2007-08 Adopted Plan - Wake County Public School System

Student AchievementFigure 3:Mathematics Performance,Grades 3-8, 2005-06Figure 4:EOC Composite, 1998-200680.00%78.00%76.00%74.00%72.00%70.00%68.00%3rd Grade 4th Grade 5th Grade 6th Grade 7th Grade 8th Grade2005-06100.0%95.0%90.0%85.0%80.0%75.0%70.0%65.0%60.0%55.0%50.0%1998-991999-002000-012001-022002-032003-042004-052005-068 EOCs 73.5% 75.2% 79.0% 82.9% 83.1% 83.2% 83.2% 83.8%10 EOCs 80.7%8 EOCs10 EOCs2005-06 78.10% 76.10% 73.60% 73.80% 73.10% 72%In high schools, students do not take End of Grade (EOG) tests, butstudents in selected courses take End of Course (EOC) tests. Thesetests have traditionally been given at the end of courses in algebra 1,English 1, biology, chemistry, physical science, physics, algebra 2, andgeometry. In 2005-06, in addition to these eight tests, EOC tests werealso given in civics and economics courses and in U.S. history. Figure 4presents an historic view of performance of WCPSS high school studentswhen the percentage of students passing all of these tests are combinedinto a single composite number. As can be seen, there was a markedimprovement in the percent of students passing all of these tests from1998-99 to 2003-04. In 2003-04 through 2005-06, the percentage ofstudents passing has remained quite stable, increasing by about onepercentage point. The addition of the two new tests in 2005-06, however,had a depressing effect on the composite score, reducing the compositeby about three percentage points.Most of the tests used in WCPSS were designed for North Carolinaschools and, therefore, comparison to national norms is not possible.One test, however, taken by a large number of WCPSS students doesallow comparison with a national student population. The SAT is takenby more than 75 percent of WCPSS students and is primarily used bycolleges and universities in the admissions process. While the SATis not infl uenced by any specifi c curriculum, as is the case with bothEOG and EOC tests, which are based on the North Carolina StandardCourse of Study, the SAT does allow comparison with other students inthe state and nation who are considering going on to college. Figure 5below shows the performance over a long period of time of students inWCPSS, North Carolina and the United States. It will be observed thatthe average WCPSS student has always outscored the average NorthCarolina student and except for one year (1990), has outscored theaverage student in the nation.359 FY 2007-08 Plan for Student Success