A press conference advertised as focusing on principal pay and a shortage of well-qualified teachers was used by Democratic lawmakers to criticize school choice. The position puts Democrats at odds with a solid majority of North Carolinians, who support the concept of school choice according to polling this spring that found 72% of voters support...
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Catherine Truitt has proposed a solution to the principal pay gap in North Carolina — use COVID-19 relief funds to bridge the gap.
The head of the John Locke Foundation’s Center for Effective Education found himself in “Twitter jail” Wednesday. Terry Stoops faced that penalty after exposing discussion topics at a national teachers’ union’s annual meeting. Thousands of teachers and activists are wrapping up a week of meetings in Chicago for the National Education Association annual meeting. While...
This month, North Carolinians will celebrate the silver anniversary of North Carolina’s charter school law. It is a time to celebrate and reflect on how far the movement has come over the last 25 years. A unique set of circumstances allowed the passage of North Carolina’s charter school law. In 1994, North Carolina Republicans benefited...
Congress is working toward a third major COVID-19 relief bill including provisions tackling economic and education challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s a good start, said Terry Stoops, vice president of research and director of education studies at the John Locke Foundation. But more may be needed down the line. Schools across the country...
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 It’s a sign the state is finally discarding outdated teaching techniques that hurt child literacy, said Terry Stoops, vice president of research and director of education studies at the John Locke Foundation.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...
[This story has been updated with additional comments] Gov. Roy Cooper has vetoed a bill that would allow a low-performing virtual charter school to add students. Senate Bill 392 contains a provision that would lift the maximum student enrollment cap for one of the state’s two virtual charter schools, N.C. Virtual Academy. Under the bill,...
Out-of-state teachers will have an easier time getting licensed in North Carolina. The State Board of Education voted Thursday, April 4, to allow out-of-state teachers to become licensed in North Carolina if they have already passed a licensing test in their home states. Now, North Carolina only accepts out-of-state teachers who have taken tests identical...
Democratic lawmakers are looking to change school performance grades by providing separate marks for achievement and growth. Mecklenburg Democrats Sens. Joyce Waddell, Natasha Marcus, and Mujtaba Mohammed introduced Senate Bill 176 on Monday, March 4. A similar bill was filed in the House on Feb. 28. Mecklenburg Democratic Reps. Kelly Alexander, Nasif Majeed, and John...
A new bipartisan bill would restore master’s degree and doctoral pay for some public school teachers in the state. In 2013, lawmakers cut that extra pay, but Senate Bill 28 would restore master’s pay to teachers who obtain a degree in the subject they’re teaching. Introduced by Sens. Danny Britt, R-Robeson, and Rick Horner, R-Wilson,...
The 2018 ACT scores are in, and they don’t paint a pretty picture. North Carolina graduates continue to score below national averages, and the percentage of graduates meeting math and English college readiness scores are trending down. Readiness levels in math and English have been trending downward since 2014. The results are based on the...
