Governor Sends Task Force to Find Secrets of Educational Success

Inspection teams from Gov. Mike Easley's Education First TaskForce were to start at Wilson County's Rock Ridge ElementarySchool.

Meanwhile, Robert W. Pope, principal of Winstead ElementarySchool, was the opening witness Monday in a trial to determine howfar the state must go to equalize opportunities for disadvantagedschool children.

Winstead, an inner-city school in Wilson, saw a passing rate of75.7 percent on year-end tests in 2000.

"Our board prefers to call them `at promise,"' Pope testified."We have a significant number whose promise has not yet beenfulfilled."

Superior Court Judge Howard E. Manning Jr. ruled last year thatdisadvantaged North Carolina children are not receiving the "soundbasic education" guaranteed by the state constitution. Over thenext three weeks, he wants to find local successes that can beemulated statewide - if possible, without additional funding.

Easley's task force is charged with going beyond Manning'sbasics to pursue a "superior, competitive education" for allchildren.

Two elementary schools, Kingswood in Wake County and Baskervillein Nash County, are on both the inspection tour of 12 schools andthe witness list of six schools that Manning selected, because bothhave high numbers of poor and minority students who score well inthe state's ABCs accountability tests.

The Education First group also will visit schools that do notfit Manning's criteria, including Magellan Charter and Enloe HighSchool in Raleigh.

"They don't necessarily have high percentages of poor andminority students," said Charles L. Thompson, director of theChapel Hill-based Education Research Council, whose staff issupporting the Education First Task Force. "But they are doingextremely well, and the poor and minority kids they do have aredoing well."

Rock Ridge's 500 students, largely from farming families, ledthe county with an 89.2 percent passing rate on year-end tests inspring 2000. Task force visitors will hear about parentinvolvement.

"We saw 96 percent of our parents last year, face to face, atsome event at the school," Principal Beverly P. Boyette said."The secret to our success is high expectations for every child,conveying those expectations to the parents, and workingtogether."

Rock Ridge's enrollment is 20 percent African-American, 20percent Hispanic, 59 percent non-Hispanic white and 1 percent otherethnic groups, she said. About 49 percent come from families whoselow income qualifies them for free or reduced-price lunches.

Winstead's 444-student body is 88 percent African-American, 7percent Hispanic, and 5 percent non-Hispanic white, Pope said, with84 percent from low-income families.

Pope described strategies to help teachers target each pupil'sneeds. "Accelerated Math" uses individualized quizzes generatedand graded by computer, with questions keyed to each student'sprogress.

"They really enjoy math, where it was a chore for thembefore," Pope said.

Easley's More at Four preschool education program, with $6.5million in startup funds, remains tied up in the legislative budgettalks. State Sen. Howard Lee said the greatest threat to theprogram was the souring economy, which may prompt lower revenueforecasts.

"If we have to revise revenues downward," Lee said,"everything is back on the table."