State of the Division 2016-17 Objective 1

Fine Arts

 

School Year	Student Enrollment
2012-13	2,516
2013-14	2,601
2014-15	2,694
2015-16	2,744
2016-17	2,799

Every elementary school student in the division had the opportunity to learn about and express themselves through the arts during the 2016-2017 school year. Additionally, elementary students displayed their work around their schools, performed publicly, and had their work highlighted in our community. Middle and high school students also had great opportunities to learn about the arts and express themselves. This year 2,799 high school students chose to enroll in a fine arts class. This is up from 2,744 last year, and up 283 students from the 2012-2013 school year.

 

Career and Technical Education

We believe our approach to Career and Technical Education encourages students to learn how things work, to experiment, to invent and redesign things through multiple iterations, and to understand the processes of engineering, design, and entrepreneurship.

CTE Course Enrollments by Program Area

Program Area	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14	2014-15	2015-16	2016-17
Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources	6	4	1	0	0	0
Architecture and Construction	88	85	90	41	64	61
Arts, Audio-Video Technology and Communications	238	235	199	340	486	401
Business Management and Administration	138	189	132	118	169	148
Education and Training	64	102	48	45	49	44
Finance	0	0	0	0	0	885
Government and Public Administration	56	60	0	0	0	0
Health Science	193	242	314	320	321	292
Hospitality and Tourism	133	185	188	169	176	158
Human Services	402	241	189	177	206	189
Information Technology	1292	1277	1576	1588	1384	1267
Law, Public Safety, Corrections and Security	9	8	7	8	19	10
Manufacturing	39	26	29	36	37	326
Marketing	234	258	236	223	123	274
Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics	1546	1554	1512	1750	1935	1919
Total	4438	4466	4520	4815	4969	5974

» View/Download Data for CTE Enrollment by Program Area​

In previous years the chart for CTE Enrollments was based on data that only counted students in their primary CTE program area. It did not accurately reflect total course enrollments in each CTE program area. The chart has been revised to indicate the actual number of students (duplicated count) who enrolled in a CTE class in each program area. The chart below indicates the number of students (unduplicated count) who enrolled in a CTE class.

Students Enrolled in a CTE Class

Year	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14	2014-15	2015-16	2016-17
Number of Students (unduplicated)	3131	3109	3010	3174	3370	3982

 

CTE faculty outreach efforts assist in the development of STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, & Mathematics) projects across content areas, schools, and integrated curricula. CTE spaces are accessible to students throughout the day to be utilized for projects in other courses or to pursue personal interests.

The redesign of the middle school CTE curriculum continues to be a driver of positive change. General enrollment continues to grow in CTE courses and high school credit-bearing courses are being added. Teachers are also connecting with elementary schools to develop increased capacity for project-based learning, STEAM opportunities, and advanced manufacturing technologies in the lower grades.

The interest in mechatronics, engineering design, and entrepreneurship is especially high across the Division. Plans are underway to redesign the high school CTE curriculum for vertical alignment and to include pathways for meaningful credentialing, CATEC, PVCC, and preparation for college.

Physical Fitness & Athletics

We believe that when students graduate from Albemarle County Public Schools they will have an understanding of and be able to follow a physically active lifestyle that promotes good health and wellness.

A key tool for lifelong learners to help make decisions that promote good health and wellness is having a goal-setting process and continuously evaluating personal goals. In Albemarle County Public Schools we use the Plan, Do, Study, Act model when setting SMART goals in an age-appropriate manner within the physical education curriculum.

By simply giving students time and space to set goals, make progress towards them, and reflect on their progress, we provide an opportunity for students to take ownership of their health and wellness. Additionally, students are prepared with a process through which they can both maintain good health and wellness or find routes for improvement.

All elementary schools provide 120 minutes per week of Physical Education. In fact, four schools provide 150 minutes per week (Meriwether Lewis, Hollymead, Brownsville and Agnor Hurt).

