As principal aims, Wake acclaims

GARNER -- John Wall realizes that some of the nearly 1,300 students at North Garner Middle School won't master algebraic equations right away.

So Wall, who was named Wake County's principal of the year this week, is all about second chances.

"My philosophy is, I don't care when they learn fractions, as long as they learn them," Wall said.

That is, as long as they learn them by the time end-of-grade tests roll around.

Wall, a native of Queens, N.Y., puts an emphasis on student test scores, which determine whether schools meet state and federal benchmarks every year.

Assessments are necessary, Wall said, and test scores show what students have learned.

If students don't do well on regular assessments throughout the year, teachers refer them to an extra-help program that Wall started. AIM for Success -- AIM stands for "Academic Intervention Model" -- is geared toward giving students another shot at showing they've learned the material.

Students spend one or two weeks in the program, in which they work with intervention teachers instead of attending electives such as physical education or drama. At any given time, about 60 students are in the program. Wall said he doesn't hear too many complaints about it from students.

"I think some of them see it as an opportunity," Wall said. "We don't approach it with them as a punishment."

Wall, 43, has been with Wake schools for nearly two decades. The graduate of N.C. Central and N.C. State universities started in the early 1990s as a social studies teacher at Carnage Middle School, where he coached football and basketball. He later served as assistant principal, then principal at Zebulon Middle School until 2005, when he went to North Garner.

His work at the Garner school has gained the attention of school administrators in Raleigh. In the principal of the year contest, Wall was up against the leaders of Barwell Road, Bugg and Durant Road elementary schools and Fuquay-Varina High School.

Wall's colleagues nominated him for the award. The final selection was based on interviews with the finalists and school visits.

North Garner Middle has greatly improved, said Horace Tart, a school board member who lost his re-election bid this month.

"At one time, people were actually trying to get out of North Garner," Tart said. "It has become a school that people are actually applying to go to."

The school's switch to a year-round calendar has helped, Tart said. Many Garner families that used to send their children to a year-round school outside of town have returned to North Garner. The number of students from low-income families enrolled at the school has dropped, while test scores have jumped.

North Garner met expected growth standards this past school year. It hasn't fallen below the growth benchmark since 2005.

India Walton, an eighth-grade math teacher at North Garner, said she hears from a lot of people that the school has improved over the years. She gives a lot of credit to Wall and his ideas.

"We are more geared to giving students a second chance," Walton said. "Because in life, sometimes we all need a second chance."

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