Education Matters

Topic: Documenting Historically Segregated Black Schools The history of school desegregation includes many important stories of courageous African American families and their children who were the first to attend previously whites-only schools. But there’s another history that often goes untold. That one is about the rich history of education provided by the historically segregated black […]

Topic: Inequity in School Funding A study released this week by the Public School Forum of NC shows a growing gap in public school funding between the highest and lowest-wealth counties in the state. These funding disparities have a real impact on education, including the ability of lower wealth counties to fund local supplemental pay […]

Topic: Exploring Rural-Urban North Carolina According to the Institute for Emerging Issues at NC State, people in North Carolina are feeling more disconnected than ever and they want to do something about it. So IEI launched a three-year initiative called ReCONNECT NC and this week hundreds of people convened in Raleigh to focus on reconnection […]

Topic: Newsmaker Conversations The State Treasurer of North Carolina has broad responsibilities over the finances of the state that have big implications for public education including state employee retirement and pension plans, the State Health Plan and how the state finances school construction. This week we talk with State Treasurer Dale Folwell about these topics […]

Topic: Top Education Issues for 2019 This week’s show was recorded live at the Public School Forum of North Carolina’s Eggs & Issues Breakfast. A panel of award winning educators and students discuss the top education issues facing the state in 2019. Guests: Beth Embree, 2018-19 NC School Counselor of the Year, Catawba County Alexa […]

Topic: Freshman Year When the new NC General Assembly was sworn in last week, about 1/4 of the 50-member Senate were new faces. On the House side, 26 brand new members joined, about 20 percent of the 120-member chamber. That group included 17 Democrats who helped end the Republican’s supermajority, but a legislature where the […]

Topic: Legislative Preview As a new NC General Assembly returns to Raleigh without a Republican supermajority for the first time since 2012, we’re joined by three respected journalists to discuss what to expect in 2019 in terms of education policy and how the new balance of power might shape the debates and key issues. Guests: […]

Topic: One-on-One with NC Community College System President Peter Hans Peter Hans became the ninth president of the NC Community College System in May. He now oversees 58 community colleges that educate more than 700,000 students every year, the 3rd largest community college system in the country. This week we talk with Peter about the […]

Topic:  Importance of Principal Leadership Education research has shown the single most important school-based factor student’s academic success is the classroom teacher. But research also shows that perhaps the next most important factor is the school principal. Most teachers will tell you that the kind of school climate and vision the principal sets is what makes […]

Topic: The New State Board of Education The NC General Assembly may have stripped the North Carolina State Board of Education of much of its power, but a new chairman and several new Board Members appointed by Governor Roy Cooper are charting their own path and priorities for education in our state. This week we […]

Topic: How will the election affect education in NC? North Carolinians began casting ballots on October 17th at early-voting sites across the state and Election Day is next week. This year’s election in North Carolina is being called a “blue-moon” election because it’s a rare cycle when there’s no statewide race for Governor or the […]

Topic: Community Fights School Takeover Carver Heights Elementary School in Wayne County has been picked by the Innovative School District to become the 2nd NC school to be taken over by the state-run program created by the General Assembly in 2016. That takeover will not happen if district leadership and many in the Goldsboro school’s […]

Topic: Is NC providing access to quality public education? In 1997, the NC Supreme Court held unanimously in the landmark Leandro case that North Carolina public school students are entitled under the state constitution to the “opportunity to receive a sound basic education” and therefore the state’s responsibility to provide it. In November 2017, more […]

Mark Johnson was elected nearly two years ago as State Superintendent of Public Instruction. For much of his tenure he was engaged in a power struggle with the State Board of Education over who’s in charge of public education. Now that the NC Supreme Court has sided with Johnson and the General Assembly, he’s moved […]

Topic: Back to School This week 1.4 million North Carolina children returned to class for the start of a new school year. The new year begins just a little over three months after an estimated 20,000 teachers marched in Raleigh asking the General Assembly for more support for public education. This week we talk to […]

Topic: Work-Based Learning Employers across the U.S. and here in North Carolina report they have more jobs available than the number of qualified applicants to fill them. Work-based learning opportunities have been expanding here for both students and educators to give them greater exposure to the rapidly changing workplace. This week we explore some promising […]

Topic:  Youth Suicide It’s every parent’s worst nightmare. Losing a child for any reason is devastating, but when it’s suicide, family and friends are not only grieving the unexpected loss, they often find themselves confused and guilt-ridden wondering why they were unable to prevent it. In North Carolina, suicide is the second leading cause of […]

Topic: Should schools scrap letter grades? Carroll Middle School in Raleigh is scrapping letter grades for a new approach that is gaining traction nationally known as competency based learning and grading. We talk to the school’s principal Elizabeth MacWilliams on why they are making the switch. We also meet the 2018 Burroughs Wellcome Fund NC […]

Topic: Teens, Social Media and Fake News  The phrase “fake news” was declared the official Collins Dictionary Word of the Year for 2017. Nearly 1 in 4 Americans visited a fake news site in the month leading up to the 2016 presidential election. With technology and social media becoming nearly a ubiquitous part of our children’s […]