Category Archives: EDUCATION

Common Core and Read To Achieve In NC

Posted on March 12, 2014 by A.P. Dillon

Carolina Journal has an article up today about NC’s Read to Achieve law entitled Students Must Read To Achieve. The article gives some background on testing in NC and the Read To Achieve law, which I dug into not so … Continue reading →

Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885), Common Core, EDUCATION | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

About That UNCW Poll…

Posted on March 11, 2014 by A.P. Dillon

There’s a survey floating around out there from UNCW on education. Some folks can barely contain their glee at a survey that so conveniently fits the BlueprintNC/Moral Monday style narrative they and their cohorts have been touting for a while now. Local media of course endorsed it.

While NC Policy Watch’s Wagner is celebrating more BlueprintNC crippling and eviscerating, I say not so fast. This survey was already on my radar and a few other’s, who have noted some big problems with it:

FYI… 60+% of them had public school employment history MT @kennycmckee: UNCW asked parents about #NCGA & #NCED => http://t.co/XAiuaYz1wN

— Pete Kaliner (@PeteKaliner) March 10, 2014 Continue reading →

Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885), BlueprintNC, EDUCATION, Media Bias, Moral Monday | 1 Comment

#DM7 Article: Procrustes In America

Posted on March 9, 2014 by A.P. Dillon

My weekly column is up at Da Tech Guy blog. This is a reposting of Procrustes in America.

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By A.P. Dillon

Have you heard of the Greek myth of Procrustes? As the myth goes, Procrustes was a bandit and a metal smith from Attica and was also the son of Poseidon. His claim to fame was that he would attack people and force them to fit an iron bed. Procrustes would do so by either stretching their bodies out or cutting off limbs to make the person fit.

Procrustes is alive and well in the United States of America. Continue reading →

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@DrJuneAtkinson, It’s time for the CCSSO to #ReleaseTheFiles

Posted on March 9, 2014 by A.P. Dillon

Last month, I called for transparency from NC State Superintendent Atkinson, as the president of the CCSSO (Council Of Chief State School Officers) to release their files on the Common Core. Specifically, the closed door meeting sessions of the validation committee.

For the uninitiated, the validation committee for the Common Core were forced to sign confidentiality agreements and their meeting were held in private, denying citizens much needed transparency. I am again calling for the CCSSO to release the files. Continue reading →

Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885), Common Core | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

CCSSO President Atkinson Starts Campaigning Early

Posted on March 9, 2014 by A.P. Dillon

NC State Superintendent and President of the CCSSO Dr. June Atkinson recently spent time speaking to the Carteret County Democrat party. Atkinson assaulted the current legislature for teacher pay while conveniently leaving out the role both she and former Governor Perdue played in freezing teacher pay in the first place.

Despite having the highest graduation rate in the history of the state, North Carolina’s public education system needs support to survive the recent wave of changes enacted by the General Assembly, State Superintendent of Public Instruction June Atkinson said on Saturday to county Democrats. Continue reading →

Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885), Common Core, Democrats, EDUCATION, NCAE, NCGA, POLITICS NC | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

NC Lowers The Bar For Passing End of Course Exams

Posted on March 7, 2014 by A.P. Dillon

This morning WRAL has a story up about how the NC Board of Education, under the advisement of State Superintendent Dr. June Atkinson, about lowering the bar for end of grade test scores in NC. The article covers Read to Achieve as well, so be sure to read the whole thing. Excerpt below:

The State Board of Education voted this week to approve standards that will lower the scores needed to pass end-of-grade and end-of-course exams.

In an 8-4 vote, the board expanded the number of achievement levels from four to five for this year’s standardized exams. The change will allow school leaders to get a better sense of a student’s level of achievement, said Superintendent of Public Instruction June Atkinson. Continue reading →

Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885), Common Core, EDUCATION | Tagged , | 4 Comments