Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Update
February 11th, 2010 Categories: Charlotte Schools and Education
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Announces Teacher Auditions In Place of Traditional Interviews
Years ago my wife and I were considering an extremely successful private school for our children. In an interview with the Head of School, I asked the founder what made his school so successful? What was the “difference-maker”? His response more than a decade a go still provides a roadmap for success:
“That’s easy: Great Teachers! If I put a great teacher in front of your children, they’ll get a great education. Now what we do in here (waving his hands around the office) is important, but I hire the very best teachers I can find, help get them some in service work that might make them even better, and then try and stay out of their way and let them do their job.”
How refreshingly simple, and difficult to achieve.
Great Teachers = Great Teaching = Student Success
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The Friends School of Charlotte
January 13th, 2010 Categories: About Charlotte, Charlotte Schools and Education
Friends School of Charlotte
Friends School of Charlotte
The Friends School Of Charlotte- Next Open House February 4, 9:30-10:30 am
The Friends School of Charlotte is a K-3 learning community in southeast Charlotte, an independent private school within the Friend’s tradition, a tradition established by the Quakers more than 300 years ago.
Friends Schools have a tradition of excellence, and are recognized around the country as providing some of the the very best independent education in the world. Friend’s Schools believe in the dignity of each person, that literally there is a “spark of God” within each student, and believe in experiential learning, learning by doing. Students of all faiths and no faith are accepted. Tolerance is another key virtue. All Friends Schools are based on the Quaker values of simplicity, peace, integrity, community, equality and service.
The most recognized Friends School is Sidwell Friends in Washington DC, where many of Washington’s elites send their children… past -Presidents and the current one, President Obama, chose a Friends School, from the many quality private and public schools available. A Friend’s education is recognized as offering much more than just small “e” education, it educates the total child.
What is a Friends School? What is their “model” of education?
Why would you be interested in a Friends School of Charlotte for your TK to early elementary child?
To me the answer has many layers, but it begins with the Quaker philosophy. The Quaker school of Charlotte then borrows effective precepts from various teaching models. It is guided by the Quaker belief there is God in everyone, and that means each child will be a treasured part of the learning community. There is a culture of respect and caring. If you want your child’s mind cultivated, his/her freedom to express her views celebrated, and want him/her to be a lifelong learner, this may be the place.
The school uses the North Carolina Standard Course of Study as it’s core curricula, a “roadmap of learning goals and objective… but not just a surface understanding, students will be encouraged to to seek, dig deep, analyze and interpret.”
Your childs’ education at Friends School of Charlotte will be inquiry based, experiential learning. There is a strong consensus that children learn best by doing, questioning, analyzing and interpreting their learning. Educators call it “constructivist”, learners “construct” their own learning, facilitated and guided by the teacher. Inquiry is the base mode of learning, the interdisciplinary nature makes it relevant to their lives. Studies have repeatedly confirmed students learn best when the construct their learning- they learn if for themselves, and the learning is relevant.
Your kids won’t be learning tons of little factoids, and tested and tested… they will be loved, inspired and treated with dignity they deserve.
Go meet the wonderful teachers and Head of School at the Friends School of Charlotte.
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Congratulations Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools
December 4th, 2009 Categories: About Charlotte, Charlotte Schools and Education
North Carolina, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Measure Up in Newsweek’s Top 1500 High Schools In America
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools placed two high schools in the top 200, and an additional 9 high schools in the survey of Top 1500 Public High Schools conducted annually by Newsweek Magazine Online. The Top 1500 represent the top 6% of US High Schools, and the CMS 11 pl;us 1 from Union- Weddington HS, represent 23% of North Carolina’s total of 53 high schools that made the Top 1500.
Jay Matthew’s at the Washington Post and Newsweek devised a simple formula, not without its critics, a few years back: Rank them by “the number of Advanced Placement, Intl. Baccalaureate and/or Cambridge tests taken by all students at a school in 2008 divided by the number of graduating seniors. All of the schools on the list have an index of at least 1.000; they are in the top 6 percent of public schools measured this way.”
So it is the number of AP or IB tests taken per graduating senior for each school, (not passed) with a minimum “score” of 1.0, so to get on the list- if you had 400 graduates then a minimum of 400 tests take (seniors and juniors) would equal a score of 1.0, likewise 600 tests taken for 400 students 1.5 etc. While not a perfect measure, it is a measure of how many of the schools’ children are actively engaged in college preperatory classes, it is relatively easy to calculate, allows small schools to compete with large schools, and I suspect most high school Principals would be glad to see their school on the list. It is also a modest measure- yet only 6% of the nations’ high schools make the list.
