Last April 30th State Superintendent Mark Johnson announced the following: I remember asking, "WHERE ARE THE TEACHERS?" McKinney was a teacher until a couple of years ago. Jeffery Elmore is a teacher, but has spent more time in Raleigh supporting his party’s stalling a budget process and keeping Medicaid from being extended while using teachers as political … Continue reading Remembering Mark Johnson’s Schools Reopening Task Force

When a former student sends you a kind email years after he has left your classroom and graduated, When you receive wedding invitations from former students, When you are sent a Christmas Card from the family of a former student, When a former student walks into your classroom just to watch how you still teach, … Continue reading The Greatest Gifts A Teacher Could Ever Receive

Dear Santa, With gerrymandered districts and continued emphasis on using public taxpayer money to finance unproven reform efforts that do more to privatize and divide our student bodies, I thought it might be worth adding a few items to my holiday wish list. Sure, I want efforts to clean our environment and hold entities accountable … Continue reading This North Carolina Teacher’s Letter to Santa

Since we are in the heart of the holiday season, I tend to think of this part of Dickens’s classic holiday novella. “At this festive season of the year, Mr. Scrooge,” said the gentleman, taking up a pen, “it is more than usually desirable that we should make some slight provision for the Poor and … Continue reading “Pro-Life” Means Taking Care Of Those Who Are Already Born

This blog has highlighted SAS and its use of the EVAAS system to measure teacher effectiveness.  And every time this teacher thinks of EVAAS, he thinks of a presentation by James Ford in October of 2017. Ford delivered the keynote address at that time to the North Carolina English Teacher’s Association. It was more than … Continue reading Let’s Go Ahead And Get Rid Of EVAAS. It Can’t Measure What Teachers Are Really Doing For Students Now.

When the GOP won control of both houses in the North Carolina General Assembly in the elections of 2010, it was the first time that the Republicans had that sort of power since 1896. Add to that the election of Pat McCrory as governor in 2012, and the GOP has been able to run through … Continue reading A Decade Of Dismantling Public Education In North Carolina – Twenty-Three Egregious Attacks By The NCGA From 2011-2020

...the that leadership within Central Office and the School Board will genuinely listen to our teachers, students, and parents during the search and hiring process. Yes, in the middle of the school year amidst the most unprecedented time in any teaching career, my school is losing a principal to open another school. Having taught for … Continue reading My School Needs A New Principal And I Hope…

Many surveys have already been sent over the past eight months out to teachers, parents, and guardians about the best possible ways to open up schools and keep them open. Options across all those surveys offered multiple scenarios and often took less than five minutes to complete. They were needed to a great extent… … … Continue reading Now Is The Time For The Teacher Working Conditions Survey

From today's News & Observer: The school board approved an adjusted grading scale of 90 to 100 for all End-of-Course and Career and Technical Education exams. Last week’s vote followed the State Board of Education giving local districts the option to weigh exam scores differently this year, Durham school board Chair Bettina Umstead said.The N.C. … Continue reading Concerning EOC Exams: Do What Durham Did

From her op-ed last week on EdNC.org co-written with State Board Chair Eric Davis: “Conducting testing is an essential part of a student’s educational journey,” Superintendent-Elect Catherine Truitt said. “As an educator and parent of two public school students, I believe the more knowledge we have of our children’s progress the better.” But almost three … Continue reading Listening To The State Superintendent Elect’s Words, Do We Really Need EOC Exams?