HomeMy WebLinkAboutStudent Admissions and Lottery Impact Agenda Report - 112920121
Westlake Academy
Managing Growth: What’s the Impact?
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Contents
Introduction .................................................................................................................................................. 3
Policy and Procedures ................................................................................................................................... 5
Administration’s Interpretation ................................................................................................................ 5
High Impact vs. Low Impact Changes ........................................................................................................ 7
Identifying Growth Sooner ........................................................................................................................ 9
Academy Growth Strategy .......................................................................................................................... 11
Discussion Points ......................................................................................................................................... 12
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Introduction
The current growing pains being felt at the Academy are a primarily a result of the continuing success
and recognition of Westlake Academy and its students. Being one of five schools ranked nationally, as a
top performing school, by all three major national ranking organizations, has further ignited interest and
demand for admission to the school. The initial response was seen during the enrollment period and
summer months leading up to the 2012‐13 school year.
In addition, the ongoing discussions related to the Academy’s facility expansion in the local media have
further fueled the demand for services in the secondary boundaries. The facility expansion has become
even more important as the Academy experienced an approximate 31% increase in Westlake residents
choosing to attend the Academy in the 2012‐13 school year. The Academy also received unprecedented
demand from the secondary boundary to attend Westlake Academy. These trends and ongoing Board
discussion led staff to review the current admissions policy and procedures in an effort to better
manage growth, and develop a process to more accurately predict future enrollment.
The Academy has seen several large increases in the overall student population. First in 2010‐11 school
year when the Board of Trustees approved increasing the class size to an average of 20 students. This
increase in classroom size was related to covering a funding shortfall due to reduced public education
funding from the State. Second in the 2011‐12 school year the Board of Trustees approved adding one
new section of students in the MYP and DP Programmes. This increase in students allowed for an
expansion of student offerings and flexibility in the schedule to allow students a better chance of being
successful in the IB program.
In Table 1, the growth of the Academy can be seen from the inception of the school through the current
year. The table breaks down enrollment by the primary and secondary boundary. When reviewing this
data there are several indicators that are important to recall when looking at the future enrollment
growth and its impact on the Academy. Prior to the current year enrollment the high mark for primary
boundary enrollment was reached in 2007‐08 with 191 students or a total of 52% of the population.
Also of note is the large increase of primary boundary students in the following school years: 2004‐05,
2005‐06, 2006‐07, 2009‐10, and 2012‐13. In each of these school years the primary boundary growth
increased by a minimum of 31% and as much as 90% reflecting an actual increase of students from 35 to
67 students.
In line with those efforts, staff contracted with School District Strategies (SDS) to determine the
potential number of Westlake residents that may choose to attend Westlake Academy. The resulting
report shows that on average, each household will generate .7 students who will attend the Academy. .
The report further emphasizes that changes in the zoning and entitlements may drastically change the
potential number of students attending Westlake Academy.
During this discussion and process it became apparent that the current policies and procedures in place
for admissions needed to be reviewed in an effort to measure their impact on the Academy’s future
growth and staff’s ability to accurately predict continued growth over the next several years and to
allow the Board to review their options as it relates to future enrollment.
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Table 1 ‐ Student Population Composition since Inception
Fiscal
Year Boundary K G1 G2 G3 G4 G5 G6 G7 G8 G9 G10 G11 G12 Total % Total
2003-04
Primary
13 5 5 5 6 5 39 20%
Secondary 21 28 29 27 27 28 160 80%
Total 34 33 34 32 33 33 199 100%
2004-05
Primary 9 7 16 10 7 9 10 6 74 28%
Secondary 17 27 18 24 26 23 27 28 190 72%
Total 26 34 34 34 33 32 37 34 264 100%
2005-06
Primary 29 15 18 23 17 11 12 10 6 141 43%
Secondary 6 15 18 17 22 23 25 32 30 188 57%
Total 35 30 36 40 39 34 37 42 36 329 100%
2006-07
Primary 19 32 20 19 20 19 13 11 12 7 172 50%
Secondary 11 4 17 15 13 19 21 23 25 23 171 50%
Total 30 36 37 34 33 38 34 34 37 30 343 100%
