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August 1-15, 2011, News Archive
8/15/11 Film accuses Koch brothers of resegregating Wake County schools
"A new video from a liberal group is accusing the conservative Koch brothers of having bought the Wake County school board elections in 2009 in an attempt to resegregate the school system."
8/15/11 Perdue stumps on pre-kindergarten services
"Gov. Beverly Perdue is visiting the Outer Banks to boost a new front in her ongoing contest with legislative Republicans over education spending."
8/15/11 Wake school plan is key to campaign
"Wake County schools Superintendent Tony Tata and his staff have spent months crafting a plan to determine where the district's students will attend school in the 2012-13 year, but controversy over the document appears to be far from over."
8/15/11 The leftovers
"For all the talk about how Republicans sliced the state budget to the bone, it turns out there is a source of some additional money, and Gov. Beverly Perdue thinks she has the right plan for it: public education, from the schools to community colleges and the university system."
8/15/11 Ron Margiotta opposing use of achievement-choice schools
"Wake County school board chairman Ron Margiotta is making it even more explicit that he will fight the achievement-choice schools that are a central part of the new choice-based student assignment plan."
8/15/11 How the Koch Brothers Funded Public-School Segregation
"They're definitely pushing an agenda to resegregate these schools, but there's also a real push toward privatization," Sue Sturgis of the Institute for Southern Studies says in the film."
8/15/11 Wake schools' communications chief resigns
"Michael Evans, the man who has been the public face of the Wake County school system for the last nine years, has resigned."
8/14/11 Stop Coddling the Super-Rich
"OUR leaders have asked for "shared sacrifice." But when they did the asking, they spared me. I checked with my mega-rich friends to learn what pain they were expecting. They, too, were left untouched."
8/14/11 CMS, county agree to push for budget info
"Mecklenburg school and county leaders often find themselves at odds over education spending, but some agreed Friday to push lawmakers for better information on the state budget earlier in the year."
8/14/11 Marchers in uptown criticize school system
"Chanting "Segregation has to go" and "No justice, no peace," more than 30 people marched uptown Saturday to protest inequities they see in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools."
8/13/11 Preschool: The best job-training program
When economist James Heckman was studying the effects of job training programs on unskilled young workers, he found a mystery.
8/13/11 Wake board addresses teacher role in algebra enrollment
"Enrollment in middle school Algebra I classes isn't growing fast enough for some Wake County school leaders, who are concerned that teachers are excluding too many academically qualified minority and low-income students."
8/13/11 The smart way
"The rationale for cutting or changing these programs was seriously flawed."
8/13/11 Fellows not political
"Teacher effectiveness and retention data support maintaining the program. Luebke downplays the fact that 60 percent of Fellows over the past 20 years are still in the field compared with a wash-out rate of nearly 40 percent of all teachers yearly. Help me here: Stronger teachers and higher retention rates!"
8/13/11 Civitas logic
"Robert Luebke's Aug. 10 letter on the Teaching Fellows Program reminded me of an argument one of my children presented after having misrepresented a situation."
8/13/11 Auctioning "priceless" dinners with Ron Margiotta, John Tedesco and Heather Losurdo
"How much would you pay to have dinner with Wake County school board chairman Ron Margiotta, school board vice chairman John Tedesco or school board candidate Heather Losurdo?"
8/12/11 With filing, all Wake school board races competitive
"The move ensures that each of the five board races this fall will have Republican and Democratic candidates."
http://www.newsobserver.com/2011/08/12/1406546/with-filing-all-wake-scho...
8/12/11 Garner politely peppers Tata with school concerns
"Wake County Schools Superintendent Tony Tata got a courteous, small-town welcome in Garner on Thursday, but residents weren't too polite to ask the hard questions."
8/12/11 Just fluff
"Stop whining about cutting out our Governor's Schools, Teaching Fellows and other high-brow education fads.
8/12/11 Tony Tata on trying to avoid cutting teaching positions
"Wake County Schools Superintendent Tony Tata is talking about why he felt the need to cut clerical, custodial and Central Office positions in this year's budget."
