Contributing to an informed citizenry, inside and outside the classroom.
What more would your child's classroom have if the NC General Assembly had not deprived each NC classroom of nearly $100,000 since the Class of 2024 entered kindergarten? For the last few years on this blog I've calculated a Class of 20XX "student tax" to measure the state financial support denied to the current graduating... Continue Reading →
When many students show growth, it should be celebrated. If all students show growth, they should have an opportunity to be acknowledged as growing. So why does North Carolina use a contracted formula originally used in agriculture to plow public school student performance with misleading data? The system is not designed to label all students... Continue Reading →
Last year, Republicans in the General Assembly eliminated an income cap as an eligibility requirement to receive a private school voucher. This decision alone will funnel millions of dollars away from helping public schools in low-income communities and into the hands of wealthy families who never even considered sending their children to their community’s public... Continue Reading →
For part 2 of this Bursting the Bubble Sheet series, I’m going to zoom out to ensure I’m clearly communicating the forest of this project before diving into each tree: There’s an unfortunate fact pattern where deceptively portrayed K-12 data is being used to undermine communities’ faith in their local public schools as a marketing... Continue Reading →
Preface: Over a decade ago Rhett Carlson, a high school science teacher, reverse-engineered EVAAS - a K-12 test data translation tool created by NC-based analytics company SAS and used by the NC Department of Public Instruction. This program is modeled after one that was used in agriculture to increase plant growth and cull dairy herds... Continue Reading →
According to an NC private school voucher marketer, “All it takes is a fire and health inspection." North Carolina's General Assembly just opened the floodgates on what was already the least regulated private school voucher program in the country. Exposing fraud Public education advocate and school finance expert Kris Nordstrom released research in June 2023... Continue Reading →
Fuzzy math talking points don't tell the truth about teacher pay: The average salary step purchasing power increase is .1% from last year (adjust 2022-23 scale to August 23 inflation for accurate purchasing power comparison) The 2023-24 proposed schedule has the worst purchasing power offered in over 15 years
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