2007-08
Primary 19 23 25 25 19 16 18 11 12 15 8 191 52%
Secondary 7 10 6 12 15 16 19 25 20 20 24 174 48%
Total 26 33 31 37 34 32 37 36 32 35 32 365 100%
2008-09
Primary 10 7 20 15 17 12 13 13 6 3 9 3 128 31%
Secondary 20 24 16 20 19 24 23 26 30 30 26 27 285 69%
Total 30 31 36 35 36 36 36 39 36 33 35 30 413 100%
2009-10
Primary 25 11 10 20 19 18 16 15 10 9 2 8 2 165 34%
Secondary 11 28 27 19 25 21 25 26 29 30 34 29 22 326 67%
Total 36 39 37 39 44 39 41 41 39 39 36 37 24 489 100%
2010-11
Primary 10 18 11 9 17 21 14 12 14 10 8 2 7 153 30%
Secondary 27 22 29 31 23 39 25 28 26 29 32 29 25 365 70%
Total 37 40 40 40 40 60 39 40 40 39 40 31 32 518 100%
2011-12
Primary 15 13 19 12 10 17 19 15 12 11 11 8 2 164 27%
Secondary 22 25 22 31 31 26 40 45 47 47 44 43 29 452 73%
Total 37 38 41 43 41 43 59 60 59 58 55 51 31 616 100%
2012-13
Primary 23 19 16 22 19 12 21 19 19 16 11 10 8 215 32%
Secondary 20 19 30 24 33 30 39 41 41 46 49 49 34 455 68%
Total 43 38 46 46 52 42 60 60 60 62 60 59 42 670 100%
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Policy and Procedures
First, the Academy’s Admission Policy is the guiding document that is utilized by staff when developing
processes and procedures for the enrollment and admissions process. The Academy Admissions Policy
broadly outlines requirements coming from three sources: first, the charter granted by the State of
Texas to the Town of Westlake, second, federal and state statutory guidelines, and third, local or Board
directed guidelines. The current policy is brief and members of the Board received a copy of an opinion
letter prepared by Janet Bubert, the Academy’s attorney, which provided a breakdown of the current
admissions policy.
Due to the Academy’s status as an Open Enrollment Charter School, the Academy is bound by the
charter granted by the State of Texas, as well as Federal and State guidelines:
By charter, the Academy is required to survey the current students on their intent to return, and
to create geographic boundaries where students must live in order to attend Westlake
Academy.
By Federal law, the Academy must conduct a lottery if there are more applications to attend the
Academy, than the number of available openings. The lottery must be conducted annually and
the lottery creates the waiting list or the order of entry when filling any potential openings.
Federal law also provides for a number of exemptions from the lottery process that may be
adopted by the local governing body.
By Board policy, the Academy chooses to provide exemptions from the lottery process for:
currently enrolled and returning students, children who are residents of the Town of Westlake,
children of the founders, children of the faculty and staff of the Town of Westlake and Westlake
Academy. Students entering the Academy through these exemptions have historically been
granted admission regardless of class size.
In addition, the Board has granted an exemption from the lottery for all siblings of students
currently enrolled in the Academy. The siblings are placed on a separate waiting list which is
used prior to the lottery waiting list if opening become available and siblings are not required to
participate in the annual lottery process. The sibling list is carried forward each year and is
based upon the original date of entry of the first sibling attending the Academy. Students from
the sibling list and the lottery list, do not guarantee entry to the Academy, but creates two
waiting lists that the Academy may pull from if they have available openings. Students entering
the Academy through these waiting lists have historically been granted admission only after
filling all open seats with students from the previous exemptions and if there are still available
openings in the classroom.
Administration’s Interpretation
Academy Administration has interpreted the Board adopted policy as the following and distributed this
as a memo to interested parties:
What are the admission requirements for Westlake Academy?
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Westlake Academy is an open enrollment college preparatory charter school, which is owned and
operated by the Town of Westlake. This means that we are a public school, funded primarily through
contributions from the State of Texas. Charter schools are granted freedom from many of the State
regulations, but still must maintain accountability through State assessments. As an open enrollment
charter school, the only requirement for admittance into the Academy is based upon student residency.
Westlake Academy admits students from two distinct geographic areas; the primary and secondary
areas are defined as:
The primary boundary, which runs concurrently with the Town of Westlake boundary.
The secondary boundary, which was adopted by the Board of Trustees and approved by the
Texas Education Agency in June 2008. It currently consists of the following Independent School
Districts (ISD): Birdville ISD, Carroll ISD, Grapevine‐Colleyville ISD, Keller ISD, Lewisville ISD,
Northwest ISD, HEB ISD, Decatur ISD, Paradise ISD, Boyd ISD, Weatherford ISD, Krum ISD,
Ponder ISD, Denton ISD, Little Elm ISD, Argyle ISD, Frisco ISD, Carrollton‐Farmers Branch ISD,
Grand Prairie ISD, Duncanville ISD, Lake Dallas ISD, Springtown ISD, Azle ISD, Coppell ISD, Irving
ISD, Arlington ISD, Fort Worth ISD, Eagle Mt‐Saginaw ISD, Highland Park ISD, Garland ISD and
McKinney ISD.
