Charles Thomas Walker Traditional Magnet School (C. T. Walker) is a public examination school located in the Laney-Walker district of Augusta, Georgia

Augusta, Georgia

Augusta is a consolidated city in the U.S. state of Georgia, located along the Savannah River. As of the 2010 census, the Augusta–Richmond County population was 195,844 not counting the unconsolidated cities of Hephzibah and Blythe.Augusta is the principal city of the Augusta-Richmond County...

 that draws students from kindergarten

Kindergarten

A kindergarten is a preschool educational institution for children. The term was created by Friedrich Fröbel for the play and activity institute that he created in 1837 in Bad Blankenburg as a social experience for children for their transition from home to school...

 through eighth grade

Eighth grade

Eighth grade is a year of education in the United States, Canada, Australia and other nations. Students are usually 13 - 14 years old. The eighth grade is typically the final grade before high school, and the ninth grade of public and private education, following kindergarten and subsequent grades...

 from all parts of the Richmond County School System. The school is one of three magnet school

Magnet school

In education in the United States, magnet schools are public schools with specialized courses or curricula. "Magnet" refers to how the schools draw students from across the normal boundaries defined by authorities as school zones that feed into certain schools.There are magnet schools at the...

s in Richmond County.

History

The school's history dates back to 1934, when it housed grades 1-7. The building was constructed with federal assistance and opened with an enrollment of 1500 students (500 over the building's specifications). When Richmond County schools were integrated in the 1970s, the enrollment of the school changed, decreasing to little over 500 students. Court-ordered busing was instituted to ensure racial balances in student population and to remedy fluctuating enrollment patterns. In 1980, the school became a magnet school, housing grades K-5. Like other magnet schools in the county, racial quotas maintain a racially balanced student body (45% African American

African American

African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...

, 45% Caucasian

Caucasian race

The term Caucasian race has been used to denote the general physical type of some or all of the populations of Europe, North Africa, the Horn of Africa, Western Asia , Central Asia and South Asia...

, 10% other). The magnet school concept brought changes in structural organization. During the first year as a magnet school, C. T. Walker housed 400 students who were admitted to the basis of a lottery that was conducted by community leaders and school officials for grades K-5. Beginning with the 1981 school year, the sixth grade added to the school structure, followed by the seventh grade in 1982, and the eighth grade in 1983. In 1999, the C. T. Walker Magnet School celebrated its twentieth anniversary as a magnet school.

Awards and recognition

• Georgia School of Excellence — 2003
• Recognition as being a "no excuses" school with a 62% percent poverty rate, which is 50% above the state average; statistic published and placed on Georgia's State Report Card for Parents.

External links

• Official website
• Charles T. Walker — The Augusta Chronicle