I witnessed about two hours of yesterday’s six-hour Wake County School Board meeting. A couple of observations…. I noticed lots of teachers. Several rows of seated teachers were already present forty-five minutes before the meeting began. They had to arrive pretty early to get there….Gosh, aren’t there classes to teach? I also noticed lots of students — [...]
Education Archives
- Dec15
Wake Voters Support New School Board Agenda
In advance of the Wake County School Board meeting scheduled for later today, we went in the field yesterday with a flash poll to gauge Wake County voters’ opinions of the more contentious issues. And the results were pretty surprising. Those issues we thought were supposed contentious really aren’t. The voters are loud and clear [...]
- 1Dec14
Please Stop “Title-Nining” Everything
The Greensboro News-Record printed my letter to the editor on the dangers of Title IX. Check it out here: The Dec. 9 article, “Rockingham schools accused of illegally favoring boys,” by Morgan Glover sheds light on the troubling issue: Title IX. The issue is not discrimination in schools but rather the over-application of feminist-invented and [...]
- Dec11
Kudos to Raleigh Charter School
Congrats to Raleigh Charter School. Earlier this week, U.S. News & World Report named the school the 24th best public high school in the United States (USN&WR High School Rankings). Raleigh Charter School was the highest ranked school in North Carolina. Sixteen other charter schools were counted among the top 100 public high schools nationally. Raleigh Charter School is an [...]
- Dec07
The Noose Around the Neck of Charter Schools Tightens
Last week the State Board of Education adopted rules (See: article) to significantly tighten charter school accountability provisions. The new rules will force charters to close if they fail to meet progress goals or if 60 percent or more of school’s students fail to score at or above grade level on state tests. The tighter [...]
- 7Dec03
3 cheers for the new Wake School Board!
Since Tuesday I have been reading and hearing (including Tuesday night) a steady stream of whining from unions, special interests and supporters of the status-quo about how the newly elected board members were taking actions not supported by the citizens of Wake County. In August Civitas did a poll of voters in the districts that [...]
- Dec02
The Pope Center and Arts Education
Looking for a stimulating discussion for a Thursday lunch? Tomorrow our friends at the Pope Center for Higher Education are sponsoring a Headliner Luncheon Panel Discussion to highlight a new report titled “The UNC School of the Arts: Should it be Self-Supporting?”. Panelists include the author of the report, Max Borders, Executive Editor of the [...]
- Dec01
A Refreshing Take on School “Diversity”
This letter in the N&O offers a perspective on the issue of school diversity efforts that needs wider airing. But in any case, the pursuit of diversity, even if it were to produce a gain for some, requires continuous government coercion. Perhaps it’s an opportune time to ponder on a less intrusive way to boost [...]
- Dec01
UNC-CH Endowment Falls, Admin. Fees Increase
Many college and university endowments have taken a hit from recent economic downturn. Locally, UNC – Chapel Hill lost 20 percent of its value or about $440 million in the last year. Jon King, CEO of UNC Management Company, the entity that oversees UNC Chapel Hill’s investment funds, delivered the news last week during a [...]
- Nov20
Education stimulus funds: Who are they helping?
Today’s fun fact: Federal stimulus money to K-12 public schools in the United States totals $68 billion. That’s $68 billion over and above what the feds normally spend on public education. What are Americans getting for the extra spending? Not much. That’s the conclusion reached by Chester Finn and Frederick Hess in an insightful National Review [...]
- Nov18
Tracking NC Stimulus Money to Strange Places
Our friends at Watchdog.org have done a great job of exposing the shoddy recordkeeping and the awarding of stimulus funds to phantom congressional districts in various states. After reading the story, I did a little digging myself and learned some interesting things about stimulus funds in North Carolina. First, did you know North Carolina has [...]
- Nov13
“Dollars for Grades” fundraiser update
The face behind the “selling grades” fundraiser at Rosewood Middle School in Goldsboro, North Carolina is now retiring. The fundraiser would have allowed students to donate $20 to the school in exchange for 20 extra credit points. Susie Shepherd, the principal, stood behind the fundraiser insisting that the program was not actually selling grades, but merely [...]
- Nov11
Selling Grades? Let’s dig a little deeper
Rosewood Middle School in Goldsboro is in the news for a plan that lets students boost test scores by making a donation to the school (See article). I find this whole episode troubling on several levels, not the least of which is the plan amount to nothing less than selling of grades and teaching young [...]
- Nov11
Grades For Sale
‘Desperate times call for desperate measures’ seems to be the motto at Rosewood Middle School located in Goldsboro, North Carolina. The N&O reports, “A $20 donation to the middle school will get a student 20 test points- 10 extra points on two tests of the student’s choosing. That could raise a B to an A [...]
- Nov05
New Board Members Send the Right Signals
Newly-elected members of the Wake County School Board sent a promising signal to all Wake County taxpayers on Wednesday by demanding the current school board cease all work on the troubled Forest Ridge High School in northeastern Wake County (see article) . Lack of local support and cost overruns have plagued the project. The possibility [...]
- Oct28
If It Walks Like a Duck…
The Daily Tar Heel breaks a story today that UNC President Erskine Bowles leads the board of directors of a real estate development company that just won a no-bid contract from a UNC controlled group to redevelop property in downtown Chapel Hill. UNC-system President Erskine Bowles leads the board of directors of the company that [...]
- 1Oct28
Board of Elections: Truitt Stays on Ballot.
Those of you who thought Cathy Truitt’s decision to drop out of the District 2 runoff election against John Tedesco for Wake County School Board signified victory for conservatives, think again. On a 4-1 vote, yesterday the State Board of Elections moved to let the race go on with Truitt’s name on the ballot. So let’s see now, District 2 [...]
- Oct28
One College’s Spoil, Another’s Treasure?
It seems former North Carolina State Chancellor James Oblinger may be moving on. Oblinger is one of five finalists considered for president of New Mexico State University. Oblinger resigned in June amid ongoing controversy surrounding the hiring and compensation of Mary Easley, the wife of former Gov. Mike Easley (ironically on trial today). Oblinger’s resignation [...]
- Oct28
Day 3 – Easley Hearing (5)
Easley does not remember McQueen requesting payment for home repair work. Easley’s recollection is that Campbell would submit his bills to Barker Management. But, Easley does remember from documents he has reveiwed recently, that Campbell called him in 2005 about a leak and Easley told him to go ahead and get it fixed. He said [...]
- 1Oct23
The Education of Judge Manning
It’s a fraud. That’s what Wake Superior Court Judge Howard Manning called (See Under the Dome) the Department of Public Instruction’s (DPI) practice of not labelling schools where up to sixty percent of the students fail standardized tests as ”low performing”, simply because of year-to-year improvements in student performance (For additional information on DPI Testing click, here.) Manning, who has presided [...]