What is the admission process for Westlake Academy?
Westlake Academy’s admission process is driven by the legal requirements set by state and federal
agencies for operating open enrollment charter schools. We have a Board adopted admission policy
which can be seen by clicking here. These policies must align with state and federal requirements, and
be approved by the Texas Education Agency.
As an open enrollment charter school, we accept applications from all students within the geographic
areas defined above. The students residing in the primary boundary are admitted upon the completion
of the enrollment packet and establishing proof of residency. Applications from students residing in the
secondary boundary are accepted in December and January each year. If more students apply for
admission than can be admitted, the Academy is required to conduct a lottery. This random selection
process is used to determine the order students will be admitted from the waiting list.
Students are exempted from the lottery if they meet one of the following criteria and in the following
order:
1. Residency in the primary boundary (the Town of Westlake) or children of the employees of the
Town of Westlake, or children of Westlake Academy’s founders, teachers, and staff (so long as
the total number of students allowed under this exemption constitutes only a small percentage
of the school’s total enrollment).
2. Siblings of students already admitted to or attending the same charter school.
Once a student is admitted through the lottery process, their siblings are removed from the lottery
waiting list and are added to the sibling waiting list. The list is ordered based upon the date of entry of
the first sibling admitted to the Academy. Students on the sibling waiting list are granted admittance to
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the Academy before students on the regular waiting list, based upon available openings. Available
openings are any openings that are not filled by students residing in the primary boundary, and the
children of the faculty and staff of the Town of Westlake and Westlake Academy.
What is the timeline for admissions to Westlake Academy?
Our goal is to maintain classrooms at 20 students per class, and to provide priority placement to
students residing in the primary boundary. In order to best accomplish this goal, we hold available
positions as long as possible and do not post specific dates associated with the activities listed below.
As this is an ongoing process, beginning in December and ending in August each year, we provide date
ranges when admission activities generally occur.
Table 2 ‐ Admissions and Enrollment Timeline
Timeframe Description of Activity
December and
January
Applications accepted from secondary boundary students
February and March Communicate with lottery applicants: data verification,
process, etc.
Intent to enroll / re‐enroll forms collected from Westlake
residents and current families
Conduct lottery, notify applicants of the lottery outcome
(number on the waiting list)
March and April Compile data from the intent to enroll / re‐enroll forms
Notify parents of Kindergarten Roundup, send out
enrollment packages
April and May Hold Kindergarten Roundup
Begin admissions process for new students from waiting lists
Summer Months Admit new students when openings become available
High Impact vs. Low Impact Changes
Based upon the Academy’s Admission Policy, we can determine which components have a high or low
impact on the overall growth at the Academy. As previously discussed, the exemptions granted by the
Board adopted Admissions Policy, in essence, break the student applications into three distinct
categories:
Category 1: Students that apply for admission that are residents of Westlake, children of the
Academy’s founders, or children of the faculty and staff of the Town of Westlake and Westlake
Academy are granted immediate enrollment. Historically these applications have been treated as
an entitlement; if you meet the requirements, you are enrolled regardless of class size or current
overall enrollment.
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Category 2: Students that have been moved to the sibling wait list are not required to participate in
the annual lottery process and are carried upward each year. Siblings are only offered an opening if
there are no students that fall into Category 1.
Category 3: Students that are on the annual lottery waiting list are renewed each year. This means
that they may be at the top of the list in one year and the bottom the following year. Students on
this waiting list are only offered an opening if there are no students that fall into Category 1 or 2.
How does each category impact the enrollment growth? Category 1 is truly the only area that cannot
be controlled or predicted under the current policy, due to the fact that it is treated as an entitlement.
Students in Categories 2 and 3 simply create waiting lists that the Academy may use to fill openings if
they become available and the Academy chooses to populate the opening.
For example, in Figure 1, a 5% increase in the number of primary boundary students, seen in the 2012‐
13 school year, represents an increase of 51 students. These students were granted admission through
the Westlake residency exemption. Of the 51 students, 23 were in Kindergarten and were easily
accommodated, but the remaining 28 students were added to classes that were already at capacity.
Figure 1 ‐ Enrollment Composition
Of the 28 students that were added, seven (7) students were added to Grade 4. The increased number
of students granted admission through the Westlake residency exemption in Grade 4 necessitated the
addition of a third classroom section.
20%28%
43%50%52%
31%34%30%27%32%
80%72%
57%50%48%
69%67%70%73%68%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
03/04
195
04/05
264
05/06
324
06/07
346
07/08
379
08/09
417
09/10
491
10/11
530
11/12
610
12/13
675
Primary & Secondary Population Comparison
Primary Boundary Secondary Boundary
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Figure 2 ‐ Enrollment Composition
In Figure 2, you can see that the current classroom size in Kindergarten, Grade 2, Grade 3, and Grade 5
are over 20 students per class. If future growth in Westlake residents follows the 2012‐13 trend, the
Academy may potentially need to create a new section in Grade 1, Grade 3, and Grade 4 in the next
school year.
