Bus routes, school zoning information available on School Locator

Charles County Public Schools has added a school locator feature to its Web site.

School Locator is designed to allow the public to enter an address and see which three schools  elementary, middle and high  an address is zoned for. It also indicates if the address is eligible for bus transportation to a particular school, what the bus number is and where the closest bus stop to the address is located.

School Locator can be accessed at www2.ccboe.com/schoollocator/. Click on Launch Application (Public) to access the system. No password is needed. School Locator uses mapping data from the county and filters it by the system's current school zones.

For more information about bus routes, contact your child's school, or the transportation department at ccpstransportation@ccboe.com or 301-934-7276.

This service also allows school principals to see a list of buses traveling to their school, which students are on that bus and the approximate time of each stop that bus makes before reaching the school.

The service also expedites some of the manual tasks for school system staff. It will help in the process of creating bus route packets at the beginning of the school year.

A $4 Billion Push for Better Schools

Obama Hopes Funding Will Be Powerful Incentive in 'Race to the Top'

By Michael D. Shear and Nick Anderson
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, July 24, 2009

President Obama is leaning hard on the nation's schools, using the promise of more than $4 billion in federal aid -- and the threat of withholding it -- to strong-arm the education establishment to accept more charter schools and performance pay for teachers.

The pressure campaign has been underway for months as Education Secretary Arne Duncan travels the country delivering a blunt message to state officials who have resisted change for decades: Embrace reform or risk being shut out.

"What we're saying here is, if you can't decide to change these practices, we're not going to use precious dollars that we want to see creating better results; we're not going to send those dollars there," Obama said in an Oval Office interview Wednesday. "And we're counting on the fact that, ultimately, this is an incentive, this is a challenge for people who do want to change.

Read more HERE.

MSA Scores in Charles County Remain Steady

Schools not meeting AYP in one or more subgroups this year include are: Mattawoman (second year), Gale-Bailey Elementary School, Theodore G. Davis Middle School, John Hanson Middle School, Matthew Henson Middle School and General Smallwood Middle School.

Article from Southern Maryland Online

Charles County Public Schools (CCPS) reading and mathematics scores on the Maryland School Assessment (MSA) remain steady, according to results released this week by the Maryland State Department of Education. Most schools met adequate yearly progress (AYP) and overall school goals. Six of 29 elementary and middle schools missed making AYP in one or more subgroup areas. High school data will be released later this summer.

Read more HERE

Graduation 2009-2010

The graduation dates for the 2009-2010 school year have been finalized. The dates are Monday, June 7, 2010, for H.E. Lackey, La Plata and North Point high schools. Westlake, Thomas Stone and McDonough high schools' graduations will be held on Tuesday, June 8, 2010. All graduations will be held at the Showplace Arena in Upper Marlboro, with the exception of North Point, which will be held at the school.

Should High Schools Bar Average Students From Rigorous College-Level Courses and Tests?

"Some of them object to my methodology." YES Mr. Mathews, and I must agree, I object also.

By Jay Mathews
Monday, July 13, 2009

Fifteen years ago, when I discovered that many good high schools prevented average students from taking demanding courses, I thought it was a fluke, a mistake that would soon be rectified.

I had spent much time inside schools that did the opposite. They worked hard to persuade students to take challenging classes and tests, such as Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate and Cambridge, so students would be ready for the shock of their first semester at college, which most average students attend. The results were good. Why didn't all schools do that?

I still don't have a satisfactory answer. It always comes up this time of year because of my annual rankings of public high schools for Newsweek, which is based on schools' efforts to challenge average kids as measured by participation in AP, IB and Cambridge tests.

Many school superintendents and principals who run schools that restrict access to those college-level courses and tests have disappointing results on the Newsweek list. Some of them object to my methodology. It is clear from my conversations with them that they are smart and compassionate people.

Read more HERE