Over the last few years, the largest obstacles and tallest hurdles concerning giving exams dealt with technological issues. That’s because a vast majority of them were online. Knock out the Ethernet connections to a couple of buildings, have a bad connection in another building, and then some scattered wireless availability in a couple of other buildings, then a school can experience an immediate logistical nightmare. And that’s before students even begin taking the actual tests. We have a political environment bent on making technology the pathway to “personalized” instruction and a lawmaker ..read more

As the North Carolina General Assembly gathers for a new session, it has already been hinted that vouchers will be expanded yet again. NC has the least transparent voucher system in the country. Additionally, vouchers hurt public schools. And here in NC, most vouchers go to church-run/religious schools. And many of them really want that money. From last fall: In recent decades, both churches and youth have faced significant challenges. Across the board, church attendance has seen a decline, particularly among young people. Additionally, many teens who do attend church drift away after gra ..read more

When an NC lawmaker makes a claim about how well he has treated public education, the whole story may not be told – only a glossy version. In this season of electioneering, it is important to know that the biggest part of the iceberg is under the water level where most people do not look. Consider the following claims: 1. “We are now spending more on public education than we ever have before. In fact, the new budget has much more.” Well, that is true. We are spending more money on education as a whole. But why is our per pupil expenditure still lagging behind earlier years? Say in 2008, a scho ..read more

Below is a table that tallies the top step salaries for teachers with a Master’s Degree in North Carolina without adjustment for inflation. It starts with 2006-2007 school year. Imagine being a teacher who starts in each of those years looking at the salary schedule to see what could be possible when you reach the last part of a career in education. The figures below represent the maximum according to its published year. If you earn a graduate degree and started that program after 2014, you will no longer be able get graduate degree pay. Only those who earned a master’s or above before the cut ..read more

It’s not a surprise at all. In fact, it was expected and it helps to set up what happens after her term expires. That press release reads: Rep. Tricia Cotham has been appointed chair of the House Education Appropriations Committee to oversee education appropriations, the largest area of the state budget. This esteemed leadership position is a testament to her dedication, expertise, and unwavering commitment to enhancing education in our state. Rep. Cotham is a former teacher and assistant principal of East Mecklenburg and Independence High Schools and Northeast Middle School. Her experience ..read more

Funny that Michele Morrow continues to “care” about the teachers in NC public schools that she never wanted her own kids to be around in the first place. Having seen her earlier posts from a deleted account, it just makes this recent tweet seem nothing more than sanitized bullsh*t. Furthermore, trying to capitalize off an incident involving a teacher being assaulted at school for electioneering purposes begs her to explain some of her earlier statements about public education. “It’s time to treat teachers like the professionals they are. As superintendent, my top priority is to restore civil ..read more

Think of all of the factors that affect how well public schools can operate. Now take all of those factors and divide them up by who is responsible for them: elected officials and teachers. Here is the distribution: Actually there is one under the teachers column. If you want to blame teachers for the current status of public education, then you are blaming the wrong people. If anything, teachers and other educators in our public schools are the ones keeping our schools working ..read more

Funny that Michele Morrow continues to “care” about the teachers in NC public schools that she never wanted her own kids to be around in the first place. Having seen her earlier posts from a deleted account, it just makes this recent tweet seem nothing more than sanitized bullsh*t. Furthermore, trying to capitalize off an incident involving a teacher being assaulted at school for electioneering purposes begs her to explain some of her earlier statements about public education. “It’s time to treat teachers like the professionals they are. As superintendent, my top priority is to restore civil ..read more

What happened yesterday at a high school in my district should shock all people. But what should shock people even more is that this is becoming a more and more common occurrence in which students physically confront educators and school officials who are performing their duties. A video of the incident went viral almost immediately. Students at my school were viewing it by the end of the school day and sharing with others. Posts about it on social media were almost as immediate. And then many people weighed in with both skewed and open-minded comments. Of course, it can be seized upon for el ..read more

Many have asked me over the years if a teacher can be a school board member and still be in the classroom. At least in my LEA, one cannot. Many teachers over the years have run for positions on the school board, but each has had to stipulate that he/she would step away from the classroom to serve. That should not be the case. If anything, CRT hoaxes, indoctrination witch hunts, and other conspiracy theories have shown that many school boards are not really listened to teachers. People can say that a teacher is too involved in the school system to view it from different angles and through diver ..read more