About: Terry Stoops

According to the Fiscal Research Division of the N.C. General Assembly, Governor McCrory and state legislators have authorized the following average pay increases for teachers over the last four years: 2013-14: 0% 2014-15: 7% average 2015-16: 3.8% average with bonus and 2.2% without bonus 2016-17: 4.7% average Total (cumulative average): 15.5% (with bonus) or 13.9%Continue Reading

Another “must read” from Thomas Sowell. A big “favor” the Obama administration is offering blacks today is exemption from school behavior rules that have led to a rate of disciplining of black male students that is greater than the rate of disciplining of other categories of students. Is it impossible that black males misbehave inContinue Reading

Wallethub released their “2016’s Best & Worst States for Teachers” ranking and North Carolina jumped six spots to 44th in the nation. The site’s ranking methodology never made any sense to me, so I refuse to link to the page. Google it, if you are so inclined, or just wait for the politicos to beginContinue Reading

The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) released a report last week that examines postsecondary coursetaking between 2003 and 2009. The report indicates just how few high school graduates are prepared for college-level coursework, particularly in math. The NCES study does not included state-level data or analyses.  For more information on remediation rates in NorthContinue Reading

“State Standards Scratch the Surface of Learning about Political Parties and Ideology” is a working paper published by the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning & Engagement (CIRCLE). Researchers Paula McAvoy, Rebecca Fine, and Ann Herrera Ward examined social studies standards for each state and found that only eight, Arizona, Hawaii, Indiana, NewContinue Reading

The Center for American Progress just published, “Educator Pipeline at Risk: Teacher Labor Markets After the Great Recession.”  Researchers Lisette Partelow and Christina Baumgardner examined enrollment trends in teacher education programs and found that in all but three states, Washington, New Hampshire, and Utah, institutions of higher education are seeing fewer students pursuing a teachingContinue Reading

E-Rate has been around since passage of the 1996 Telecommunications Act.  Since the passage of the law, the federal government has disseminated over $25 billion in E-Rate subsidies to states.  Over the last decade or so, much of the E-Rate funding has been used to expand broadband Internet access in schools, largely based on theContinue Reading

The N.C. Department of Public Instruction has published the first in a series of guides to understanding legal documents from Mexico. The audience for the PowerPoint and Word documents is school staff who input data into the statewide student information system. But I learned a great deal by reading it, including the parts of aContinue Reading