The List does not include many terrific magnet and charter schools- those schools are purposeful in their attraction of elite students, and so, they’d need to be evaluated using a different standard, paraphrasing Matthew’s. Do you have a question on why or how he did the work? Here is his FAQ page for details.
Myers Park led Mecklenburg County at #44 on the list with each graduating senior taking an average of 5 AP/IB tests. Providence was # 189 on the list, with each senior taking an average of 3 AP Tests… but do not forget the other 10! These can be seen at the bottom of the post.
If you’re school is on the list, it means they believe in the power of AP and IB, and the administration is encouraging the course work and test taking– a very imortant indicator of future success in college.
So 1500 schools represent the top 6% of public high schools in America, according to this formula. Mecklenburg County has by my count, 12 schools on the list. Interestingly, many of these CMS schools (5) had 40% or more of their students n Free and Reduced lunches, that is good work at those tough schools, promoting a culture of excellence. Check out the vide in the Newsweek link below, and hear about inner city children being offered plane tickets to interview at MIT and Standford.
Here is the Newsweek link, indexed by State, but a handful of results are below:
Wake County- someone from that region should check me but I’m counting 4.
Lets compare Charlotte area’s 12 High Schools, NC’s 53 high Schools to a few… states.
North Carolina had 53 high schools make the list- so CMS had 23% of those.
New Jersey has 53 High Schools make the list.
Tennesee had 12 high schools make the list
Conneticut had 17 high schools on the list.
Delaware had 6 high schools on the list.
South Carolina had 20 High Schools make the list, somewhat surprisingly none in the Upstate region near Charlotte, 3 each in Greenville, Columbia and Charleston.
The South in general, outside of NC, SC and Georgia, didn’t fare too well.
Alabama-9
Arkansaw- 10
Missisippi-2
Louisiana-2
So- 11 of CMS’s 31 High Schools fall into this top 6% national category, the same system that recently announced it has 51% of its student’s living in poverty. Obviously this fact doesn’t mean all is well in CMS- it just means CMS is doing better than a lot of people think, a message often lost if all the “clutter” we call conversation about Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools. Ane for all that talk about great nearby South Carolina Schools and Union County Schools? One school made the list between them- one school emphasizes AP on the high school level. Wow.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools and Union County on Newsweek’s Top Public High Schools
| RANK | SCHOOL | LOCATION | STATE | INDEX | SUBS. LUNCH | E&E |
| 1517 | Weddington | Matthews | N.C. | 1.04 | 5 | 50 |
| 189 | Providence | Charlotte | N.C. | 3.08 | 7 | 64 |
| 269 | Ardrey Kell | Charlotte | N.C. | 2.73 | 11 | 46 |
| 338 | North Mecklenburg | Huntersville | N.C. | 2.5 | 21 | 30 |
| 441 | Butler | Matthews | N.C. | 2.26 | 21 | 51 |
| 544 | Hopewell | Huntersville | N.C. | 2.08 | 24 | n/a |
| 44 | Myers Park** | Charlotte | N.C. | 5.01 | 26 | 60 |
| 664 | Renaissance at Olympic | Charlotte | N.C. | 1.93 | 40 | n/a |
| 1092 | School of International Studies and Global Economics at Olympic | Charlotte | N.C. | 1.45 | 42 | n/a |
| 605 | Math, Engineering and Science at Olympic | Charlotte | N.C. | 2 | 47 | 31 |
| 516 | Harding University High School of Mathematics, Science and Technology ** | Charlotte | N.C. | 2.14 | 47 | 33 |
| 351 | East Mecklenburg** | Charlotte | N.C. | 2.45 | 49 | 37 |
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As most readers know I make my living in real estate, but I have a passion for education, and a passion for educating every child in the US. It is the promise of America, and it is in our national interest to educate every child to compete in this inter-connected world. For those of you who don’t know, I’m also a father of 4, my grown children were educated in private primary schools, and graduated from a public high school on this list here in Charlotte. I’m married to a longtime teacher who is now a Professor of Education at a local college. I’ll be writing more on schools that “Get it” in the Charlotte area in the coming months.
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Bruce Stewart and A Friends Education
November 18th, 2009 Categories: About Charlotte, Charlotte Schools and Education
Last night my wife and I attended a reception for Bruce Stewart, the former Head Of School for Sidwell Friends in Washington DC, a well regarded private school that’s best known for the President’s children who attend, including President Obama’s.
