Category Archives: NCGA

A Look At The #NC23 Senate Race

Posted on October 1, 2014 by A.P. Dillon

The NC legislature’s Senate race in District 23 offers two women candidates this election cycle, challenger Mary Lopez-Carter (R) and the woman currently holding the seat, Valerie Foushee (D). There will be two parts to the look at this race. In this installment, we’ll look at Valerie Foushee.

About Valerie Foushee
Foushee was appointed to the NC General Assembly to replace Senator Ellie Kinnaird when she resigned in 2013. Foushee left her House seat (District 50) to do so. That move put liberal Graig Meyer into Foushee’s vacant House seat. Foushee was a freshman Representative when she was appointed to the Senate.

KEEP READING… Continue reading →

Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885), ELECTIONS, NCGA, POLITICS NC | 1 Comment

Durham Schools Drops Teach For America

Posted on September 20, 2014 by A.P. Dillon

Here is an interesting tidbit. Durham schools has dropped their contract with Teach for America (TFA), citing the district no longer needs the group and that their turnover rate isn’t in line with the district’s retention goals.

The district has worked with TFA for the past decade and currently has 12 teachers from the program in local schools: Six at Southern School of Energy and Sustainability, four at Neal Magnet Middle School and two at Eastway Elementary School.

The Board of Education last month decided not to renew TFA’s contract, saying the district no longer needs the group’s help and that local schools need teachers willing to commit more than the two years TFA requires.

“We want to build a strong teacher workforce that’s made up of career educators,” school board Chairwoman Heidi Carter said Friday. “Our job is to look long term and make decisions that will benefit the most students over time.”

Carter said the inconsistency and turnover after TFA teachers leave can create problems, especially in high-risk schools where many of the teachers are placed.

“No organization in the business world builds its workforce from temp employees, and basically, that’s what this would be doing.” she said. – WRAL

This criticism about turnover is not new. Flashback to 2011 when Diane Ravitch spoke at Duke:

READ MORE – SEE THE DETAILS ON MONETARY JUGGERNAUT TFA Continue reading →

Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885), Common Core, EDUCATION, June Atkinson, NC DPI, NCGA, Pat McCrory | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Durham Schools Drops Teach For America

NC State Senator Questions #APUSH

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

North Carolina State Senator Jerry Tillman is questioning the new AP U.S. History (APUSH) framework. (See Tillman’s Newsletter snippet below the fold.)

scG-coleman-unqualifiedHe is wise to do so. APUSH went from a 5 page framework to a 95 page one, which largely marginalizes early U.S. History in favor of a Leftist Global view and includes the theme that America is not exceptional. This new framework totally undermines the teaching of U.S. History both nationwide and in North Carolina. This new framework is led by Common Core architect, David Coleman.

KEEP READING…. Continue reading →

Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885), Academic Standards Review Commission, Common Core, EDUCATION, June Atkinson, NC Board Of Education, NC DPI, NCGA, Pat McCrory, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Rep. Linda Johnson: ‘Common Core Reform by Jan 2015’

Posted on August 29, 2014 by A.P. Dillon

A reader sent me the comments made by Rep. Linda Johnson at the most recent meeting of the Republican Women of Greater Cabarrus County meeting.

It would seem that Operation Rebrand has recruited Rep. Johnson from her comments. Rep. Johnson made the puzzling comment that we’d see “Common Core reform by January 2015”. That’s just three months of work by the commission. That is not a feasible end date for re-writing the standards line by line. Three months is barely time to address the K-3 standards, which are atrocious.

Perhaps Rep. Johnson misspoke? We can hope, but given recent statements by the Governor and Superintendent Atkinson, I doubt it.

See below the fold for the comments reported to me.
CCSS = Common Core State Standards and APUSH = Advanced Placement U.S. History. Continue reading →

Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885), Common Core, EDUCATION, NCGA | Comments Off on Rep. Linda Johnson: ‘Common Core Reform by Jan 2015’

NC Governor McCrory Unveils Operation Rebrand For Common Core (Video)

Posted on August 25, 2014 by A.P. Dillon

Last weekend, NC Superintendent Atkinson tipped her hand on the rebrand strategy for Common Core in North Carolina. This week on the same program, NCSPIN, Governor Pat McCrory repeated the same statements.

In the initial part of the conversation, McCrory made a weak dodge on testing should be called out — all major tests are Common Core aligned. Hasn’t his Teach For America Alum and Education Advisor, Eric Guckian, told him that yet?

The host confirmed with Governor McCrory that the Governor has been “a big supporter of Common Core”. McCrory answered, ” I am a supporter of Common Core but I also recognize the testing aspect needs some revision and change.”

McCrory continued and here’s where the cat is now out of the rebrand bag:

“The title of the bill of Common Core says we’re eliminating Common Core. If you read the bill, it doesn’t eliminate Common Core. It reviews Common Core and only the State Board of Education – with Bill Cobey as its chairman – can change Common Core.”

There you have it, folks.

This is the kick off of Operation Rebrand.

KEEP READING… VIDEO INCLUDED Continue reading →

Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885), Common Core, EDUCATION, NCGA, Pat McCrory, Video | Tagged , , , | 11 Comments

Back To School And Student Data Privacy

Posted on August 24, 2014 by A.P. Dillon

A few folks have been asking me to address the recently passed and signed NC law dealing with student data collection and privacy matters. That law sprang from SB 815 and which is titled Ensuring Privacy of Student Records.
As people have been attending school orientations, I’ve had several who have expressed to me that they were given no information about student privacy and data. Indeed, I didn’t receive anything separate or specific at our back to school night either. What they and myself were looking for pertains to this section of SB 815: Continue reading →

Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885), EDUCATION, NCGA | Comments Off on Back To School And Student Data Privacy