Superintendents’ Attitudes toward Public Education in North Carolina

Abstract

This study examined the perceptions of North Carolina’s school superintendents related to current educational issues. A total of 67 superintendents (64% return rate) responded to an online survey about national and state educational concerns. In general, the superintendents do not believe that some of the recent statutes, policies, and educational initiatives will serve to improve schools or student learning. They indicated that the most significant priorities that need to be addressed were teacher morale, inadequate funding, and teacher pay; and, that the primary purpose of teacher evaluation should be to help teachers improve their ability to teach and that it should be based on student performance. Almost all superintendents did not want to use armed security guards or arm teachers and/or principals to ensure safe schools. They believe that the increase in charter schools and tuition support for students to attend private schools will hurt school systems, but online courses for earning high school credit were supported. Most superintendents reported that high-states testing has had mixed results on improving education; and, they did not believe that the cost of testing was worth the money spent. All superintendents wanted more local control of the school calendar. They also reported that the Common Core State Standards would improve education in North Carolina.