Education

Student loan debt is on the rise nationally and in North Carolina, but recent graduates are faring better here than in other states.

Graduations rates are slowly rising in North Carolina's public universities, but disparities remain among each school and their racial demographics. 

About 72 percent of freshmen who started at a UNC System school in 2011 got their degrees within six years, but graduation rates are still significantly lower at institutions with more low-income students and people of color.

The chairman of the State Board of Education is leaving his post. Bill Cobey submitted his resignation to the Department of Public Instruction this afternoon.

The North Carolina School Boards Association has taken a new step in a long-held legal battle over public school funding. The association filed a complaint Wednesday demanding state agencies pay hundreds of millions of dollars to fund technology in schools.

UNC system officials are fielding questions after a search for the next chancellor at Western Carolina University fell apart. A member of the UNC Board of Governors released the name of a leading candidate to an outside firm, according to emails obtained by the News and Observer. The candidate later dropped out.

Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro are working to digitize slave deeds with a project called “People Not Property.”

Wake County Commissioners agreed unanimously Monday night to give preliminary approval to three bond questions that could go on that county's November election ballots. A proposed $548 million public school bond would fund planned school construction and renovation in the rapidly growing county.

The North Carolina Central University Law School says alumni who sat for the state bar exam today have reason to be confident.

Students at North Carolina's historically black colleges and universities face higher student loan default rates than their peers at other state universities, according to data from the US Department of Education. Durham businessman Greg Lindberg wants to help change this.

Johnston County school leaders are hoping a new program will bring its students back to the district to teach. Participants will be able to complete an associate degree in teaching while still in high school. And an added perk: they won't have to pay for it.

A new report from The Chronicle of Higher Education ranks the country’s highest-paid university officials. A number in North Carolina fell in the top hundred – but officials from most of the state’s historically black colleges and universities were not to be found in their ranks.

North Carolina's experimental Innovative School District will open soon and now has a director for its first school. Community leaders in Lumberton gathered Thursday to meet Southside-Ashpole Elementary's new director Bruce Major. The public school will re-open in August under its new management.

The University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in the past year to provide security around its contentious Confederate monument. UNC police estimate that between July 2017 and July 2018, the campus has spent $393,000 dollars on security around Silent Sam.

The University of North Carolina at Greensboro and Wake Technical Community College are two public institutions encouraging students from three for-profit colleges to consider them for transfer this fall.

North Carolina has a new law to give a school district more flexibility if it has a lot of struggling schools - and the law applies only to Rowan-Salisbury Schools.

Tension between State Superintendent Mark Johnson and the State Board of Education has not improved since the Supreme Court handed down its ruling in a case between the two. If anything, the tension is rising.

The Art Institute campuses in Durham and Charlotte are expected to close sometime this year, according to a memo sent to employees Monday and obtained by the News & Observer. The decision, as well as the expected closing of South University in High Point, could affect approximately 3,000 students.

When students think of summer, most think of sleeping in, no homework or going to the pool. But Guilford County Schools officials want students to add another thing to that list: reading. 

North Carolina K-12 teachers have received a lot of attention lately, and that's leaving early-childhood educators to feel a bit left out.

Orange County Schools has hired an online security company to scan social media for threats, but it's unclear what they're looking for or what they'll do about it.

Lawmakers focused on improving school safety for months have planned to address a significant shortage of school psychologists, but none of the related bills filed by legislators look like they are going anywhere during this legislative session. 

A Raleigh mother is raising money to open a high school in Wake County designed specifically for students overcoming addiction.

An omnibus education bill titled "Various Changes to Education Laws" emerged from a legislative committee Wednesday. Senators added a number of provisions to an existing bill that was originally only about cursive writing, multiplication tables and advanced math classes.

A Robeson County elementary school damaged by Hurricane Matthew will close for good. The decision came after a group of parents pleaded to keep it open.

More North Carolina teachers have responded to a working conditions survey than ever before. The results reveal 40 percent of participants don't believe class sizes are conducive to meeting the needs of all students.