Education: Test Drive WCPSS Assignment Plan
Story by Lindsey Chester. Photo by Hal Goodtree.
Cary, NC – Try out the new WCPSS “Blue Plan” for proposed 2012 student assignments on the web.
School Assignment Plans for Wake County
The new Wake County Superintendent Tony Tata has worked hard to get two plans conceptualized enough that parents can weigh in and comment before the plans are put to a vote by the School Board.
Over the past month there were several public comment sessions, explicitly held for families without access to the plans online. Many comments were made that citizens felt they couldn’t make a reasonable decision without knowledge of where there children would attend Middle and High school
Now, you can get a preview of one of those school assignment plans. You can search for your address and comment on the choices that you see offered.
Test Drive the Blue Plan
Parents can go to Blue Plan Test Drive to find out and rank the school choices that might be available under the Blue Plan for specific addresses. This test run will gauge how parents might select their children’s school in the event a choice-based system is used for assigning students in the 2012-13 school year. The choices produced under the simulation are samples only and will not affect students’ assignments for next year.
“We sincerely hope that all parents go online and participate in the ‘test drive’ of this proposal and make their hypothetical choices,” Tata said. “We want to better understand how parents will select potential schools for their children. The insights we gain will help us better work through the next steps in refining sets of base schools, achievement schools and magnet school percentages and feeder patterns,” he said.
Tata says he knows the Student Assignment Task Force has a lot of work to do.
“The more families who participate in this simulation, the better our information will be as to how a choice plan might work in Wake County. Once we determine how parents might select a school, we can continue developing the model with more precision,” Tata said.
Green Plan
The board feels that a test drive is not needed for the second or “Green” plan that has been proposed. That plan allows magnate and calendar choices. That plan is similar enough to what families have today, and therefore, Tata feels a test is not necessary.
The Student Assignment Task Force was created in March after Tata took office, to develop a long-range student assignment proposal that focuses on maximizing achievement for every student while providing families with more stability and choice. After brainstorming nine plans, two were chosen as to be the most feasible with current budget constraints.
All 9 School Assignment Plans
All nine original plans are available for review online at http://assignment.wcpss.net. To read more of Superintendent Tata’s thoughts, read his page on the Wake County Long Range Student Assignment plans.
The Superintendent plans to make a formal recommendation to the school board on June 21.
