Did you know that North Carolina has more Nationally Board Certified Teachers than any state in the country? Simply go to this site and compare – http://www.nbpts.org/in-your-state/. This morning score reports for those who were seeking renewal are being released. If you succeeded, I congratulate you. It’s not easy to become and remain certified. When I … Continue reading National Board Certification Renewal Score Release Day – An Argument to Invest More in Teachers

Remember Michelle Rhee’s visit to North Carolina last year for a “closed-door” meeting (February 7th  ,2017) with lawmakers brokered by an educational lobbying body of business leaders called BEST NC (coupled with the NC GOP’s invitation to Betsy DeVos who had just been confirmed as Trump’s secretary of education)? It was another ominous omen of what has been … Continue reading Stop the Privatization of NC’s Public Schools – It Starts At the Polls

Almost four years ago, Sen, David Curtis delivered a rather uneducated response to a letter from a young teacher in which he outlined a close-minded viewpoint of the teaching profession (http://wunc.org/post/teacher-email-legislators-draws-harsh-reply#stream/0). Needless to say, it garnered quite a response from teachers around the state. Other public education critics have gone out of their way to … Continue reading Dear North Carolina Lawmaker, Exactly What is the Job Description of a Public School Teacher?

From WSOCTV.com on October 23: The Rowan-Salisbury School District is considering making changes to hiring requirements for teachers as it looks to widen the field of candidates to educate your children. A new proposal being considered by the district drops a four-year college degree requirement for applicants hoping to be hired as a teacher. Instead … Continue reading Lowering Hiring Requirements in Rowan-Salisbury School System is Simply a Bad Idea

Sen. Phil Berger is playing politician again. In this election year, he and his GOP comrades have ramped up their “strong talk” on their commitment to adequately fund public schools and pay teachers a comparable salary on the national level. And part of his talk is defending himself against the vicious attacks from those who … Continue reading Do Not Believe The Hype of #NCSuccessStory – Spinning a Narrative on NC’s Public Schools

In 2012, the North Carolina General Assembly passed legislation for the "Read to Achieve" initiative. Six years later, it has not really achieved. From a recent Charlotte Observer report: The General Assembly passed Read to Achieve legislation in 2012. It was modeled on literacy efforts in other states, including the “Just Read, Florida!” program created by Gov. … Continue reading The Underachieving “Read to Achieve” – Stop Listening to Jeb Bush and Invest More in Early Childhood Education

“We will continue to use data-driven analyses, including feedback from classroom teachers, to drive changes ...." - Mark Johnson last Friday concerning the report on the ineffectiveness of Read to Achieve. The idea of using data to drive policy is not a new occurrence. But it is sometimes hard to quantify the qualitative aspects of … Continue reading If Mark Johnson Wants to be “Data-Driven,” Then He Might Want to Look at These Data

When an NC lawmaker makes a claim about how well they have treated public education, the whole story may not be told – only a glossy version. In this season of electioneering and rather important midterms, it is important to know that the biggest part of the iceberg is under the water level where most … Continue reading Debunking 13 Common Electioneering Claims Made by Current Politicians Concerning NC’s Public Schools

As reported yesterday's News & Observer, NC's ACT scores reside near the very bottom in the nation. "New results released Wednesday from the Class of 2018 show that North Carolina’s average score remained at 19.1 out of a possible 36. The state was below the national average of 20.8 and tied for 46th among the … Continue reading About Those “Low” Average ACT Scores Here in North Carolina

If one thing is for certain, North Carolina’s school performance grades are a confirmation that student poverty levels have so much to do with how schools perform. Those performance grades also help to fuel "reform" efforts. EdNC.org released a new version of its Data Dashboard that allows users to filter for different variables when viewing … Continue reading Using Systemic Poverty to Privatize Public Education