Stoops

The UNC system has initiated few efforts to strengthen teacher-education programs. UNC universities should use their power as charter-school authorizers to create on-site demonstration or laboratory charter schools to improve teacher-education programs.

RALEIGH – The University of North Carolina could boost its teacher-training programs by starting charter schools at most UNC campuses. That’s the key recommendation in a new John Locke Foundation…

Elected officials in Durham, Gaston, Macon, Mecklenburg, and Moore counties are asking voters to approve school construction bonds that will increase an already high tax burden on low and middle income homeowners in these counties. Local governments have failed to implement the full range of school facilities alternatives and strategies that could accommodate enrollment growth without imposing additional taxes and long-term debt on taxpayers.

What follows is the minority report I submitted to the Wake County Citizens’ Facilities Advisory Committee on Thursday, September 13, 2007. Although I am a member of that committee, the chairs of the committee, John Mabe and Billie Redmond, denied my request to have this report included with the final committee report.

RALEIGH – A Wake County school facilities study group has ignored research data that could help taxpayers save millions of dollars while building new schools more efficiently. The John Locke…

RALEIGH – Public school students in North Carolina face a growing number of course options, regardless of federal No Child Left Behind standards. That’s a key finding in a new…

In the era of No Child Left Behind, students have not been discouraged from enrolling in courses other than language arts and mathematics. Both the number of class periods and the number of students enrolled in most courses has increased in concert with enrollment growth. Nevertheless, elementary foreign languages and middle school health and physical education courses have been on the decline.

RALEIGH – North Carolina cannot fix its ailing public school systems by mandating longer school days or a longer school year. That’s the conclusion in a new John Locke Foundation…

There is no consistent relationship between in-school instructional time in mathematics and a nation’s average score on an international mathematics test. Researchers from Pennsylvania State University concluded that there was no statistically significant correlation between instructional time in math, science, reading, and civics and test scores on international assessments of those subjects.

RALEIGH – Charter, private, and home school students have saved N.C. taxpayers nearly $900 million in school building costs since 2000. That’s a key finding in a new John Locke…