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All children face challenges but children living in poverty often face challenges of greater proportion
and with greater frequency. Schools alone cannot solve the complex and diverse problems faced by today's
youth that cause them to drop out of school. That's where Communities In Schools of Wake County (CISWC)
comes in. By partnering with the Wake Count Public School System (WCPSS), volunteers, corporate supporters,
and other organizations, CISWC acts as a link from the community to the schools and students.
2004-2005 School Year
For the school and fiscal year 2004-2005, CISWC registered 1,017 students from WCPSS into its program: more than 650 in 13 school sites and 367 young people in five after-school learning centers in public housing communities.
For the 2004-2005 school year, WCPSS provided Communities In Schools of Wake County (CISWC) with a year-end evaluation of our End of Grade (EOG) results. "The mean/average pre-test EOG scale scores of CISWC students were lower than those of the district at every grade level... before entering the CISWC program...." However, when compared to the district, our elementary students showed larger gains in grades 3-5 in comparisons in reading and grades 3-4 in mathematics.
Long-term Suspension Pilot Project
2004-2005 marked the launching of a pilot project funded by Wake County Public Schools for long-term suspension students. Called "Students Online for Success" (SOS) the SOS program was created to work with middle and high school students who were suspended and could not return to public school for the remainder of the school year.
CISWC's program provided 17 long-term suspended students the opportunity to continue to work on a school-based curriculum. Students also performed community service, learned life skills, and found success in the safe environment of the learning center. Each of the students with the program at the end of the school year were readmitted to a public school for the 2005-2006 school year - a great success by any measure.
