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As state education officials consider changes to the state testing program, they will have to balance the need for accountability with the desire for autonomy. Are they on the right track?
Published: Friday, February 13th, 2015 @ 6:22 am
By: John Locke Foundation
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For the first time, the state has assigned letter grades to each public school in North Carolina. The grades are designed to allow parents and taxpayers to be better informed about the performance of public schools in their areas and statewide.
Published: Tuesday, February 10th, 2015 @ 4:50 pm
By: John Locke Foundation
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Niche.com, Inc. is a Pittsburgh, PA-based company that evaluates and ranks K-12 schools, colleges, cities, and neighborhoods. They recently released their 2015 ranking of public schools and school districts in each state, as well as a national ranking of private and public schools and districts.
Published: Thursday, January 29th, 2015 @ 8:56 am
By: John Locke Foundation
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In 1959, the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (N.C. DPI) published a guide to observing "special days" in the state's public schools. Inspired by N.C. DPI's "Observance of Special Days" guide, I think our public elementary schools should reexamine the idea of dedicating certain...
Published: Friday, January 23rd, 2015 @ 12:26 am
By: John Locke Foundation
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What better way to begin 2015 than to discuss per-pupil expenditures for our K-12 public schools? According to the N.C. Department of Public Instruction, the state increased its average expenditure by around $200 a student for the 2014-2015 school year. At this time next year we will be able to...
Published: Wednesday, January 21st, 2015 @ 9:16 pm
By: John Locke Foundation
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Over half of students who graduated in 2013 and subsequently enrolled in a North Carolina community college took one or more remedial or "developmental" courses in math and/or English.
Published: Monday, January 19th, 2015 @ 7:45 pm
By: John Locke Foundation
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I am pleased to see folks reflecting on the status of youth sports. As a parent of two elementary school students, I have seen the successes and failures of sports programs in my community.
Published: Saturday, January 3rd, 2015 @ 9:54 am
By: John Locke Foundation
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State legislators should be congratulated for eliminating the 100-school cap on charters and tweaking the charter school law over the last four years. North Carolina's charter school community is thriving thanks to their work.
Published: Monday, December 29th, 2014 @ 9:17 pm
By: John Locke Foundation
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This week's CommenTerry is an election wrap-up with a focus on education issues. I mean, seriously, what else did you expect?
Published: Sunday, December 28th, 2014 @ 9:45 am
By: Stan Deatherage
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The Annual Report on Teachers Leaving the Profession is here!
Published: Friday, December 5th, 2014 @ 3:26 pm
By: John Locke Foundation
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As part of her effort make healthy eating look cool, First Lady Michelle Obama recently posted of short video of herself dancing to a hip-hop song with a turnip in hand.
Published: Friday, November 28th, 2014 @ 9:03 pm
By: Stan Deatherage
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After state legislators approved a ten percent reduction to the N.C. Department of Public Instruction's (DPI) $70 million budget, state education officials and their boosters sounded the alarm.
Published: Tuesday, November 11th, 2014 @ 5:54 pm
By: John Locke Foundation
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Nothing undercuts the enjoyment of watching football (Go Steelers!) on a Sunday afternoon more than tiresome political ads, particularly those pro-Kay Hagan ads that employ "political sleight of hand" to substantiate claims of funding cuts to public education in North Carolina.
Published: Sunday, October 5th, 2014 @ 4:00 pm
By: John Locke Foundation
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In 1781, Lieutenant General Charles Cornwallis of the British Army defeated Major General Nathanael Greene in a brief but critical Revolutionary War skirmish later known as the Battle of the Guilford Court House.
Published: Thursday, October 2nd, 2014 @ 1:05 am
By: John Locke Foundation
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One would think that the process of comparing and reporting test scores would be a straightforward matter. In North Carolina, state standardized testing is anything but straightforward.
Published: Monday, September 15th, 2014 @ 12:44 am
By: John Locke Foundation
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School accountability comes in two forms -- parental choice and testing.