Bruce spoke in support of the Friends School of Charlotte, a K-3 private school in the Friends tradition. What sets a Friends Education apart? Respect for each student, “a spark of the Divine that is in each child,” Peace, Compassion, Justice, Equity, Service- the Quaker tradition of teaching children to question authority and to think… Giving a child’s natural curiosity and creativity room to grow, nurtured and developed daily, is part of the Friend’s School of Charlotte’s daily mantra.
These are values that can make American education great again. Visit the Friends School of Charlotte online or in person704.567.9445 Watch for Bruce as he speaks about a National Teachers Academy, and the need for private school vouchers so that every American child has the same chance. I’ll have an interview with the Head of School in the coming weeks. tm
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Charlotte Area Schools- CMS, Union County, Links, Links and More Links!
November 20th, 2008 Categories: About Charlotte, Charlotte Schools and Education
So you are thinking about moving to Charlotte, first question,
“What about their schools?” Where can you go to compare schools within the greater Charlotte area- from Mooresville to Fort Mill schools, its all here.
Charlotte, NCÂ Â After writing my first CMS school update on this blog a few days ago, I realized we needed some updated links and information for Charlotte area schools. Today’s post is not exhaustive, just the ones I work with every day. If I left your school system out, more will follow, promise.
We do schools differently in the Charlotte area -
different than the smaller school systems that predominate in the north, and different than many southern cities, where the school systems are small, many, and often still all but separate. For those of you who don’t know, my wife and I are education “hounds” (sounds better than snobs) and we raised 4 children here- 4 children who went to excellent private and public schools in Charlotte, all went on to college and/or grad school. My wife is a life-long educator and currently a professor of elementary education at a local college- we talk education in our house almost every day.
There are no simple answers to your school questions- each area and each sytem has their average, above average and below average schools- so it will require you doing a bit of research to find the best to fit for your family. But that is what my Charlotte Area school category (left hand column) is all about.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools- CMS- also known as the “big”one, here are a few links to get you started- Wow- Did you Know? and some more details …Fast Facts Advanced Placement Programs Arts Education  Student Achievement
The large number of links is just the larger webpage of a larger system. CMS also covers Matthews, Huntersville, Davidson and Cornelius. For more info, the CMS Home Page.
Union County Public Schools- our neighbor to the immediate south, Union County has been a popular “move up” location and “Move To” location- and a main reason is the quality of their schools, in particular the schools near the Charlotte border in towns like Weddington and Marvin. For Fast Facts try their UCPS Home Page Gifted Program and their notes from the Superintendent
Fort Mill, York County Public Schools- the Fort Mill home page, Â Fort Mill Strategic Plan, School Locator
Mooresville Public Schools- the Mooresville Graded School Homepage is for Announcements, Mooresville is a popular school district but their website is being re-done, and it isn’t that helpful at this time.
For more information and to compare schools- try the user friendly Great Schools and on North Carolina, once you want to research a specific school, try the incomparable NC Report CardsÂ
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Moving to Charlotte? Your first Charlotte home?
Have a home buying or home selling questions? I am a Charlotte real estate broker specializing in relocations, 2nd homes–buying and selling real estate of all kinds- and will represent only you. We work with Buyers and Sellers every day in Myers Park, Southpark, Matthews and Huntersville, Lake Norman, Waxhaw and Lake Wylie too. My team and I know the homes, the communities, and the new home builders. We know what’s hot, what’s not and where the deals are. I think as you read my posts you’ll see that we understand home buyer needs, from a first time home owner to a luxury home purchaser.
