Rodney Pierce is a teacher and living historian from Halifax County, NC. His tweets are informative, thought provoking, and force people to confront issues in public education. He tweeted this today: It references a CBS report entitled "March 2020 was the first March without a school shooting in the U.S. since 2002" that was posted … Continue reading “Sad Truth” – For The First Time Since March of 2002

"We’ve got to start making determinations about how to get back to life based on real data, and I think we’ve seen a lot of data out there that’s a bit faulty and certainly a bit biased and certainly not the full story," Forest said. The above quote was from a radio interview Lt. Gov. … Continue reading What Faulty Data Are You Talking About Lt. Governor?

Remember two months ago when Mark Johnson was running to be Lt. Gov. so that he could sit on the very state board of education that he literally fought against for almost two years in court over a power struggle? Remember his platform? No more Common Core! And remember that website for his campaign – … Continue reading Mark Johnson’s Nomorecommoncore.org is No More

The North Carolina State Board of Education submitted their requests for waivers to be given by the NCGA when it reconvenes late this month. From NC Policy Watch yesterday: The State Board of Education has agreed to ask state lawmakers to waive certain student tests and other accountability measures due to school closures. Gov. Roy Cooper ordered public … Continue reading The North Carolina General Assembly Should Grant Every Waiver Requested By The SBOE And Then…

Remember that website Mark Johnson created to deal with Hurricane Florence a year and a half ago that looked like a campaign website? The one that he kept referring to continuously in his glossy flyers and multiple emails over the last twelve months? The one he had made in hopes to help North Carolinians keep … Continue reading One Glaring Item Not Mentioned: Revisiting Mark Johnson’s www.ncsuperintendent.com

Having grown up in a small town in the deep South during the 1970’s and 80’s, it was not uncommon to view televangelists on weekends, especially when only four or five channels were available to watch. Claims made by these people were seemingly noble and altruistic, but they always asked for money to do God’s … Continue reading The “Legivangelists” in Raleigh, NC

Earlier today Dr. Diane Ravitch posted on her blog a post from Terri Michal, a member of the elected board of education in Birmingham, Alabama. Ravitch reported what Michal had written. I love public education employees. They are the most resourceful group of people you could ever meet. They have to be. These employees work in … Continue reading All Certified And Classified Public School Personnel Should Be Aware Of The Families First Coronavirus Response Act: Employee Paid Leave Rights

Below is a list of the five core issues brought into the public discourse for the “All Out For May 1st” Public Education Rally and March last year. Thousands of people showed up to advocate for these issues. Below is what Mark Johnson, the top public education official in the state, said in regard to … Continue reading We Should So Rally When This Epidemic Subsides: How Coronavirus Highlights 4 Of The 5 Issues From Last Year’s “All Out For May 1st”

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.

Below is a graphic put out by EdWeek this past week concerning what has now being called the COVID Slide. It is akin to what is known as the "Summer Slide," an overall term to describe the loss of learning when students are removed from the traditional classroom structure. The "Summer Slide" also shows what … Continue reading About The COVID Slide: No Standardized Test Can Measure What Students Are Learning Now