been instructed not to take the racial composition of segment populations into account when drawing potential reassignment maps. We will use a process that applies both proximity to school (allowing a school to be populated up to 90% of its building capacity) and the achievement factor. It will be our desire not to create a school with an achievement factor lower than the district’s average ABCs Reading Proficiency for 2008-09 of 59.1% The district remains subject to a federal desegregation order, and the court has instructed the district to submit a report by December 2012 detailing the success of its efforts to remove the vestiges of past racial segregation. Race is being geo-coded into the data set by ORED so that when we have maps, we can see if the result creates a situation that would require us to act in accordance with our obligation under the desegregation order.
The timeline indicates the first meeting is in July. What is happening now?
ORED (Operations Research and Education Laboratory of the Institute for Transportation Research and Education at North Carolina State University) is currently geo-coding all Pitt County Schools’ population segments with the needed criteria information.
Along with capacity and proximity to schools, achievement factors will be flagged in the geo-coding process for initial student diversity measures. Using the 2009 testing results, Proficiency Reading Scores for students in grades three through eight will be programmed into the segment data. Within geographical segments, students with Reading scores of 1 or 2 will be reflected as non-proficient (NP) and students with Reading scores of 3 or 4 will be reflected as proficient (P). Once the data has been geo-coded into the segments, individual student information will not be identifiable.
We will use a process that first applies proximity to school, allowing a school to be populated up to 90% of its building capacity, and then the achievement factor will be applied. It will be our desire not to create a school with an achievement factor lower than the district’s average ABCs Reading Proficiency for 2008-09 of 59.1%.
Additional schools could also be included for adjustments after the initial geo-coding has been completed and the policy criteria applied.
Additionally, information sessions with parents and community residents will be held during August and September to gather input on proposed reassignment options and respond to questions. Dates, times, and locations will be announced on this website.
Board meetings and Board workshops are also open to the public and parents and patrons are invited and encouraged to attend and listen to the Board as it considers options and plans presented. There are typically two regular Board meetings each month and each offers an opportunity for Public Comment up to three minutes per person.
Prior to the Board making a final decision, a Public Hearing will be held and the general public invited to share comments on the proposal(s) under consideration at that time.
If race will not be used in the development of student assignment plans, why is it being loaded in the data set by ORED?
Please check back as additional information will continue to be added. If you have a question or a comment that you would like to offer individually, please contact us today at pcsforum@pitt.k12.nc.us!