Examples of other programs that elementary schools may participate in include the following:

• ​Jump Rope for Heart
• PE Cooperative Central Challenge 
• Quick Start Tennis 
• First Tee 
• Carson Raymond T-Ball 
• Virginia Wildlife Fishing Program 
• VA Wellness Testing 
• After-school running clubs 
• Health Fair 
• National Stack Up Day 
• Worldwide Day of Play 
• President’s Challenge

English as a Second or Other Language Program (ESOL)

Albemarle County’s International and English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) Program recognizes the rich cultural, economic, and intellectual resources that our multilingual students bring to the community. We welcome our linguistically and culturally diverse students and families and seek to ensure their academic, civic, and economic success.

On-Time Graduation rates for English Learners - Numeric Data

Our international and linguistically diverse students succeed in one of the most rigorous high school programs in the state, meeting and exceeding Virginia’s graduation requirements while simultaneously becoming fluent in a foreign language and adjusting to a new culture. Our multilingual and multicultural graduates are poised to become transformative leaders in the community and the world. Over the past seven years, former and current students in Albemarle County’s high school ESOL program have graduated at higher rates than their state peers. The gap in graduation rates between all ACPS students and those who participated in the high school ESOL program has decreased during this time. In addition to these successes, the ESOL program consistently meets state and federal requirements of progress and proficiency by having approximately 10 percent of its English Learners (ELs) reach English language proficiency on the annual ACCESS for ELLs 2.0 Summative Assessment.

Results are due to the hard work of our 39 full and part-time ESOL teachers who work in collaboration with content/classroom teachers to design the best support for our English Learners. In alignment with ACPS’ Instructional Philosophy , the ESOL program serves students in their home-based schools and provides appropriate supplemental staffing. Over the past four years, the ESOL program has supported schools in adopting a more collaborative approach to linguistic instruction, and this has begun to close opportunity gaps through a rigorous curriculum and engaging pedagogy. In addition, results are due to supplemental outreach programs like Summer Immersion Excursion for secondary ELs. ACPS was again awarded a $10,000 local grant to help engage students in experiential, project-based learning.

 

NOTE: Our staffing formula considers the WIDA level of students in addition to the numbers.

Growth of English Learners in ACPS Over Time - Numeric Data

The International and ESOL Welcome Center, located on the third floor of the Northside Library, helps register and screen of the growing number of ELs in our community and is busy all year-round. It is our goal to facilitate student and family transitions to school in the United States as well as cultivate partnerships with families and community members. The ESOL program supports family engagement by managing, recruiting, hiring, and training interpreters and translators. In addition to overseeing translations of division correspondence, the International and ESOL Welcome Center has developed protocols to help empower schools to manage their own translation and interpretation of communications at the school level. 

In order to continuously support the growing number of ELs, the ESOL program actively designs ongoing professional development for ESOL and classroom/content teachers. As of September 1, 2017, the ESOL program serves 1,377 people across the division.

Special Education Services

We believe that children with disabilities should be educated in the least restrictive environment using the most current, research-based methodologies and technologies in order that they be provided a meaningful educational benefit (Free and Appropriate Public Education).

The focus of the department of special education is to build the capacity of our schools, teachers, and teaching assistants to work with children as much as possible in the regular education classroom. Efforts to include students in their neighborhood schools within regular classrooms has been a priority, as evidenced by professional development opportunities, which are supports put in place within the regular education environment (i.e. assistive technology, increased staffing, access to related services at base schools).

Over the past four years the percentage of special education students included in the regular education classroom has remained high for Albemarle County, and far exceeded the State average. Our efforts to prepare every learning environment to be appropriate for special education students has resulted in over 70% of students being in the regular education classroom for over 80% of their day.

Source: Virginia Dept. of Education »

School Age Least Restrictive Setting Indicator (LRE) - Numeric Data

Special Education Services in Albemarle County Schools have also provided services that matched the needs of children with disabilities in our community schools. This is evidenced in a slowing of trends for placement of students with disabilities being served outside of their neighborhood public schools in public separate schools, private placements, or in residential programs. This is not reflective of current State trends. It is also worth noting that providing appropriate services to children with disabilities in their neighborhood schools has been accomplished in the context of continued growth in the number of students with disabilities served in Albemarle County School over the past few years.

Special Education Placements - Numeric Data

 

Children Eligible for Special Education Served in ACPS - Numeric Data