About: Terry Stoops

If you were born after 1980, you’re a “millennial.”  And if you are a millennial, you’re going to ruin America. As a Generation X “slacker,” I know to take these generational generalizations with a grain of salt. But I have to admit that the performance of a representative sample of American millennials on the PS-TRE,Continue Reading

CNN reporter Brenna Williams blames the “predatory nature of the web” for outrage over Joe Biden’s “hands-on approach” to the vice presidency. Despite decades in national politics, Biden hasn’t seemed to recognize the predatory nature of the web — either by choice or by error — and with almost two years left in office, it’sContinue Reading

Jennifer Holt of Raleigh has a child at Dynamic Community Charter School and penned a must-read op-ed on the possible closure of the school. Via email from my son’s school, I found out that the Charter School Advisory Board has recommended that the state revoke the charter for the only public school in North CarolinaContinue Reading

Wake County School’s Effective Teaching Framework Community website shows one major hindrance to effective teaching – addition.  

In a piece published yesterday, Politico reporter Stephanie Simon examined testing and publishing giant Pearson’s work in the states, including North Carolina.  Simon found that many states awarded no-bid contracts to Pearson despite the company’s poor track record.  Simon writes, The North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, for instance, declined to seek competitive bids forContinue Reading

Below is a fascinating map published by the N.C. Department of Public Instruction.  While it is encouraging to see so many families choosing charter schools in the Piedmont, there is entirely too much “white” and “yellow” throughout the Coastal Plains.  

Using the School Performance Grades (SPG) released today, I compiled a list of the best schools in the state and included their SPG score in parentheses. Best School and Best High School: Burke Middle College, Burke (99) Best Charter School: Raleigh Charter High School, Wake (98) Best Elementary School: Providence Spring Elementary, Charlotte-Mecklenburg (95) BestContinue Reading

As I mentioned earlier, School Performance Grades were released today.  The information below was taken from “2013–14 School Performance Grades (A–F) for North Carolina Public Schools,” published by the N.C. Department of Public Instruction. I was impressed by how evenly the grades were distributed.