If you still haven’t figured out where you might want to live in Charlotte, you may compare area Charlotte home prices and communities, from our MLS based home search below. If you havenb’t already, try my my fact-filled and well received Introduction to Charlotte NC Video (over 9000 You Tube views) and don’t miss the FAQ videos-answering the Big Question- Where to live in Charlote, or where to look for a luxury home in Charlotte? (in the right column just under the Introduction to Charlotte Video Screen)
If it’s between the hours of 8 AM to 8 PM, EDT, please don’ t hesitate to call me direct at 704-351-1519. Terry
Related Links
Charlotte Homes For Sale-Â map based intuitive search
Charlotte NC Homes Best Value Under 500K
NC Lake Best Waterfront in Charlotte Under $2M
Charlotte North Carolina Real Estate- More Good Years Ahead
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Charlotte Schools- Notes and Updates 11/17/08
November 18th, 2008 Categories: Charlotte Schools and Education, FAQs About Charlotte
Charlote-Mecklenburg Schools (CMS)- The Basics, Links, Updates and More
Charlotte NC  CMS is THE major school system in the Charlotte area, and the one unified school system in Mecklenburg County. Either the first or 2nd largest in the state every year with over 120,000 students, CMS hired Superintendent Peter Gorman two years ago, and he has made widespread progress in a variety of areas. I argue our best schools are as good as any in the nation- indeed our top 10% of graduation seniors score higher on SATs that the top 10% in the state, and top 10% in the nation. Still the schools system is very large and those numbers hide persistent problems in under achieving schools and Gorman has aggressively moved to put experienced leadership in these schools. Time will tell how this works, I applaud the effort of bringing a high-quality education to all of our children. You will find more detailed information in the Charlotte Schools category on the left.
There are two great links for school research I recommend frequently, the state sponsored www.ncreportcards.org, for excellent detailed information about any school in the state, try their Summary, and Great Schools, a user friendly school rating and community website. Please note, that if you find a school, or few schools you feel comfortable with, we can create custom home searches within those school boundaries. As always, I recommend a school visit when you come to Charlotte.
Please note, that the CMS website offers detailed information about Public and magnet schools, Charter Schools can be found here. Try this link to our Education page for other Charlotte Area School information- public and private.
a few updates…
New School Boundaries- The Charlotte Observer reports: The Charlotte-Mecklenburg School Board has approved a series of new boundaries, paving the way for six new schools to open next August and another new school the following year.The new schools are in the north, west and southwest parts of Mecklenburg County.
The boundary lines can be seen at the CMS Web site
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Facebook Entries lead to teacher firings and discipline. Just a thought here for teachers, students, employees, do not, repeat DO NOT, put stupid pictures and comments of you online without privacy settings to keep it to your friends. Also-if you depend on a “classified security” clearance, of any kind, DO NOT use Facebook or My Space under any circumstances. Employers ARE looking. The Observer Reports
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As a walker myself, and someone who walked to school every day of elementary school and middle school, and father of 4 (newly) adult active children, this is a Good Local Government at its best. Its not by the schools, but “for the schools”, more specifically for the kids… thank you Mary Newsom for highlighting this effort in this post which I borrow from…
Healthy kids = walking kids
The Mecklenberg County Health Department created a job for a “safe routes to schools coordinator.” The idea is that helping and encouraging more kids to walk to school can fight the growing problem of childhood obesity.
Yeah! Coordinator Dick Winters is working with Cotswold, Highland Creek and Beverly Woods elementary schools — and getting advice from Davidson, where a huge effort to get kids walking to school is having growing success — to help them find parent volunteers and organize periodic “Walk To School Day” events. International Walk to School day was Oct. 8. Obviously, he hopes to expand to other schools.
We all know the physical health consequences of obesity; but there may not be anything more damaging to a child’s self image in our culture today than obesity.
Keep them active, keep them walking,
health bodys = first step towards healthy minds
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Moving to Charlotte? Your first Charlotte home?
Have a home buying or home selling questions? I am a Charlotte real estate broker specializing in relocations, 2nd homes–buying and selling real estate of all kinds- and will represent only you. We work with Buyers and Sellers every day in Myers Park, Southpark, Matthews and Huntersville, Lake Norman, Waxhaw and Lake Wylie too. My team and I know the homes, the communities, and the new home builders. We know what’s hot, what’s not and where the deals are. I think as you read my posts you’ll see that we understand home buyer needs, from a first time home owner to a luxury home purchaser.
If you still haven’t figured out where you might want to live in Charlotte, you may compare area Charlotte home prices and communities, from our MLS based home search below. If you haven’t already, try my my fact-filled and well received Introduction to Charlotte NC Video (over 9000 You Tube views) and don’t miss the FAQ videos-answering the Big Question- Where to live in Charlote, or where to look for a luxury home in Charlotte? (in the right column just under the Introduction to Charlotte Video Screen)
If it’s between the hours of 8 AM to 8 PM, EDT, please don’ t hesitate to call me direct at 704-351-1519. Terry
Related Links
Charlotte Homes For Sale- Map & Community Based, over 20,000 properties for sale!