Published: Tuesday, September 9th, 2014 @ 4:39 pm
By: John Locke Foundation
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Have recent education reform measures approved by the N.C. General Assembly discouraged college students in our state from entering the teaching profession? Some folks seem to think so. In this week's CommenTerry, I take a closer look at the issue.
Published: Monday, September 1st, 2014 @ 2:45 pm
By: John Locke Foundation
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As of this morning, the North Carolina Public Schools Application System (NCPSAS) listed nearly 1,300 traditional public school job openings.
Published: Tuesday, August 26th, 2014 @ 8:07 am
By: John Locke Foundation
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Are teachers receiving a pay increase?
Published: Wednesday, August 6th, 2014 @ 8:20 pm
By: John Locke Foundation
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I have been discussing teacher pay rankings for years. In fact, three years ago I wrote a newsletter piece titled, Education spending in North Carolina: The ranking problem. In that piece, I outlined the major problems associated with the National Education Association (NEA) rankings of teacher...
Published: Sunday, August 3rd, 2014 @ 9:50 am
By: John Locke Foundation
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This week, the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank located in D.C., released a new report on educational productivity. This study attempts to gauge the effectiveness of school district spending, that is, "bang for the buck."
Published: Sunday, July 20th, 2014 @ 9:12 am
By: John Locke Foundation
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Standardized testing for public school students concluded last month, but the debate about the state's accountability system continues.
Published: Thursday, July 17th, 2014 @ 12:29 pm
By: John Locke Foundation
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I have numerous pieces of legislation, including the state budget, on my radar, but here are a few key ones.
Published: Sunday, July 6th, 2014 @ 2:27 pm
By: John Locke Foundation
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The N.C. Senate proposed reducing the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) budget by 30 percent, while their counterparts in the House proposed a 1 percent cut.
Published: Wednesday, July 2nd, 2014 @ 12:53 am
By: John Locke Foundation
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I was having a decent morning yesterday until I saw the latest television ad by Senate Majority PAC, the same outfit that disseminated ridiculous claims about North Carolina's tax reforms.
Published: Saturday, June 28th, 2014 @ 12:04 am
By: John Locke Foundation
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The mainstream media is reporting that the Houston Independent School District will hold a job fair in Raleigh later this week. The folks from Houston promise on-the-spot hiring and a starting salary of $46,805.
Published: Tuesday, June 24th, 2014 @ 3:01 pm
By: John Locke Foundation
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In February, I published a column titled, "Data Do Not Reflect Claims of Teacher Dissatisfaction," which pointed out that state and national data disagree with those who claim that the teaching profession is increasingly constrained and unhappy.
Published: Tuesday, June 17th, 2014 @ 6:37 pm
By: John Locke Foundation
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Where does the money for our K-12 public schools come from? You.
Published: Thursday, June 12th, 2014 @ 1:16 pm
By: Stan Deatherage
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For years teachers have felt frustrated because they believe they are underpaid for a mentally and physically demanding job.
Published: Tuesday, May 27th, 2014 @ 12:52 am
By: John Locke Foundation
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The U.S. Department of Education has collected data on teacher shortage areas since the early 1990s.
Published: Sunday, May 25th, 2014 @ 12:05 pm
By: John Locke Foundation
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In 2013, the N.C. General Assembly established the North Carolina Educator Effectiveness and Compensation Task Force to "make recommendations on whether to create a statewide model of incentives to encourage the recruitment and retention of highly effective educators and to consider the transition t
Published: Friday, May 9th, 2014 @ 12:49 am
By: John Locke Foundation
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In 2012, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) assessed the problem solving skills of a representative sample of 85,000 15-year-olds worldwide, including 1,273 from the United States.
Published: Sunday, April 27th, 2014 @ 9:39 am
By: John Locke Foundation
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Martin "Marty" Cooper was the Motorola engineer who spearheaded the development of an invention that most Americans cannot live without -- the handheld mobile phone.
Published: Saturday, April 19th, 2014 @ 1:09 pm
By: John Locke Foundation
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Speaking directly to our elected officials is a privilege that citizens often take for granted.
Published: Sunday, March 30th, 2014 @ 10:15 pm
By: John Locke Foundation
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