8/12/11 CMS had 11 test breaches
"Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools investigated 11 reports that teachers or other employees acted improperly during state testing last year. Only one, at Lake Wylie Elementary, involved a staffer trying to help students get answers right, the district's top testing official said Thursday."
8/12/11 14 file to run for Wake County school board
"Fourteen people will compete this fall for five seats on the Wake County Board of Education."
8/11/11 Donna Williams files for Wake County school board seat
"Donna Williams, a Republican activist and opponent of the old busing for socioeconomic diversity policy, filed today to run for the District 6 seat on the Wake County school board."
8/11/11 Tony Tata to discuss student assignment today
"How much new info, if any, will Wake County Superintendent Tony Tata give today on the emerging details of the new student assignment plan?"
8/11/11 Republicans fill out Wake school board slate, profess love for Tata too
"The Wake County Republican Party is making no bones about it. As far as they're concerned, it's great if the non-partisan school board elections are partisan."
8/11/11 New Wake student assignment plan remains under review
"Wake County schools Superintendent Tony Tata said on Thursday that the financial implications of the new student assignment plan remains under review."
8/10/11 Smart Start cuts hit in Wake
"A literacy program for young children, aid to families with premature infants and a project that helps children with developmental delays - all supported by Smart Start - have been cut in Wake County as the organization retrenches to deal with state budget cuts."
8/10/11 Perdue order adds to NC pre-kindergarten battle
"Gov. Beverly Perdue waded into a long-running battle over education funding Wednesday by ordering a state agency to accept all eligible 4-year-olds into a kindergarten prep program and without easing previous academic standards."
8/10/11 Gov. Perdue issues executive order to protect More at Four program
"North Carolina Governor Bev Perdue issued an executive order Wednesday to protect the More at Four program."
8/9/11 CMS goal: Hire leader in March
"The Charlotte-Mecklenburg school board plans to hire a superintendent in March, to get ahead of the annual spring shuffle among school-district leaders."
8/9/11 In Tata we trust-II: Wake Dems get with Tony, say Repubs aren't
"Two months ago, I posted "In Tata we trust?" - note the question mark. The gist of it was, Wake Schools Superintendent Tony Tata's Blue Plan for student assignment seemed like a reasonable path out of the muck that the school system's been sunk in since the '09 elections ... and Tata, the former general, was a refreshing, surprising success as the supe."
8/9/11 Pre-K predicament
"The judge who has been in charge of seeing that North Carolina's school children are properly served under the state constitution warned that there must be no slacking off in efforts to help "at risk" four-year-olds. But the General Assembly went and did it anyway."
8/9/11 Suffering, jobless
"As other industrialized nations continue to leap ahead of the U.S. in quality of education, are we now placing the opportunity for learning as a burden to the recipient?"
8/9/11 Graduation rates jump for CMS minority students
"Graduation rates rose significantly for Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools' black, Hispanic and low-income students in 2011, an important gain in a district where those groups make up a growing majority of students."
8/8/11 Grassroots group seeing improvement in Knightdale schools
"The issue of student assignment in the Wake County Public School System has gotten national attention and triggered major changes in leadership."
8/7/11 Sinking our schools
"What this session of the General Assembly has shown us is that even though building a ship is a slow process, sinking it can be done rather quickly."
8/6/11 Good program
"As a Yankee who moved to the Old North State because of its progressive culture, I am devastated to witness the Republican-controlled legislature lay waste to excellent programs that formed the heart and soul of North Carolina's public education system."
8/6/11 Countering the cuts
"Cuts to teacher fellows, drop-out prevention, teacher development and training programs, classroom supplies and supports and so many other areas of education are a call to action for all North Carolinians."8/6/11 Huge achievement gaps persist in
D.C. schools
"The gulf in academic achievement separating public schools in the District's poorest neighborhoods from those in its most affluent has narrowed slightly in some instances but remains vast, an analysis of 2011 test score data show."
8/5/11 Worst school reform pitches
"So, teachers, remember when you were first told that "high expectations" and an unflinching focus on instruction would be enough to overcome the effects of poverty and trauma?"
