Rob Christensen of Raleigh’s News & Observer – someone who’s been the target of occasional barbs over here at The Pulse – deserves some kudos this morning for a straightforward and important column in today’s paper entitled “NC’s kids are doing better than you think.”
As Christensen notes, it’s become almost an article of faith in many circles these days that our public schools and students are failing:
“That North Carolina’s schools are failing is a widely shared assumption in certain circles. It is repeated in the echo chamber of talk radio. It is confirmed every time you come across some store clerk who can’t make change, or you hear from an employer who can’t find somebody to operate some piece of technology.
It is given credence by news stories of struggling school systems in poor areas, of racial disparities and of confusing reports about test scores being down because the tests are more difficult.”
But as he goes on to explain, this narrative is actually badly flawed. Read More
