State of Our Schools: Education Issues

Many people think our country’s future rests on how well we educate our children.

There is growing concern that American children are falling behind.

To check the state of our schools, we researched three different counties’ school systems — New Hanover, Pender and Columbus County.

Using information from The Eastern North Carolina Poverty Committee, we found that the more money the student’s families have, the better the students tend to perform on tests and passing rates.

After talking to education leaders we found that low test scores and high drop out rates are a serious problem that could have a huge impact on our country’s future and well-being.

County to county, the state of our local schools is different.

John Fischetti, UNCW Education Professor said, “Schools that have a large proportion of poor students, students with free or reduced lunch, students who may not have the support financially to accomplish that which other kids have, don’t do as well as kids who have more support.”

In the 2003 to 2004 school year, in New Hanover County, 40 percent of children received subsidized meals. The average SAT score was 1037 and nearly 86 percent of students passed the end of grade tests.

In Pender County, about 60 percent of the students received subsidized meals. The average SAT score was 965 and about 83 percent of students passed the end of grade tests.

In Columbus County 70 percent of kids received subsidized meals. The average score on the SAT’s was 888 and the end of grade pass rate was 73 percent.

The gaps in these numbers correlate to the average household income in the three counties.

The wealthiest county, New Hanover, shows the average household makes more than $16,000 more than households in Columbus County.

You’ll remember New Hanover also had the highest SAT scores, and end of grade pass rates.

John Fischetti, said this is a good representation of what’s going all across our state.

“The schools that we’ve profiled that look like they’re not doing that well are just reflecting the community in which they’re in. They are not reflecting poor teaching,” said Fischetti.

So what’s really going on in, and outside of our schools?

Each principal concedes there’s room for improvement.

Robbie Cauley, Pender High Principal said, “We could use more teachers and there are two reasons for that. One it creates class size reduction.”

“One thing they need still is adult role models. If you want to get along in the real adult world create a bond and a link with an adult,” said Cauley.

East Columbus High School Asst. Principal Don Hill said, “We are trying to raise our test scores. I think we are at 50 percent proficiency and our goal of course is to get that up to the standard 70 percent.”

“If you have any kids dropping out they’re missing out and we’re missing out on what they can contribute,” said Hoggard High School Principal Dave Spencer.

Steve Bilzi is a former New Hanover County School Board Member and a parent.

Bilzi goes back to the notion that a child’s success in school begins at home.

“Instead of the parents doing the parenting, the schools are the parents. They’re the preachers, the social structure. They’re required to teach character education — all the things that should be done in the home,” said Bilzi

Tomorrow we’ll have more on what is being done to try and fix some of the current issues with education, and education leaders will have suggestions on how they would improve the state of our schools for the future.