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Program Schedule

Week 1: Reports

Monday May 15

Today’s High Schools: A Report Card
North Carolina high schools aren't the worst in the country, but they are nowhere near the top, either. Although state leaders say schools are actually better than they were a few years ago -- pointing to progress on proficiency levels, dropout rates, and college attendance – some outside researchers paint a much grimmer picture, especially for low-income or minority students. We open a two-week discussion about the state of North Carolina high schools with help from national experts, top state officials, and one maverick judge who's determined to frame the debate.
High School Reform: A Work in Progress
The quest to "fix" high schools is nothing new--it's been underway for decades. Each reform movement arrives with fanfare, only to fall out of favor when the next big thing comes along. Looking back, it's easy to question whether schools have made much progress. But it's important to remember that educational progress is a moving target, tied to larger economic and cultural shifts. We'll look at the history of high school reform in North Carolina, and find out where it's headed. Yesterday's successful reform, it turns out, may have become today's burning problem.

Tuesday May 16

Should I Stay or Should I go Now? Dropping Out of Hight School
Picture 20,000 teenagers... but don’t picture them in classrooms. The State Department of Public Instruction reports that’s how many students dropped out of North Carolina high schools last year alone. Some studies say as many as a third or more of students who enter high school are leaving without a diploma. As politicians and policymakers emphasize the importance of education for America's ability to compete in a global marketplace, and as evidence strongly suggests that dropouts are more likely to live in poverty, why are so many young people still opting out of high school? Some of the reasons may surprise you.
Turning Around Troubled High Schools
Forty-four North Carolina High Schools are facing intense pressure to turn around poor performance on End-of-Grade student tests. Nineteen of those schools have been told by a judge to get this year's scores above 55% or face severe consequences. Special “turnaround teams” have visited each of the struggling schools. Will they help? What impact has the pressure to improve test scores had on administrators, teachers and students? We visit two so-called priority high schools to find out.

Wednesday May 17

Why North Carolina Wants Smaller High Schools
For years, consolidation was the trend among the nation's high schools. Now ‘small is beautiful.’ But do small schools actually work? Scotland High in Laurinburg is in the midst of finding out. Last year, the county high school decided to split itself into six ‘small learning communities.’ This difficult transition changes everything - from where teachers stake out their turf to how students socialize. What community and education leaders say they really want is to improve student performance - and to change how prepared high school graduates are to compete in a global marketplace.
Making Math and Science Matter
Many educators will tell you a key to improving high school is to make the classes more rigorous and the material more relevant. But a group of UNC-Chapel Hill faculty and graduate students say education in most high schools, particularly those in low-income areas, is conducted by rote. A teacher presents information, students memorize without truly understanding it, and both parties are more concerned with testing than actually absorbing knowledge. The UNC group is trying to help schools change the way they teach, specifically in science and math. They believe the economic success of both the students and this nation is at stake.

Thursday May 18

“We Think You Belong in this Class:” Challenging the Achievement Gap
What do teacher expectations have to do with student performance? When it comes to the 'achievement gap' – perhaps a lot. A teacher-driven experiment at Mount Tabor High School in Winston-Salem has led the school to rethink how it places students into honors courses, and the model is now being exported to the county's nine other high schools. But the emphasis on high standards and high-stakes testing might also threaten to widen the gap between those students who show the potential to excel and those who don't.
High Pressure: Teaching English in High School
North Carolina has one of the fastest-growing Latino populations in the country. And public schools are struggling to meet the needs of students who come from their home countries speaking little or no English. At the high school level, teachers and principals are under pressure not only to help their students master English, but also to have them pass state-mandated tests. Schools are trying many methods to help immigrant students survive high school while they learn a new language.

Friday May 19

Rural High Schools: The Struggle to Improve Reading, Writing and Resources
North Carolina is experiencing one of the biggest population booms in the Southeast. Wake County public schools, for example, can’t build facilities fast enough to keep up with the rapid growth. But many rural school districts have the opposite problem. As jobs decline, so has student enrollment. With that decline come other problems – fewer resources, rapid teacher turnover, and a high drop-out rate.
Charting Possibilities in Northeastern North Carolina
For years, the northeastern corner of North Carolina has endured challenges -- especially a sputtering economy and struggling schools. In Northampton County, one-third of the children live in poverty. One-third of the adults don't have high school diplomas. Amid this bleak landscape, a new charter high school is encouraging its students to defy the odds. The school expects hard work and commitment. Its students are learning to expect more from themselves - and from their futures.

Week 2: Daily Lessons: Inside Western Guilford
High School

Take this simple high school test: Do you know what AYP is? How about EOC, LEP and CTE? From Freshman Academy to VoCATS to AP, high school today is a seemingly impenetrable thicket of terms and acronyms.

As part of the series North Carolina Voices: Understanding High School, a team of reporters has done your homework for you. They spent the school year with students and teachers at Western Guilford High School in Greensboro to see how a “typical” North Carolina high school is dealing with some daunting new realities:

Expanded testing requirements: Complying with the federal “No Child Left Behind Act” and the North Carolina “ABCs of Public Education” means tests, tests, and more tests. The result is a radical shift in the traditional rhythms of high school and big changes in what students are learning and how teachers are teaching.
A worsening teacher shortage: North Carolina needs 10,000 new teachers annually to fill classroom vacancies, yet the state’s teaching colleges are only turning out 3,000 a year. At the same time, many new teachers burn out quickly, and veteran teachers are increasingly frustrated with the direction of public education, and wondering whether they’ll stay.
Demographic change: NC has one of the fastest growing immigrant populations in the nation, meaning schools have to figure out ways to teach thousands of students whose first languages can be Spanish, Tagolog, Urdu or Arabic. Supporting those students, helping them learnEnglish, and making sure they pass standardized tests, is a challenge for high schools.
A radically changed economy: The manufacturing and agriculture jobs that once fueled the North Carolina economy are fast disappearing, replaced by jobs that require more skills and higher education. Some educators say high schools must prepare all students for college. Others say high schools can’t forget students who might not be headed for higher education.

"Daily Lessons: Inside Western Guilford High School" is a ten part documentary series that will air during Morning Edition as part of North Carolina Voices: Studying High School.

Monday May 22