News
WakeEd Wednesdays
WakeEd Wednesdays is a video series produced to simplify many of the complexities of North Carolina’s largest school district, the Wake County Public School System. With more than 180 schools, 160,000 students, and 11,000 teachers, WCPSS has a major impact on all Wake County residents regardless of whether they have children enrolled in the schools.
WakeEd Shares Concerns with ASRC
Earlier this week, we sent a letter to the Academic Standards Review Commission to express our concerns and share our suggestions on the draft recommendations they are consdering to strengthen North Carolina's academic standards. We hope the ASRC will consider our...
Beyond Student Seats – Facility Needs for WCPSS
Most of what you hear about WCPSS facility needs is about schools, classrooms, and student seats. As the fifteenth largest school district in the US, and a district that is opening thirteen new schools in the next three school years, this makes sense. What doesn’t...
Final Approval of the Student Enrollment Plan
On Tuesday night, the 2016-17 Student Enrollment Proposal was approved by the school board. The plan moves approximately 3,300 students, or roughly two percent of the student population. According to a WCPSS Media Advisory, about half of those students will be...
WCPSS Board of Education Reaffirms 2013 Resolution in Support of 2011 Election Districts
Election season is heating up. And, in case you don’t remember, all nine school board seats are up for re-election next fall. About half of the seats would have been up for election this most recent election cycle. However, in 2013 Senate Bill 325 (signed into law...
New Leadership on the WCPSS Board of Education
Tuesday night saw the election of new leadership on the Wake County Board of Education. Tom Benton was elected chair and Monika Johnson-Hostler was elected vice chair. Both were elected unanimously. They will serve one year terms between now and next fall’s school...
BOE Unhappy with Low Performing Schools Requirements
On Tuesday night, the Board of Education made plain their displeasure with the General Assembly’s approach to school grades and associated repercussions. The General Assembly’s Appropriations Bill changed how schools were designated as low performing. Last school...
Fund Balance Shrinks
The school board received the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) for the 2014-2015 fiscal year. Always of great interest? The fund balance. This is the amount of money left in the general fund of the school system. The greatest source of revenue for the...
Capped Schools List Grows
The number of schools with capped enrollment is recommended to grow from 11 to 17 for the 2016-2017 school year. Schools are capped when they have “reached the maximum number of students they can effectively teach.” This includes using all the available permanent...
Choice: Luxury or Necessity?
Sitting at the public hearing for the school enrollment plan Tuesday evening, this thought began and gained steam: is choice luxury or necessity? School board members heard from 29 speakers. The majority of these speakers asked for choice. They want the choice to...
November – National Homeless Youth Awareness Month
School board members this week received an update on services provided to homeless students under the McKinney Vento Homeless Assistance Act. November is National Homeless Youth Awareness Month. For the 2015-2016 school year, WCPSS provides services to 2,736 homeless...
Early Start
Early Start is a full day, three-week summer program for pre-kindergarten students at Title 1 schools. Transportation, breakfast, and lunch are provided for participants. These students have demonstrated academic need (via screening) and have had no exposure to a...
NAEP Scores Released for Math and Reading
The National Assessment for Education Progress (NAEP) released 2015 scores for Math and Reading last week. NAEP is known as the nation’s report card. It samples students from across the nation to measure student achievement in subjects like math, reading, writing,...
Two Months Until World Café
I couldn’t believe it. As I walked into Target and glanced down to the end of the aisle, there was a plastic Santa Clause staring back at me with a big “Merry Christmas” sign. Here we are just a few days until Halloween and already Target is pushing Christmas....
Meet Our Investors: Stars of Education
We are using the Meet Our Investors column space this month to introduce and highlight the 2015 Stars of Education sponsors. WakeEd is so grateful for the tremendous support we found among our Board and Leadership Council members and among the community at large who...
Thank You For Stars of Education
Our annual Stars of Education awards gala was a resounding success. More than 400 educators, business leaders, elected officials, and community members celebrated education in the Wake County Public School System. Together we raised more than $50,000 that will go...