Townhome Charlotte, NC To Live or To Invest, 4b 3.5ba 159k in University area
Charlotte NC Homes Best Value Under 500K
NC Lake Best Waterfront in Charlotte Under $2M
Charlotte North Carolina Real Estate- More Good Years Ahead
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Charlotte Education Roundup| News About Charlotte Area Schools
November 10th, 2008 Categories: About Charlotte, Charlotte Schools and Education
New N.C. ABC ratings reveal stark contrast in Charlotte schools
Charlotte NCÂ Â A new set of N.C. school ratings paints Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools as a study in contrasts, with some of its suburban schools rating among the state’s best while more than 40 high-poverty urban schools have fewer than half their students on grade level. This article is excerpted from the Charlotte Observer, full story from the Charlotte Observer
The 2008 ABC ratings, being approved by the N.C. Board of Education this morning, look worse than usual because of a new reading test introduced last year, designed to more accurately reflect student success. Officials acknowledged that the old exam, used to rate schools for years, falsely labeled too many children with weak reading skills as being on grade level.
If the state had used the old scoring method in 2008, just over 85 percent of students statewide would have been labeled passing. With the new method it was 58 percent for elementary schools and 56 percent for middle schools. CMS had similar results.
CMS Superintendent Peter Gorman praised the state’s decision to make the scores more accurate.
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The 2008 ratings show schools in the Charlotte region dominating the high end of the academic spectrum as well.
CMS’s Providence Spring Elementary and Davidson IB Middle were in the state’s Top 10 for overall pass rates, with 96 and 95 percent respectively. Metrolina Regional Scholars Academy, a south Mecklenburg charter school for gifted students, was one of three statewide with 99 percent passing.
Of 29 schools that earned the state’s highest rating, based on scores and progress, Union County Schools accounted for six and CMS five, compared with four in Wake County, the state’s largest district.
The scores highlight what many say is an increasingly wide gap in educational opportunities within the countywide district. Thirty CMS schools had pass rates of 80 percent or higher. Most of those are low-poverty suburban neighborhood schools, along with a handful of magnets.
Review your NC Schools test results, I think the best search is by map, visit scores and ratings for any N.C. public school or district
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CMS-Discovery Channel partnership
The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools and Discovery Education, a division of the company that owns the Discovery Channel and a number of other cable TV networks, have announced a partnership that will bring new resources to the school system.The partnership was announced Thursday evening at Discovery Place, where the Animal Planet’s Jeff Corwin conducted a screening of his upcoming special program, “The Vanishing Frog.” See the Full Story
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Presidential election energizes Charlotte high schools
At Providence High, about 30 students will join their government teacher on a trip to the inauguration in January.At West Charlotte, students discuss what the election or defeat of America’s first serious black presidential contender would say about race.
At Myers Park High, where almost 300 students turned out for an after-school debate between pro-McCain and pro-Obama students, lively political arguments in the cafeteria and classrooms are common.
“A ton of people are volunteering†for both campaigns, said Myers Park sophomore Michael Griggs, who impersonated the candidates and Joe the Plumber for comic relief after the debate. He, like other students, says there will be gloating and anger when the results are in.
See the full Observer Story here
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Moving to Charlotte? Your first Charlotte home?
Have a home buying or home selling questions? I am a Charlotte real estate broker specializing in relocations, 2nd homes–buying and selling real estate of all kinds- and will represent only you. We work with Buyers and Sellers every day in Myers Park, Southpark, Matthews and Huntersville, Lake Norman, Waxhaw and Lake Wylie too. My team and I know the homes, the communities, and the new home builders. We know what’s hot, what’s not and where the deals are. I think as you read my posts you’ll see that we understand home buyer needs, from a first time home owner to a luxury home purchaser.
If you still haven’t figured out where you might want to live in Charlotte, you may compare area Charlotte home prices and communities, from our MLS based home search below. If you haven’t already, try my my fact-filled and well received Introduction to Charlotte NC Video (over 9000 You Tube views) and don’t miss the FAQ videos-answering the Big Question- Where to live in Charlote, or where to look for a luxury home in Charlotte? (in the right column just under the Introduction to Charlotte Video Screen)
If it’s between the hours of 8 AM to 8 PM, EDT, please don’ t hesitate to call me direct at 704-351-1519. Terry
Related Links (check the categories on left for more)
Charlotte Homes For Sale- Map & Community Based, over 20,000 properties for sale!
Charlotte NC Homes Best Value Under 500K
New Luxury Homes OVer $1M- The Sanctuary Leads after 3 quarters
Charlotte North Carolina Real Estate- More Good Years Ahead
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