Raleigh, N.C. — North Carolina students are entering high school unprepared and the public school system is failing them, a Superior Court judge, who has pushed education reform in poor school districts for nearly a decade, said Monday.
"Your instructional leadership is not doing the job in the classroom," Judge Howard Manning told a group of local educators, legislators and testing experts who comprise the state Board of Education's Blue Ribbon Commission on Testing and Accountability.
"There are too many kids not getting a sound, basic education or the opportunity to have a sound, basic education in high schools," he said.
Manning, who has overseen the Leandro case – which found the state provided inadequate support to schools in rural areas – said he was disheartened by poor proficiency test scores and said the time for excuses he has heard from low-performing schools he has visited is over.
"We've got an obligation under our constitution to give our children an education, whether they are black and poor or white and rich."
Manning suggested proficiency tests in sixth and seventh grades to see if students are prepared. He also believes schools need to get rid of teachers who are not doing their jobs.
"(The students) don't stand a snowball's chance in hell unless the teacher is a qualified teacher under the constitution standard that is the law."
Committee members said they would consider Manning's message.
"Judge Manning's message is very harsh, but it will be a very harsh economy if (students) don't succeed at high levels," state school Superintendent June Atkinson said. "We, as adults, need to take that message of harshness and turn that message into something that will be beneficial and positive for our students."
Manning said he has visited many of the state's low-performing high schools and that although they are always welcoming and appear to be making efforts to improve test scores, the results are still below where they should be.
In his opinion, consultants sent in to help schools improve have not been effective.
He said the excuse he hears – that the state has made tests harder – is a poor excuse for poor performance.
“I will not back off of what's got to be in that classroom, because that's the law," he said.
Judge: Public Schools Failing N.C. Students
- Reporter: Amanda Lamb
- Photographer: Chad Flowers
- Web Editor: Kelly Gardner
RELATED TOPICS: Public Schools, Education Reform
Copyright 2011 by Capitol Broadcasting Company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
200 Comments
| MOST | Viewed | E-mailed | Discussed | ||
Most Viewed Stories
Most Viewed Videos
Most Viewed Slideshows
| |||||
| MOST | Viewed | E-mailed | Discussed |
Most E-mailed Stories
Most E-mailed Videos | |||
| MOST | Viewed | E-mailed | Discussed |
Most Discussed Stories
Most Discussed Blog Posts | |||
Multimedia
Key dates in the investigation of Lance Armstrong on charges he used performance-enhancing drugs.
Key events in Iran's relations with the West.
An interactive look at the controversial decision and reversal of the Susan G. Komen Foundation to stop funding breast exams at Planned Parenthood.
You Are The Missing Piece: JoinRotaryNC.com
Luxury Upscale Apartments Available to RENTERS!



![[SLIDESHOW]](http://wwwcache.wral.com/asset/entertainment/out_and_about/2012/02/02/10707648/bbpics_miyon53519-100x75.jpg)
![[SLIDESHOW]](http://wwwcache.wral.com/asset/lifestyles/travel/2012/02/09/10710709/10710709-1328829176-100x75.jpg)
![[SLIDESHOW]](http://wwwcache.wralsportsfan.com/asset/basketball/2012/02/09/10705803/10705803-1328766083-100x75.jpg)
![[SLIDESHOW]](http://wwwcache.wral.com/asset/lifestyles/travel/2012/02/08/10704761/10704761-1328743348-100x75.jpg)






WRAL.com welcomes your comments on this story. All comments are moderated prior to publication based on our posting guidelines. Please review them prior to posting and if your message is not approved.
This story is closed for comments. Comments on WRAL.com news stories are accepted and moderated between the hours of 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. Monday through Friday.
September 19, 2007 1:46 p.m.
September 19, 2007 1:05 p.m.
September 19, 2007 12:50 p.m.
September 19, 2007 9:55 a.m.
When I was in school, we had 30 kids in each class. There were no teacher's helpers. Teachers maintained their classrooms, though the heavy cleaning was done by janitors as it still is today. Parents were called at night -- the time when they were home. There were no teacher workdays. Grading time was called nights and weekends. Special needs kids, those who could not speak English, and thugs they didn't have to worry about since they were not mainstreamed to do nothing but hold back academically inclined kids as today. Lunch duty? That's what the cafeteria people were for. Oh wait. We didn't have a cafeteria until junior high because all the elementary schools were within walking distance of all the kids houses. Teachers did have their own lounge, though, where they ate presuming they didn't leave campus for lunch as most of them did. Equipment always worked. And meetings? Those occured infrequently before the school day started.
So quit carping.
September 19, 2007 7:15 a.m.