More Media Coverage

Leave it to The News of Orange County to get the story exactly right - right down to the correct statistics on Free & Reduced Lunch participation.

"The issue of demographics is an important one in the debate. Some 60 percent of CES students receive free or reduced lunches. Meanwhile, at HES, the school has struggled at times to strike a balance in demographics. It is a voluntary enrollment, year-round school with a schedule that tends not to work for disadvantaged or poor families."

http://www.aconews.com/articles/2007/03/21/noc/news/news11.txt

So, what is the first action the OCSB jumps to when looking for a solution to the challenges facing these "disadvantaged and poor families"? Well, force the parents of students at CES into a mandatory year-round schedule, of course.


It's too bad the Durham Herald Sun's article ignored those opposed to the merger.

"Part of the rationale for studying the idea, [Dennis Whitling] said, are studies indicating that students who attend schools with less than 50 percent of the student body receiving free and reduced lunches become "better learners" and are better off as a whole."

http://www.heraldsun.com/orange/10-831404.cfm

If there is such a strong connection between the two, why do significantly more Economically Disadvantaged (ED) students at CES (61.3% FRL) pass BOTH the Reading and Math End-of-Grade Tests than Economically Disadvantaged students at every elementary school other than HES and Cameron Park?

School                                          ED Performance*         FRL%**
Cameron Park ES                              58.7%                     30.8%
CES                                                  47.4%                     61.3%
Efland-Cheeks ES                              36.0%                     46.9%
Grady Brown ES                                41.8%                     31.1%
HES                                                  60.0%                     14.0%
New Hope ES                                    33.9%                     34.2%
Pathways ES                                      44.3%                     34.2%
The District Average                          40.9%                     33.7%
The State Average                            45.1%                         #


Data sources:
* Education First North Carolina School Report Cards: Link
** Internal OCS Data provided to the OCSB on February 28, 2007

Rather than destroy HES in some attempt to "paper over" the problems at CES, maybe the first step should be to find out what CES and Cameron Park are doing right. Even with large percentages of ED students they generate performance well above the District average and even higher than the State average.