By Matthew E. Milliken

mmilliken@heraldsun.com;

419-6684

DURHAM — Superintendent Carl Harris’ departure ends a three-and-a-half-year term at the head of North Carolina’s eighth-largest school district that had markedly less strife than that of his predecessor and former supervisor, Ann Denlinger.

Since July 2006, when Harris took office, the Durham school district has reduced the dropout rate from 3.6 percent to just under 3 percent, below the state average of 3.4 percent.

In 2005-06, 11 of 45 Durham schools (24.4 percent) made adequate yearly progress. This past year, 23 of 52 Durham schools (44.2 percent) made adequate yearly progress under the No Child Left Behind accountability regimen. The 2008-09 results were bolstered by the counting, for the first time, of higher scores on student retests.

Other measurements show educational declines rather than gains. Reading proficiency dropped from 77.2 percent of students in grades 3-8 in 2005-06 to 52.9 percent of those students last year. In high school, English I test scores fell 15 percent in three years.

However, math scores in elementary and middle schools rose from 53.1 percent in 2006 to 66.3 percent this spring.

In 2005-06, 39 of 44 Durham schools had performance composites of 50 percent or higher, with 12 scoring 70 percent or better. Not counting the district’s alternative school, Neal Middle School had the lowest score (42.6 percent).

In 2008-09, 35 of 51 local schools had performance composites of 50 percent or higher, with 11 scoring 70 percent or better. Excluding the district’s alternative school, the lowest result was at Southern High (32.5 percent).

In a press release, the district noted that it had increased participation in Advanced Placement courses and identified more academically gifted students since Harris took office.

But both the percentage of local students taking the SAT and their average combined scores on the math and reading sections of the test declined under Harris — from 70.5 percent and 987 to 63.2 percent and 965.