Nearly half of the schools in the Wake County Public School System earned recognition as either an Honor School of Excellence, School of Excellence or School of Distinction, according to information released by the NC State Board of Education today. Additionally, the number of schools named as Schools of Distinction increased substantially from 50 schools in the 2008-09 school year to 63 schools in 2009-10.

For the 2009-10 school year, 14 WCPSS schools were named as Schools of Excellence including nine Honor Schools of Excellence.

Under the state ABCs of Public Education, a school earns recognition as an Honor School of Excellence when 90 percent of students are successful on state testing, the school’s state testing results show that it met or exceeded expected growth and the school meets the federal No Child Left Behind standard of Adequate Yearly Progress.

Schools are recognized as Schools of Excellence when 90 percent of students are successful on state testing, the school’s state testing results show that it meets or exceeds expected growth, but the school does not achieve Adequate Yearly Progress.

Holly Springs High was named a School of Excellence in 2009-10.

Schools of Distinction have more than 80 percent of students scoring proficient on state assessments, and the school testing results meets or exceeds expects growth.

Schools of Distinction in the Holly Springs area included Middle Creek High, Holly Springs Elementary, Holly Ridge Elementary, Holly Ridge Middle, West Lake Elementary, West Lake Middle and Holly Grove Elementary.

The state ABCs of Public Education recognizes schools that have more than 60 percent of students successful on state testing, and the school testing results show that they met or exceeded expected growth as Schools of Progress. Priority Schools have more than 50 percent of students successful on state testing, and the school testing results show that it met or exceeded expected growth. WCPSS continues to show a decrease in the number of schools recognized as Schools of Progress and Priority Schools. There are two additional categories in which schools can be placed: low performing and no recognition.

For the 2009-10 school year, WCPSS had 11 schools receiving no recognition compared to nine schools in the previous two years. Additionally, WCPSS did not have any schools designated by the state as low performing for 2009-10.

WCPSS had 92 percent (146 of 158) of its schools make at least expected growth during the 2009-10 school year compared with 89 percent (138 of 155) for 2008-09 and 85 percent (128 of 151) for 2007-08.

For the 2009-10 school year, 54 percent (86 of 158) of WCPSS schools made high growth as compared to 53 percent (82 of 155) in 2008-09 and 56 percent (84 of 151) in the 2007-08 school year.

Alternative schools are not assigned to a specific ABCs recognition category. However, River Oaks Middle and Phillips High School made high growth in 2009-10, and Mt. Vernon made expected growth.

As a special school, Longview does not qualify for a status.

Under the ABCs, growth is calculated by averaging the academic growth of all the students in a school and comparing it to the progress students were expected to make. If the average gain is equal to or greater than the expectation, then the school is said to have “met expected growth.” If the school makes expected growth and 60 percent of the students in the school also meet their individual growth targets, then the school is deemed to have met “high growth.”