Education Matters

Today on the show we are going to provide an update on educating during Covid-19 and discuss meeting the needs of exceptional children and English language learners during this challenging time. here to discuss are three education professionals coming from one side of the state to the other. Guests: Dr. Scott Elliott, Superintendent of the Watauga County Schools Dr. LaChawn Smith, Deputy Superinte...

During covid-19, educator self care is more important now than it has ever been. This week on education matters we’re here to discuss staff wellness from teacher, district, and state wide perspectives and how we are supporting those on the front lines of education. Guests: Chanda Battle- Program Coordinator, NC Resilience and Learning Project Kanika Griffin- Chief Academic Officer of Student Servi...

While students are staying home, Social Emotional Learning is especially important now more than ever. Today we look at the mental health needs that many kids may be facing at home right now and ways to support social emotional learning from a distance. Guests: Dr. Katie Rosanbalm Senior Research Scientist, Duke Center for Child and Family Policy Cynthia Floyd State Consultant for School Counselin...

Right now, the world faces something practically unimaginable-a global pandemic- and its impacts are being felt right here in North Carolina. The Coronavirus is affecting not only our health and business sectors, but it’s also impacting our youth. From online learning, to mental health and food access, schools and families are feeling the effects of the virus and finding ways to adjust to this new...

In an era when our ability to collect data is better than ever, policymakers believe it’s critical that to improve our students’ academic success, we must leverage that data in new and innovative ways. So how do we get there? State education leaders believe we must develop a robust statewide longitudinal data system that connects student information from across the educational continuum — and we m...

Anonymous reporting, safety apps, school resource officers. Do you know how your children are staying safe while in school? Today we continue our series looking at how to make our schools safer. Joining us to discuss this important topic is Robert Trumbo, the Director of the North Carolina Center for Safer Schools, and Dr. Will Chavis, Principal at Enloe High School in Raleigh.

Guests: Mr. Alan Duncan, Vice Chairman, NC State Board of Education Ms. Ann McColl, Co-Founder and President of The Innovation Project Dr. Anthony Jackson, Superintendent of the Vance County Schools Mr. Thomas B. Oxholm, Vice President of Finance and Administration, Wake Stone Corporation

The Public School Forum's annual Eggs and Issues event included a live taping of the Forum’s weekly television show, Education Matters. We were joined by four panelists who discussed this year’s Top Education Issue, which focused on the school funding case known as Leandro and the need for our state to take immediate and intentional actions to ensure all NC children receive a sound basic education...

Today we will dive into digital citizenship and what schools are doing to promote safe and responsible use of the internet with the Assistant Superintendent of Edgecombe County, Abbey Futrell. But first, we close our series of interviewing those who have decided to run for state superintendent with Catherine Truitt, Chancellor of Western Governors University and a Republican Candidate for State Su...

This year, North Carolinians will elect a new State Superintendent of Public Instruction, as the current State Superintendent, Mark Johnson, has announced he will run for Lieutenant Governor. Today we continue our series of interviewing those who have decided to run for state superintendent, and we will talk with Representative Craig Horn, a Republican from Union County who has chaired the Educati...

Research tells us our schools can be safer places when we cultivate healthy environments in which our students feel they are able to address bullying and the potential for violence before they result in serious consequences. Today we’ll hear from a nationally known expert on bullying prevention and school safety, Dr. Dorothy Espelage, a professor at UNC-Chapel Hill. We’ll also talk with a student...

From the controversy around reading assessment tools to the release of a court-ordered report on school funding, 2019 has been quite the busy year for education in North Carolina. Today we’ll hear from defendant and plaintiff representatives of the long-running school funding court case known as Leandro, who will give us their insights into the just-released WestEd report. We’ll also hear from two...

Research says students experience significant academic and emotional benefits from having teachers of color, yet in North Carolina the educator workforce comprises a disproportionately low percentage of teachers of color. At a summit hosted this week by the Office of Governor Roy Cooper and partnering organizations, educators and policymakers tackled this issue by brainstorming a new landscape for...

Lawmakers recently adjourned their legislative session without reaching a compromise with Governor Cooper on teacher salaries, leaving educators to head into the holidays without pay raises for the 2019-20 school year. On today’s show, we’ll hear from two North Carolina teachers about how the lack of salary increases — along with other challenges — is impacting their lives and classrooms. We’ll al...

Nearly a quarter century after a state Supreme Court ruling known as Leandro reaffirmed North Carolina’s constitutional duty to ensure all children -- including those who are at-risk or from rural and underserved communities -- have the opportunity to receive a sound basic education, our state continues to struggle to meet this constitutional obligation. On this week’s episode, we’ll explore the s...

Last month, the Public School Forum of North Carolina, along with the Samuel Dubois Cook Center on Social Equity and the Policy Bridge at the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University hosted their second annual Color of Education summit, which focused on racial equity and education in North Carolina. For this week's episode of Education Matters, we’ll talk with representatives from two of...

Did you know that North Carolina is home to 568,000 rural students, the second largest rural student population in the United States after Texas? This fall, the Public School forum will convene its seventeenth study group to better understand the unique needs, challenges, and strengths of rural school districts across the state. It’s a critically important undertaking because in the years followin...

In 2011, the North Carolina State Board of Education formed a Task Force on Global Education to assess the state's effort to produce "globally competitive" graduates ready to live, work, and contribute in an interconnected world. Thanks to their work, the state signed a series of global commitments to ensure every public school student graduates fully prepared for the world, and has taken action t...

Every day, youth attend afterschool, before school and summer learning programs across North Carolina, engaging in activities like STEM, physical fitness, literacy, and civic education, to name a few. This week, we will take a look at the impact that afterschool programs have on the lives of youth, and we'll be joined by the Forum's director of the NC Center for Afterschool Programs, Dr. Sheronda...

In a stunning move last week that sent shockwaves across the political landscape here in North Carolina and nationally, the Republican majority in the NC House overrode Governor Cooper’s veto of the state budget with nearly half of the 120 House members absent, mostly Democrats. With a called vote early on the morning of September 11th, the House voted 55-9 to override the Governor’s veto of the s...

Last week the NC Department of Public Instruction released its annual A-F School Performance Grades for the state’s public schools and they continue to reflect a clear relationship between poverty and student test scores. This week on the show we discuss the latest school grades and the grading system itself. Why do the school grades correlate to strongly to poverty? Do they provide an accurate as...

While the official Atlantic hurricane season runs June 1st through November 30th, September historically has been the most active month for hurricanes affecting North Carolina, with 35 percent of all hurricanes striking the state in that month including Hurricane Florence last year. As a new school year begins, we talk to two education leaders about how these major storms affect our schools and ho...

We know that Adverse Childhood Experiences or ACEs can lead to long-term health issues as adults, but we’re just beginning to understand the impact trauma has on a child’s ability to learn during the critical early years in school. The good news is researchers have identified strategies that help these students learn and they are beginning to be implemented in public schools across North Carolina....

While school choice and education privatization efforts grab headlines and generate a great deal of activity at the NC General Assembly, a wide array of innovative and transformative efforts are quietly underway in public school systems all across North Carolina. This week we’re going to introduce you to the state’s first renewal school district that was granted broad flexibility and local control...

Governor Roy Cooper vetoed the budget passed by the NC General Assembly on June 28th and offered up a counter proposal a week later. Now more than a month has passed and the General Assembly has yet to bring a veto override vote to the floor and publicly there seems to be little movement on a budget both sides will accept. This week we sat down with Governor Cooper and discussed the state of the b...