This report presents findings of the implementation of Communities in Schools (CIS) Success Coaches within five Wake County Public School System (WCPSS) middle schools during the 2019-20 and 2020-21 school years. End-of-year outcomes, including attendance rates and English language arts and mathematics grades, are examined and compared between the…

The WCPSS Student Survey is administered each year to measure students' perceptions about their learning experiences. Over 24,000 students in grades 5, 8, and 9 responded to the 51-item survey in the spring of 2018. Results by grade were very similar to 2017 survey results. The majority of students had positive perceptions of their schools and…

The Wake County Public School System (WCPSS) Student Survey is administered each year to measure students' perceptions about their learning experiences. Over 28,000 students in grades 5, 8, and 9 responded to the 50-item survey in the spring of 2017. Results by grade were very similar to 2016 survey results. The majority of students had positive…

In 2006-07, seven Wake County Public School System (WCPSS) middle schools piloted Algebraic Thinking as an alternate approach to teaching middle school mathematics. Algebraic Thinking was developed to help students in grade 6 reach higher mathematics courses by combining the regular and advanced middle school mathematics courses into one…

Background: Although males are often the initiators of teen sexual activity, pregnancy prevention programs generally target females. To address this deficiency, the Wise Guys Male Responsibility Curriculum was developed to be delivered to adolescent males in weekly classroom sessions. Methods: Seventh grade participants (n = 124) in the Wise Guys…

Unlike in elementary school, high-school teacher effects may be confounded with both selection to tracks and unobserved track-level treatments. I document sizable confounding track effects, and show that traditional tests for the existence of teacher effects are likely biased. After accounting for these biases, high-school algebra and English…

The 2013 North Carolina Youth Risk Behavior Survey (NCYRBS) was developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and adapted by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (NCDPI) to monitor health-risk behaviors and to measure progress toward achieving Healthy North Carolina 2020 objectives. The survey, administered in…

Using administrative data on public school students in North Carolina, we find that sixth grade students attending middle schools are much more likely to be cited for discipline problems than those attending elementary school. That difference remains after adjusting for the socioeconomic and demographic characteristics of the students and their…

The guidance and counseling department of a western North Carolina middle school wanted to identify more precisely what it was that a week's participation in Outward Bound provided for their students. Outward Bound is an adventure-based, or wilderness-based, educational experience that promotes self-esteem through achievement in a challenging…