A research brief from curriculum publisher Amplify shows that elementary school students continue to lag behind in literacy almost two years into the COVID-19 pandemic. The mid-school-year assessment concluded that students in kindergarten, first grade, and second grade are the furthest behind compared to their pre-pandemic counterparts. Black and Hispanic students are bearing the brunt...
A new report is shedding light on the academic, social, and mental-health damage caused by school closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A McKinsey & Co. report released Tuesday, July 27, examined test scores for 1.6 million elementary school students across 40 states in spring 2021 and contrasted the results with scores for students before...
While state lawmakers wrestle with establishing a biennial budget, a bill previously passed by the General Assembly, and signed into law, takes effect Thursday, July 1: the Excellent Public Schools Act of 2021. The act modifies the implementation of read-to-achieve programs, including changes to reading instruction in North Carolina public elementary school classrooms, with the...
I spent several days with three students who are, by mandate from the governor and the Mecklenburg County school board, learning at home. Hayden, Stephen, and Caroline are in the third, sixth, and eighth grades, respectively. Their mom, Hillary, who is single, started a new job in September and is working from home. Here’s what...
North Carolina ranks 12th in the nation for how it prepares teachers to teach children to read, a new report shows. It’s a sign the state is finally discarding outdated teaching techniques that hurt child literacy, said Terry Stoops, vice president of research and director of education studies at the John Locke Foundation. But there’s...
The January meeting of the N.C. State Board of Education ran late into the evening, but it concluded with a tense discussion between the board and State Superintendent Mark Johnson. Johnson was at a conference in Washington, D.C., during the board’s Wednesday, Jan. 8 meeting. But the superintendent had time to phone members during a...
Editor’s note: This story has been updated with additional news and comment A court has rejected an attempt by the N.C. Department of Public Instruction and Istation for it to intervene in a dispute over a K-3 reading tool contract. On Tuesday, Jan. 7, Wake County Superior Court Judge Mary Ann Tally said the court...
The N.C. State Board of Education is starting the new year with a discussion on Read to Achieve standards and the annual charter school report. State Superintendent Mark Johnson will lead a presentation Wednesday, Jan. 8, on Read to Achieve. The state board is in charge of implementing the program. Things could get tense. Read...
Newly released school performance grades show reading scores have remained stagnant despite millions spent on reading interventions. The N.C. State Board of Education in its monthly meeting Wednesday, Sept. 4, released the 2018-19 Accountability and School Performance Grades report. The report includes test data for a variety of subjects, school growth data, and the number...
Three days. Three vetoes. Gov. Roy Cooper announced late Friday, Aug. 23, that he vetoed Senate Bill 438, the Excellent Public School Act of 2019. Wednesday he vetoed House Bill 370, a measure requiring local law officers to cooperate with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials who have issued detention orders on illegal immigrants who...
More money and iPads are coming to K-3 classrooms to bolster literacy instruction, but critics question the methods used to improve reading scores. The Department of Public Instruction will make an additional $400 available to all K-3 classrooms for literacy instruction. The department will also send out more iPads so that every K-3 classroom has...
