"Does Teaching Offer Career Growth?" According to Mark Johnson's flier it does. It states in the blue field above that the average NC teacher makes "over $53,000 a year" and that "the median teacher salary is now more than the median salary of someone with a 4-year college degree in NC." Maybe Johnson needs to … Continue reading Put This On A Glossy Flier: “Average teacher salaries in more than 80 percent of North Carolina’s school districts fall below the reported statewide average teacher salary of $53,975.”

Remember when Mark Johnson bought all those iPads with six million dollars that magically appeared? It could have: Funded 120 reading specialists for the school year at low-performing schools ($50k per). Funded Governor’s School for a few years. Covered the budget cut at DPI this year. Funded a full restoration of Teacher Fellow Program for … Continue reading Instead of iPads, That Six Million Dollars Could Have…

Take another look at the glossy propaganda that Mark Johnson is passing off as an informative flier for students that was used in yesterday's post. In the green section entitled "What Do Starting Teachers Make?", Johnson states: $39,300 per school year is the average salary for a beginning teacher in North Carolina." $26,400 per year … Continue reading $35,000 To $52,000 Or $24,600 To $86,291-Plus: Our State Superintendent’s Problem With Glossy Numbers

If you have not noticed the abundance of glossy fliers that teachers are passing around to students all over the state at the behest of Mark Johnson, then you are in the minority. One of them pertains to encouraging students to consider teaching as a career when they enter the workforce. Almost all of the … Continue reading Glossy Propaganda And The Need To Add Questions To The Working Conditions Survey

The “average” salary for a North Carolina teacher has been reported to be over $53,000. Mark Johnson claims that number. The leaders of the NCGA claim it. Many people who argue that teachers already make enough as it is with all of those “historic” raises claim it. Here is the newest salary schedule. So how … Continue reading How the NCGA “Steals and Spends” Much Needed Local Supplements

My younger child is a what many may call “special” and “unique.” His cognitive and developmental delays will not allow him to be as academically proficient with his same- aged-peers. His speech is sometimes hard to understand, and he acts on impulse and immediate needs in a manner that others may find inconvenient. He will … Continue reading “Inclusion” Benefits All in the Classroom

“Innovation,” “urgency,” "personalized" and “American Dream” - the four most overused, underdefined, and glossed over buzzwords that have continuously flowed forth from Mark Johnson's rehearsed speech given in multiple forms. This past week Johnson was a keynote speaker for the North Carolina PTA's annual convention in Charlotte. His presence as the state superintendent makes him … Continue reading The Lack of “Innovation” and Mark Johnson’s Urgently Depersonalized Definition of the “American Dream”

except to those who really know him because they know the amazing drive and spirit he embodies. If you know me, then I have told you of the uncle whose love of teaching I plagiarized, his wife my aunt, whose roles on screen and television I get to brag about, and their daughters whom I … Continue reading I Have This Cousin-In-Law Who Just Did Something Remarkable…

  From the recent Public School Forum of North Carolina’s report on top ten issues in NC education. Source: Kris Nordstrom