Orlando Schools Make Plans for the 2006-2007 School Year

Changes for the 2006-2007 School Year

Orlando Schools has made several changes that will go into effect this fall. The first official day of school in the Orlando Schools is August 7th. This school year's students attendance for the Orlando Schools has increased by around 4,000 students to 181,210 total students. This increase in enrollment has prompted Orlando Schools to open nine additional schools. The nine schools added to handle the new students are three middle schools and six elementary schools. In addition to the opening of the new schools, Orlando Schools will divide the South Learning Community into Southwest and Southeast learning communities. This division will allow better management of resources and help address the needs of the students. New legislation that will affect next the 2007-2008 school year was also passed. Starting then, the school year will start no sooner than two weeks before Labor Day which is a change to the usual early August start that allowed the semester to end before Orlando Schools' winter break.

Orlando Schools First Days of School

For the second school year Orlando Schools is holding the First Days of School event. This is an event that is held at every school in the Orlando Schools district. Parents and students need to contact their school because each school will hold events at different times throughout the week leading up to August 7th. So instead of a single day, many schools will have an entire week of events.

Orlando Schools Help Students Get Ready for the 2006-2007 School Year

Orlando Schools has teamed up with the Apopka Chamber of Commerce and A.C.T.I.O.N. to help low-income students in the. They will work together to collect school supplies for students in need. Their aim is to have all students in the Apopka area have the tools they need to begin the new school year. This year's program is called "Fill the Bus - School Supply Drive". An Orlando Schools bus will be parked in area business parking lots throughout the summer; the goal is to fill the school bus with school supplies that students might need. The program will accept monetary donations as well. Participating businesses include Wal-Mart and Porkie's Original BBQ. Apopka Chamber of Commerce and A.C.T.I.O.N. have made contacts with several school supply distributors, in order to use cash donations to their fullest; this allows the program to purchase supplies at lower prices than retail. The school supplies will be distributed to the community at a special back- to-school fair held at the John Bridges Community Center in late July.

Orlando Schools Eccleston Elementary School Gets Cleaned Up

During the summer Eccleston Elementary School received a make over thanks to a group of volunteers. More than 300 student teachers and retired teachers volunteered their time and resources to give Eccleston Elementary School a complete renovation. The teachers were at the annual National Education Association meeting. The teachers painted the insides of classrooms, painted murals on exterior walls, landscaped the grounds, added an automatic sprinkler system to the grounds, and remodeled the Parent Resource Center and the teachers' lounge. The student teachers worked as part of a volunteer program sponsored by the National Education Association. The National Education Association spent months deciding which school in the Orlando Schools district would receive the make over. Eccleston Elementary School was selected because it was an older Title I school that was in need. National Education Association donated $65,000 towards the renovation, not to mention the time and labor of its student teachers.

Stacy Andell is a staff writer for Schools K-12, providing free, in-depth reports on all U.S. public and private K-12 schools. Stacy has a nose for research and writes stimulating news and views on school issues. For more on Orlando schools visit http://www.schoolsk-12.com/Florida/Orlando/index.html

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Nashville Schools Release 2005-2006 Data and Makes Plans for the 2006-2007 School Year

Nashville Schools Did Well Academically in 2005-2006

Nashville Schools have made a lot of progress in the 2005-2006 school year. The Nashville Schools this school year has, in several key areas, had a higher percentage of students meet the required levels of proficiency as determined by the No Child Left Behind Act. This school eighty-six percent of kindergarten to eighth grade students are now proficient or advanced in reading as compared to the required target of eighty-three percent set by the No Child Left Behind Act. Among high school students, overall, sixty-nine percent scored proficient or advanced on the Algebra Gateway test on their first try. The No Child Left Behind Act sets a target of seventy-five percent. Even though this is below the target it is higher than the pervious year's results. In mathematics students in kindergarten to eighth grade now ranked as proficient or advanced rose to eighty-one percent. This surpasses the target set by the No Child Left Behind Act of seventy-nine percent.

Nashville Schools Aim to Catch Up with the State Average

Nashville School's scores are slightly below the Tennessee State average, but have made definite improvement in the school district's students' standings. The Tennessee Department of Education has increased the expected performance of students in three or four categories. Low-income students in the Nashville Schools made academic gains. Despite the higher percentage of low-income students in the Nashville Schools, our academic gains are equal to the improvement in more affluent school systems. In an effort to continue the gains made by the urban schools in the Nashville Schools, every Nashville middle school offers high-school-level classes for credit. Students can earn up to five credits before they enter high school. The District's ACT scores have continued to rise over the last five years. Tennessee Department of Education's school district rating system rates this progress as "significantly above average."

The Financial Status of Nashville Schools in 2005-2006

Nashville Schools spent an average of $8,540 per pupil for 70,569 students in grades K-12. This compares well to other school district spending around the country. The National Center of Education Statistics, a service of the U.S. Department of Education allows for comparison of school districts around the country on all manner of factors. The National Center of Education Statistics' "peer search" automatically chooses nine school districts across the country that match Nashville School's demographics. Those districts include: Albuquerque, NM; Alief, TX (near Houston), Austin, TX; Omaha, NE; Portland, OR; San Francisco, CA; Tucson, AZ; and Wichita, KS. The spending was inline with these school districts. In 2002-03 school year Nashville Schools spent almost exactly the same per-pupil dollars as our peer school districts -and slightly less than the national average.

The Nashville School District Education Board's plan for the 2006-07 budget will include: A 2% raise for all staff; a more competitive starting salary for teachers; a new call-home phone system to alert parents to unexplained student absences and inclement weather; expansion of the AVID program to all zoned high schools to prepare students to graduate on time with the necessary skills to attend college; opening one new school and moving students at eight sites where renovation is beginning or completed.

Stacy Andell is a staff writer for Schools K-12, providing free, in-depth reports on all U.S. public and private K-12 schools. Stacy has a nose for research and writes stimulating news and views on school issues. For more on Nashville schools visit http://www.schoolsk-12.com/Tennessee/Nashville/index.html

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.