8/5/11 Tennessee schools dispute pits 'haves' against 'have-nots'
"School districts around the nation are being buffeted by turmoil and uncertainty, but nowhere are those forces more powerful than in this Mississippi River city."
8/5/11 Venita Peyton files candidacy for Wake County school board
"Peyton, a registered Republican, will challenge Democratic incumbent school board member Keith Sutton for the seat that covers Southeast Raleigh."
8/5/11 Graduations on rise, but more N.C. schools lag
"In the face of continuing budget cuts, North Carolina's public schools showed mixed results this year, with more students graduating from high school but fewer schools meeting state and federal targets for academic achievement."
8/5/11 Good report card
"Six months ago, Tony Tata arrived for his first day of work as Wake County's new school superintendent.Given the school board majority's ideological expectations for Tata and the unstable situation he faced on Feb. 1, Tata deserves praise."
8/5/11 F for accountability
"If you think getting teachers is difficult now, just wait until you standardize all the grading ("Homework done on grade policy," Aug. 2 news article pertaining to Wake County)."
8/4/11 Students could be required to take ACT tests next year
"North Carolina's 11th-graders would be required to take the ACT college-admissions test next spring under a new testing regimen the State Board of Education discussed Wednesday."
8/4/11 N.C. will release student test scores today
"State school officials on Thursday release the annual ABCs of Public Education report, which shows how students performed on end-of-grade and end-of-course tests taken in grades 3 through 12. Schools will be named as highest and lowest performers."
8/4/11 Graduation rates increase for North Carolina schools
"More North Carolina public school students are graduating from high school and passing state exams but fewer schools met state academic improvement standards or federal No Child Left Behind requirements."
8/4/11 Fewer fellows
"The damage from the General Assembly's budget decisions will spool out over the coming years as thousands more schoolchildren move through the classrooms where their success, or lack of success, will influence the future course of their lives."
8/4/11 CMS schools meet goals, but many see scores fall
"State test scores released today show almost 90 percent of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools met their academic growth goals, but many poorer and inner-city schools continue to struggle."
8/3/11 Wake school board weighs homework, attendance
"How well Wake County students do on exams could soon influence their grades far more than whether they do their work on time, come to class or how much they do their homework."
8/3/11 Charter schools polish plans
"These are days full of hope for potential charter school operators who see their chances for starting new schools blossoming."
8/3/11 NC readies for pre-kindergarten storm
"North Carolina's effort to prepare all 4-year-olds to compete in school is readying for what may be thousands of newcomers and a potential problem paying for a program legislative Republicans wanted to cut by 20 percent."
8/2/11 Wake board to hear proposals on grade policy
"The way Wake County students are graded could be overhauled with far-reaching changes - such as reducing the role of homework and the penalty for handing it in work late - under a proposal being presented to the school board."
8/2/11 Misery in perspective
"Our educational deficiencies will not be solved by merely adding days to the school calendar as long as getting an education is considered suffering. Until we truly value learning and see it as a worthwhile endeavor, we will continue to lag behind other countries and fail to meet our own educational goals."
8/2/11 NC charter schools seeking capital funds lose case
"North Carolina's Court of Appeals is telling charter schools seeking taxpayer money to buy and maintain their buildings and buses to take it up with lawmakers."
8/2/11 Gates-funded poll shows broad support for CMS reforms
"However, 86 percent said such a plan should factor in more than just student achievement. The poll found deep skepticism about testing: just 53 percent of residents agreed that standardized tests are a proven indicator of academic achievement. Forty-five percent disagreed."
8/2/11 Wake cuts more school jobs
"The Wake County School Board cut dozens of custodial jobs Tuesday night without further discussion. The reduction in force was approved with several other items as part of the consent agenda."
8/1/11 Money flows into Wake schools race
"With elections 2 1/2 months away, groups hoping to wrest control from the Republican majority on the Wake County school board have raised more than $85,000 - an early sign of a highly competitive campaign season."
8/1/11 Inexcusable Inequalities! This is NOT the post funding equity era!
"I'm sick of hearing, from pundits who've never run a number themselves and have merely passed along copies of the meaningless NCES Table showing national average spending in high poverty districts slightly greater than that for lower poverty ones."
