Terry Stoops

Vice President for Research and Director of Education Studies
Terry Stoops is the Vice President for Research and Director of Education Studies at the John Locke Foundation.

Before joining the Locke Foundation, he worked as the program assistant for the Child Welfare Education Programs at the University of Pittsburgh. After crossing the Mason-Dixon Line, he taught English at Spotsylvania High School and served as an adjunct instructor in professional communication at the University of Mary Washington. He was a research assistant in the Department of Leadership, Foundations, and Policy at the Curry School of Education, University of Virginia.

Stoops earned a bachelor’s degree in speech communication from Clarion University and a master’s degree in Administrative and Policy Studies from the University of Pittsburgh, School of Education. He received a Ph.D. in Social Foundations of Education from the University of Virginia, Curry School of Education.

Posts by Terry Stoops (page 1)

  • Details of education department cuts emerge

    WRAL reports that the State Board of Education approved their initial cuts to the N.C. Department of Public Instruction (DPI) budget.  The $2.5 million in cuts were mandated by the General Assembly in an effort to reduce the state’s sizable public education bureaucracy. Measures that will reduce overhead expenditures…
    Terry Stoops, July 25, 2017

  • Leandro: The Neverending Story

    According to the News & Observer, the Leandro court case is alive and well. Signaling a new era in a long-running public school lawsuit, the two sides in the landmark Leandro case on Monday requested an independent consultant to suggest additional steps to the state to improve education for…
    Terry Stoops, July 25, 2017

  • The frustration of “explaining” an answer on a math test

    This page is from a first-grade math test administered in a North Carolina public school.  At first, it may prompt a chuckle and a thumbs-up for a kiddo who has already learned what it means to “stick it to the man.” But think of how frustrating it must be for…
    Terry Stoops, July 20, 2017

  • Private school enrollment breaks 100,000 student barrier

    Home schools were not the only institutions to see enrollment gains. The Division of Non-Public Education also released private school statistics today.  Private school enrollment reached an all-time high during the 2016-17 school year – 100,585 students.  That was a 2,864 student or 2.9 percent increase since the 2015-16…
    Terry Stoops, July 19, 2017

  • Home school enrollment up 8 percent to 127,847 students

    According to the Division of Non-Public Education, North Carolina home schools educated an estimated 127,847 students during the 2016-17 school year.  The number of home school students increased by 8 percent, and the year-to-year increase was over 9,500 students. Wake County still leads the pack with nearly 12,000 home…
    Terry Stoops, July 19, 2017
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  • Johnson wins but governance questions remain

    On Friday, a three-judge Superior Court panel sided with Superintendent of Public Instruction Mark Johnson in a lawsuit brought by the N.C. State Board of Education over a 2016 General Assembly statute that transferred certain powers from the State Board to the State Superintendent.  The judges delayed Implementation and…
    Terry Stoops, July 17, 2017
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  • Study: Pension changes do not increase teacher turnover

    In an ILR Review study of pension structure and employee turnover, researchers Dan Goldhaber, Cyrus Grout, and Kristian Holden examined turnover among teachers enrolled in either a traditional defined benefit (DB) plan or a hybrid defined benefit-defined contribution (DC) plan offered by the Washington Department of Retirement Services.  The…
    Terry Stoops, July 13, 2017
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  • Teacher compensation average is over $64,500

    The North Carolina Department of Public Instruction released their state allotment information for the 2017-18 school year.  The spreadsheets they provide are chock-full of data. Teacher compensation breaks down like this: $47,034 – salary (based on the 6th pay period of the 2016-17 school year)…
    Terry Stoops, July 11, 2017
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