![]() "It impacts the class sizes at those schools and what you're trying to do programmatically, and it is a concern." "If they're behind, you’ve got to work to get them caught up," Markley said. His research this year did not track how many returnees had behavioral issues, but he wants to look at that in coming years. Markley said he started looking into charter returnees after school leaders told him students with behavioral issues were coming back to traditional schools after attending charters. Across all traditional New Hanover elementary schools, 64 percent of students were proficient. Last year 55 percent of Douglass students who took the EOG were proficient in all their subjects, compared with 32 percent at Snipes and 26 percent at Freeman. But test scores at Douglass - which currently has 190 students to Snipes' 412 and Freeman's 276 - are notably higher. Many live in the Northside community, walking distance from the school. In 2015-16, 92 percent of Douglass students were economically disadvantaged and and 96 percent were racial minorities. "We have a level of expertise in this building about understanding the community in which our students live and the types of strategies that work well with our students."ĭemographically, Douglass Academy looks a lot like Snipes or Freeman. "They know we can meet the needs of their students," Talbert said. When she asks parents why they left a charter school for Snipes, some tell her it comes down to how closely her teachers work with children. Talbert said 17 students came to Snipes this year from Douglass, nearly a class's worth of kids. Principal Cindy Talbert walked through her office filling buckets with jump ropes, beach balls, snacks and school supplies - raffle prizes for kids who work hard during test prep. "There are concerns that these returnees seem to be impacting our downtown schools more than other schools."Ībout 15 blocks from Douglass, students at Snipes also readied for their EOGs Wednesday. "When half of the returning students are coming from one school, it just stands out," Markley said. ![]() Superintendent Tim Markley discovered the pattern this month while investigating why some charter students return to traditional schools. Though it's normal for students to move back and forth any year, Markley was surprised by the large number of students coming back to downtown Wilmington schools like Snipes Academy of Arts and Design, Forest Hills Global Elementary and Freeman School of Engineering. In fact, the district saw more returnees from Douglass than all other charter schools combined: of the 84 charter students that came back to New Hanover County Schools in 2016-17, 44 arrived from Douglass. ![]() Almost all of those students returned to traditional county schools. This school year, nearly one in five Douglass students made that choice to leave.ĭouglass started the year with 236 students but has seen 46 disenroll - about 19.5 percent of the student body. ![]() "Charter schools have been designed to empower parents to have that choice, and some choose to come and some choose to leave." "We do have a rigorous curriculum, one that we're very proud of," said assistant headmaster Carla Fisher. The atmosphere of concentration at the K-5 charter school reflects the fact that last year, Douglass' EOG scores were 22 to 30 percentage points higher than at its neighbor schools in downtown Wilmington. Peering in from the hallway Wednesday revealed rows of students working away at their desks, eyes on the whiteboards, hands raised or digging through bags of pencils. WILMINGTON - It was the last day of class before end-of-grade tests (EOGs), and the classroom doors at Douglass Academy were closed. ![]()
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