About: Terry Stoops

The October 2013 draft report, “The Distribution of Teacher Value Added in North Carolina” (PDF) by Douglas L. Lauen, Gary T. Henry, Roderick A. Rose, and Karen Phelan Kozlowski of the Carolina Institute for Public Policy at UNC-CH found that the following school districts had the best teachers, as measured by value-added scores: Ashe CountyContinue Reading

Whenever you read a story about the latest teacher turnover report – and there are quite of few of them out there – remember one fact.  The NC Department of Public Instruction (DPI) released a teacher turnover report last month that was completely different than the one released this month.  As I wrote earlier thisContinue Reading

After hearing that the North Carolina General Assembly raised per pupil and overall spending on K-12 education, liberals objected, saying that the increases do not keep up with inflation.  It is the only play they have after spending months claiming that the legislature slashed education funding. But perhaps my friends on the left are onContinue Reading

During the 2012-13 school year, charter schools spent $500 per student less than districts.  According to NC Department of Public Instruction data, the average expenditure for district schools was $8,514.21 per student.  The average charter expenditure was $8,013.77 per student.  Neither per student expenditure figure includes capital expenditures. Districts spent an average of $594.92 perContinue Reading

Despite a significant decrease in federal funding, K-12 education spending in North Carolina broke the $12 billion mark last year, according to the NC Department of Public Instruction. School Year State Sources Federal Sources Local Sources Total 2012-2013  $7,706,801,545  $1,470,124,139  $2,975,235,140  $12,152,160,824 2011-2012  $7,599,573,456  $1,675,408,103  $2,683,319,423  $11,958,300,982 2010-2011  $7,277,494,587  $1,909,891,466  $2,675,887,290  $11,863,273,343  

According to data recently released by the NC Department of Public Instruction, state, local, and total per pupil expenditures (PPE) increased last year. State funding increased slightly, $38.23 per student, while federal funding dropped by over $150 per student.  Counties upped their per student expenditure significantly, $191.51 per student.  All told, the state’s per pupilContinue Reading

The following is a list of education systems that scored higher than the United States on the 2012 International Student Assessment (PISA) reading test: Shanghai-China 570 Hong Kong-China 545 Singapore 542 Japan 538 Korea, Republic of 536 Finland 524 Ireland 523 Chinese Taipei 523 Canada 523 Poland 518 Estonia 516 Liechtenstein 516 New Zealand 512Continue Reading

The following is a list of education systems that scored higher than the United States on the 2012 International Student Assessment (PISA) science test: Shanghai-China 580 Hong Kong-China 555 Singapore 551 Japan 547 Finland 545 Estonia 541 Korea, Republic of 538 Vietnam 528 Poland 526 Canada 525 Liechtenstein 525 Germany 524 Chinese Taipei 523 NetherlandsContinue Reading