Summer is Gone, But SummerSTEM Remains
The leaves are changing, temperatures are dropping and the North Carolina State Fair has come and gone. Summer is firmly in the rearview mirror, but the impacts of SummerSTEM 2015 are still being felt in Wake County Public School System classrooms. Over the summer,...
How to Advocate for Common Core
The North Carolina Academic Standards Review Commission is assessing the state’s reading and math standards. They’ve been working since January, and they have two more meetings to complete their work. The recommendations they make will go the State Board of...
Successful Stars of Education Event – Thank You!
Last week we held our annual Stars of Education awards gala. More than 400 educators, business leaders, elected officials, and community members celebrated education in the Wake County Public School System. We wholeheartedly thank each one of our attendees who made...
Draft Three of the Student Enrollment Plan
Staff presented the school board with draft three of the 2016-2017 School Enrollment Plan at Tuesday’s work session. Between drafts two and three there were presentations at seven board advisory councils, three community engagement events around the county, and more...
Special Projects Reserve Spending
WCPSS Chief Operating Officer David Neter provided a spending plan for reserve funds identified for special projects. Items included in the list are non-recurring. Many were initially included as business cases for the 2015-2016 budget, but did not make the final...
The Enrollment Plan – Draft Two: Forest and Trees
Draft two of the 2016-2017 Student Enrollment Proposal was presented by WCPSS staff to the school board on Tuesday afternoon. Having received almost 1,500 online comments from more than 500 people regarding draft one, staff made changes to the plan. Those changes...
New Strategies for Magnet Schools
Changes continue for the WCPSS magnet program. Recently three schools were added to the slate and several others were identified for a refresh of their magnet themes. Now, changes are being made to the way magnet schools select students to attend. These are known as...
Teacher Raises Reality in Local Supplement Increase
The NC legislature approved and passed a budget in September that provided all teachers with a $750 increase in salary and a one-step advancement on the teacher pay schedule. But back in June, the Wake County Commissioners approved a budget that provided an additional...
Academic Standards Review Commission – Recent Happenings
The Academic Standards Review Commission is still at work. Recently they hosted teacher focus groups in Raleigh, Wilmington, Pembroke, and the Sandhills region. The goal is to gather teacher feedback on the how the Common Core is affecting curriculum and classrooms. ...
Intern Profile – Zachary Hodges
I’m the younger of two sons, an avid movie buff, experimental writer and a proud product of WCPSS. I’ve lived in Fuquay-Varina my entire life, but I attended West Lake Elementary and Middle before going on to graduate from Fuquay-Varina High School. I was accepted to...
Intern Profile – Miranda Mitchell
When people ask me where I am from I usually say Hillsborough, but really I am from a tiny town north of Hillsborough called Hurdle Mills. I am a middle child with one older brother and one younger brother. Even though I always did what I wanted, I was always...
Investor Spotlight: Wells Fargo
There are precious few institutions in the Triangle like WakeEd Partnership that have become woven into the fabric of the community. When the Clayton family arrived in Raleigh 25 years ago in 1990 with three school-aged boys, WakeEd was already hard at work supporting...
Stars of Education Awards Gala
Often we forget about the entire community of educators behind our students' success in Wake County Public School System (WCPSS). Though they work hard to improve our community every day, they aren't shown the recognition they have earned. On October 14, WakeEd...
Budget Overview
Gov. McCrory has signaled that he will sign the budget into law on Friday. This after two votes from the House – one late Thursday night, and one very early Friday morning. There has been feverish exploration of the budget since its release late on Monday night. But...
Go West Young Magnets
Two new magnet schools will join the current slate of 40 in WCPSS. Athens Drive High and Reedy Creek Middle will be the district newest magnet schools. They will accept magnet students for the 2016-2017 school year. Magnet themes for the two new schools have yet to...
WakeEd Partnership
3101 Industrial Drive, Suite 100
Raleigh, NC 27609 | (919) 821-7609
Who We Are
What We Do
WakeEd News
—
WakeEd Partnership
3101 Industrial Drive, Suite 100
Raleigh, NC 27609 | (919) 821-7609