Four high schools getting specialized programs

Huntersville parents had been pushing Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools for a special program at Hopewell High, and now they'll have it.

CMS said this week that they're implementing a Cambridge International program at Hopewell and its feeder schools. Essentially, it's an advanced course of study and rigorous set of standards developed at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom. The program is viewed similarly to International Baccalaureate and Advanced Placement coursework.

You often hear about programs like this at magnet schools, but CMS is not changing the boundaries for Hopewell High or the feeder schools.

Akeshia Craven-Howell, the CMS assistant superintendent of the Office of School Options, Innovation and Design, said the idea to implement the program at Hopewell all came from the parents. She said it represents one of the most significant investments the district has made in a neighborhood school.

It's also likely a reaction to the growing charter school movement. Mecklenburg County has seen a bigger flurry of charter activity than anywhere else in North Carolina, and the northern end of the county has several popular ones.

"We want parents to know that inside CMS, parents have choices," Craven-Howell said.

The program is not quite a done deal. CMS must still get final approval.

Three other high schools -- West Charlotte, West Mecklenburg and Garinger -- are getting new programs focused on career education. Called "Pathways to Prosperity," the goal is to let students complete high school with industry certifications or credit that can transfer in to Central Piedmont Community College or schools like Johnson C. Smith University.

At West Charlotte, for example, the plan is to create an "academy of information technology" in partnership with JCSU. Students could emerge with valuable credentials like those offered by Cisco, Craven-Howell said.

CMS also wants to build out programs in areas like agriculture, energy, aerospace and supply chain management. They'll ultimately expand beyond the three schools.

Steps forward and back in high school graduation rates

CMS celebrated its increasing graduation rate this week. It hit a new high at 85.2 percent, edging out the state of North Carolina as a whole and Wake County.

It wasn't until the next day that the school-by-school numbers came out, and as you'd expect there's both good news and not-as-good news.

• Hawthorne High near uptown Charlotte had the biggest leap in graduation rate, to 90.6 percent from 65.9 percent the year before. The school is a bit of an unusual case, though. For years, Hawthorne was an alternative school. CMS decided last year to turn it into a medical science academy magnet school, and brought in some new students this year in that program. The graduating classes each year are also exceedingly small: only 29 students this year.

• Lincoln Heights Academy posted the lowest graduation rate at 66.7 percent. It's a school designed for students with behavioral issues. You can't compare this year's rate with past performance, however. The school was formerly known as Lincoln Heights Elementary, and only re-opened with high school students in 2011. That means a full class of seniors hadn't come through until this year.

• West Charlotte High posted another sizable increase in its graduation rate year, moving from 71.1 percent to 78 percent. The school made headlines last year by jumping 15 points in a single year. It's still the lowest graduation rate among high schools with a traditional population, however.

• Fifteen schools had graduation rates above 90 percent, just more than half of the 29 total schools with reported figures.

• Seven schools had graduation rates above 95 percent this year, which is the cut-off point where the state no longer gives a specific figure but instead just reports that the graduation rate was somewhere above that line. Ardrey Kell, Mallard Creek, Northwest School of the Arts, and Providence were repeats from last year. The Military and Global Leadership Academy and the Phillip O. Berry Academy of Technology were new entrants on the list. The Performance Learning Center fell off the list, coming in at 93.2 percent this year.

• Garinger High took the biggest step back this year, falling from 92.2 percent to 87.6 percent. 

Here's a full table I compiled, for your perusal:

School	2013-14	2012-13
Ardrey Kell High	> 95	> 95
Butler High	91.8	93.4
Cato Middle College High	> 95	> 95
East Mecklenburg High	83.5	83.8
Garinger High	87.6	92.2
Harding University High	87.6	87.6
Hawthorne High	90.6	65.9
Hopewell High	87.5	86.5
Independence High	88.6	84.4
Lincoln Heights Academy	66.7	n/a
Mallard Creek High	> 95	> 95
Military and Global Leadership Academy	> 95	92.6
Myers Park High	91.3	85.6
North Mecklenburg High	92.3	88
Northwest School of the Arts	> 95	> 95
Olympic High - Biotech Health Pub Admin	88.5	85
Olympic High - Intl Study, Global Econ	85	76.2
Olympic High - Renaissance School	91.5	83.8
Olympic High -Intl Bus and Comm Studies	82.5	85.5
Olympic High-Math Eng Tech Science	92.8	93
Performance Learning Center	93.2	> 95
Phillip O Berry Academy of Technology	> 95	91.8
Providence High	> 95	> 95
Rocky River High	88.9	92.6
South Mecklenburg High	90.8	88
Vance High	84.2	81.3
West Charlotte High	78	71.1
West Mecklenburg High	85	77.4
William Amos Hough High	92.4	92.2

Can grants make CMS schools safer?

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools is seeking a little more than $7 million in federal money aimed at making schools safer,  and that launched some interesting discussion about risks and strategies.

The school board approved a $2.5 million request to the U.S. Department of Education to "expand the district’s capacity to assist schools in high violence communities in breaking the cycle of violence,"  the summary presented Tuesday says.  "The 13 CMS Project Prevent schools serve a total of 11,035 students. A position will be developed that relieves school counselors and social workers from the non-specialized duties that frequently monopolize their time. In addition, student services staff will receive training and consultative support in the delivery of evidence-based counseling methods to support children who have experienced trauma."

Waddell

The 13 schools are Garinger High in east Charlotte,  Harding High in west Charlotte and the elementary and middle schools that feed into them.  Board member Joyce Waddell asked why Hidden Valley Elementary and Martin Luther King Middle School weren't included,  given that the Hidden Valley neighborhood in northeast Charlotte has been notorious for gang activity.  (She didn't mention it,  but Hidden Valley Elementary was the site of the state's only at-school homocide in 2012-13,  when police shot a teenager in the school parking lot during a drug sting gone bad last summer.)

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police reviewed crime in high school zones and found that the highest rates were in the West Charlotte,  Garinger,  Harding and Vance zones,  in that order,  according to the staffer making the report  (I think,  but am not certain,  it was Karen Thomas,  who is retiring as executive director of student support services.)  West Charlotte High already gets support from the public-private Project LIFT,  she said,  so the grant focuses on the Garinger and Harding areas.  Note that this refers to crime in the neighborhoods the schools serve,  not to crime in the schools themselves.

Hidden Valley is in the Vance zone.  The staffer said Vance and its feeder schools will be part of another request approved Tuesday,  for almost $4.6 million from the Department of Justice to "develop knowledge about the specific programs, activities and interventions that improve school safety in a sustainable and cost-effective manner. The researcher will collect evidence and evaluate intervention approaches that enhance school safety,"  the summary says.