Opinion
On schools and sports, follow evidence
The relationship between graduate study and teacher effectiveness is one of the most frequently studied issues in education policy.
Opinion
Cities differ on public safety tech
The police department in Winston-Salem uses a commercial product called ShotSpotter, a network of audio sensors and software, to identify possible incidents of gunfire and ensure a faster response to them. Since its implementation in 2021, the system appears to have reduced the number of aggravated assaults and saved at least two lives of gunshot...
Opinion
Outrageous story of the week: Rationalia returns
In 2016, popular physicist Neil deGrasse Tyson set the internet on fire with a single tweet: He was raked over the coals for days, weeks, for suggesting that a country could be ruled by scientists and their “factual” proclamations. Tyson even expounded further on the idea in a video, where he said that because people...
Opinion
Don’t backslide on teacher pay reform
Restoring teacher-pay bumps for graduate degrees would be a triumph of special-interest pressure over sound policy, of image over substance, of hope over experience.
Opinion
Evidence ought to shape policy
Of the more than a hundred studies published since 1990 that tested the relationship between advanced degrees and teacher effectiveness, more than 80 percent found no link.
Opinion
Getting policy right takes time
After thousands of low-income students were randomly assigned to the pre-K program or to a control group, program participants showed some academic gains at first — but by the third grade the benefits disappeared.
Opinion
Turning data into action to boost low-income math whizzes
It seems reasonable to expect that public school students who achieve the highest-level scores on standardized math tests ought to get the first shot at placement in advanced math classes the following year. A measure moving through the General Assembly would turn that reasonable expectation into state law. The story starts in May 2017. The...
Opinion
Measuring value added is essential
Some North Carolina teachers have strongly objected to the use of value-added assessments for evaluating schools, instructional practices, and teachers themselves.
Opinion
Look Before You Leap
If you are involved in North Carolina politics because you want to create a perfect government for a perfect state, you need to cultivate other interests.
Opinion
Research Guides Policy Initiatives
To the extent Gov. McCrory and state lawmakers can reform the state tax code, North Carolina’s economy will likely show immediate, significant improvement.
Opinion
Translating Studies Into English
Differences in definitions, variables, and study design help to explain why academic studies conducted by honest, ethical scholars often reach different conclusions.
Opinion
Still Don’t Want to Know
If North Carolina lawmakers had listened to advice before, they would not have squandered hundreds of millions of dollars on a pointless exercise.
