Subject mastery produces best teaching
While there is no shortage of opinions and controversy about how best to improve schooling, virtually everyone agrees that the quality of teaching is the critical variable. To improve schooling is... Read More
NC Spin Articles
North Carolina's economic "U-turn"
by Dr. Michael Walden, NCSU Professor of Economics, June 30, 2017. By some measures, North Carolina’s economy has moved in reverse compared to the national economy in recent years. Specifically, two... Read More
Another no-drama budget cycle
North Carolinians had much to celebrate over the Independence Day weekend. Unlike residents of, say, New Jersey. Even though the Garden State had no budget in place, Jerseyites saw Gov. Chris Christie... Read More
N. C. needs migrants
Editorial by Greensboro News-Record, July 6, 2017. What if people began to move back to North Carolina’s small towns and rural areas? What if they started family farms, the kind people have been... Read More
Take politics out of our judicial system
Editorial by Fayetteville Observer, July 2, 2017. Sometimes a bad idea becomes a gift that keeps on giving. So it is with the General Assembly’s attempt to politicize key institutions and its... Read More
School districts prepare for another year of class size controversy
When North Carolina legislators pushed through their $23 billion budget plan in June, it included one key, last-minute insertion in a separate technical corrections bill. State lawmakers wrote that it... Read More
Is North Carolina stuck in an abusive relationship?
The last seven years in North Carolina politics and policy have been extraordinary. In a very short period of time, a once moderate state has been transformed into a kind of laboratory for far right... Read More
The partisan
Roy Cooper is not an ideologue. But he is a loyal, partisan Democrat – always has been. And today’s hyperpartisan political environment suits him like a glove. Gone are the days where politicians... Read More
Judge's decision stops Attorney General from distributing funds
On Tuesday, June 27, a state Superior Court judge ruled favorably on several motions for the Civitas Center for Law and Freedom (CLF) case against the North Carolina Attorney General, which alleges... Read More
Trudy Wade and the politics of spite
Editorial by Greensboro News-Record, reprinted by Burlington Times-News, July 7, 2017. In the dead of night, the General Assembly voted to send Guilford County down the path into darkness. The... Read More