Identifying Growth Sooner
In an effort to improve the Academy’s ability to predict future enrollment growth and link the impact on
facility usage and staffing; staff has initiated a process to try to collect disparate data and draw
conclusions as to the number of students that may choose to attend Westlake Academy.
Leading up to the 2012‐13 school year, administration began tracking the number of families who stated
that they were planning on purchasing a home in Westlake. Staff tracked each of the families through
the process of purchasing, leasing, or obtaining a building permit to gain entrance to the Academy.
Although staff was able to predict very closely the number of new students entering the Academy, due
to the entitlement nature of the applications, many of the applications were received just weeks or even
days prior to the start of school. The late enrollments resulted in a number of last minute changes,
impacting facility usage, identifying the location for a new section in a school that is already at capacity,
hiring a teacher with minimal recruitment time, as well as budgetary implications due to classroom
furnishing, employee salaries and operating supplies.
The late notification or decision of many of the parents may be attributed to the parents decisions to
relocate over the summer, but anecdotally a number of parents participated in the lottery, were
23 19 16 22 19
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21 1919 16 11 10 8
20
19 30 24 33
30
39 4141 46
49 49
34
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
KG1G2G3G4G5G6G7G8G9G10G11G12
Enrollment Composition
(As of 11/8/2012)
Primary Secondary
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unsuccessful in obtaining a opening for their child and then began the process of relocating in an effort
to gain admittance prior to the start of the 2012‐13 school year. According to comments from several
realtors, prior to the start of the 2012‐13 school year, all available housing stock was purchased or
leased.
In an effort to provide better and longer‐term predictions, staff is gathering additional data from local
realtors, conduct a more in depth resident survey, and pulling information from more staff and
volunteer sources but the entitlement nature of the Admissions Policy for Westlake residents, children
of the faculty and staff for the Town of Westlake and Westlake Academy may still result in unpredictable
growth.
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Academy Growth Strategy
The Board’s ongoing discussion regarding the expansion of the Academy resulted in the adoption of a
Facilities Master Plan in the November 2012 Board of Trustees meeting. The Master Plan identifies
areas for construction of new facilities to meet the current and potentially new demand in the future. In
addition, the Board asked staff to proceed with the implementation of Phase One of the expansion plan
which will provide additional classroom, dining, and physical activity facilities.
It is estimated that from the moment the Board authorizes staff to move forward on the expansion, it
will take 18 to 24 months for completion. If the Academy continues to see growth, and the Admissions
Policy is maintained in its current form, how will the Academy accommodate the potential new students
until the facility expansion is completed?
The Director of Facilities has reviewed several options for meeting the space requirements. After
reviewing the options, it is recommended, that the Academy add three (3) additional portable units in
the current “DP Quad” area. This area would allow for the addition of three portable units with the
least amount of interruption to the existing facilities at the lowest cost.
The implementation of these new portables will allow for a number of options to be executed based
upon enrollment growth over the next several months. By placing these portables in service, it would be
possible to move into three sections in the PYP Programme if necessary. If the growth does not require
the addition of new sections in all the PYP grade levels, the portables could be utilized as specials
classrooms, as well as one unit being used as the construction trailer.
Figure 3 ‐ Expansion Options
If the new portables are determined to be necessary, staff would have to take action by April 2013 to
have the units in operation by August 2013. If the Board determines to wait until the August 2013
enrollment deadlines to determine if the units are necessary, then they could be placed in use by
January 2014.
New Portables
Current Portables
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Discussion Points
Due to the unpredictability of entitlement programs, these questions may help to better understand
how we wish to manage future growth:
Enrollment Growth
o When does a student become a resident of Westlake?
Building Permit vs. Certificate of Occupancy
Grandparent providing afterschool care
o Do students entering through the residency exemption lose the right to maintain the
exemption status if they relocate outside of the Town of Westlake (treat them the same
as faculty and staff that leave the Academy)?
o Should faculty and staff children be treated differently?
Treat them as a preferred status, but only admitted if there is room.
o Should the Town create a policy treating new development differently than existing
development?
New residential development will be granted residency status upon receiving a
certificate of occupancy vs. a building permit.
o Does the Board wish to reduce the number of secondary boundary students further,
increasing the number of available seats for the “Westlake Reserve”, with the
corresponding increase in Town funding?
Facility Growth Strategy
o Placement of new portable units that can be utilized for multiple purposes