education reform

This study synthesizes findings from 888 articles published since 1990. Based on these, we can say that in recent years North Carolina has been moving in the right direction on school reform. Policymakers should continue the momentum and resist attempts to backtrack.

Click here to view and here to listen to Dr. Terry Stoops discussing this Spotlight report. RALEIGH — North Carolina should dump certification and licensing rules that place…

Teacher-certification requirements are among the most onerous rules enforced by state education agencies and have the potential seriously to limit the scope, quality, and accessibility of virtual schooling for years to come.

A 2004 study on the academic impact and effectiveness of charter schools in North Carolina authored for the Terry Sanford Institute by Robert Bifulco and Helen Ladd reached some harsh conclusions regarding the performance of the charter schools. Using three different models that compare state end-of-grade (EOG) test scores for regular public school students and charter school students, Bifulco and Ladd conclude that North Carolina charter schools are not only failing to improve their students' academic performance, but are actually hurting it.

RALEIGH — Two new studies from the North Carolina Education Alliance shed light on the state’s national ranking in teacher compensation and differences among state school districts in student performance.

Education reform in North Carolina has a long history, but has shown mixed results at best. Despite recent improvements in some test scores, the state's public schools still deliver poor-quality services at excessive cost to large segments of the student population. Under the state's new ABC plan, nearly half of all public schools in 1996-97 failed to provide a year's worth of educational progress for a year's schooling. Only 26 percent of N.C. 4th-graders are proficient in reading and 21 percent are proficient in math.

RALEIGH — North Carolina school districts and local officials should pursue new ways to build, renovate, and operate public schools to avoid tax increases, say the authors of a new…