In the News

External news stories featuring people and activities related to the College.

Outside of Glenwood Elementary School in Orange County

Aug 19, 2026

The News & Observer: Parents Anxious as Chapel Hill-Carrboro School Board Nears Mandarin Program Decision

Goodnight Distinguished Professor Maria Coady told The News & Observer that research shows dual-language immersion programs benefit students, but it’s a challenge to hire staff due to low teacher pay, political opposition, and education funding cuts, on top of a decline in the foreign-born population and immigrant birthrates.

Map of North Carolina with photo of Barbara Parramore

Aug 19, 2026

Our State: How the North Carolina Project Began

Generations of North Carolina students built their way through state history thanks to the vision and determination of one beloved educator: Barbara Parramore '59MS, a professor emerita and former department head with the College of Education who passed away July 1, 2026.

A student looks at blended sounds during a literacy lesson.

Aug 14, 2026

Education Week: A New Phonics Debate Shows How the ‘Science of Reading’ Movement Is Evolving

Debate about ‘linguistic’ phonics signals rising interest in using best practices in classrooms

Three children lay on the floor to read together

Aug 11, 2026

San Antonio Express-News: SAISD Put AI to Work at Middle Schools Struggling with Reading. Did it Help?

Efforts to boost school scores typically take about three years to yield results, said Devin Kearns, a professor at North Carolina State University whose research focuses on literacy intervention.

A photo of a bookstore with books on display.

Aug 11, 2026

WFAE: How Charlotte’s Bookstore Boom Could Impact Low Rates of Adult Literacy

Charlotte is in the midst of a bookstore boom, with many new independent bookstores popping up across the area. At the forefront of the rise are mobile bookstores, operating businesses from repurposed vehicles and bringing books straight to communities.

Julie Celestial, center, teaches her kindergarten class a literacy lesson at Mark Twain Elementary School in Long Beach, Calif. on Tuesday, May 6, 2025. Proponents of a "speech-to-print" phonics approach say it works more efficiently than other methods. But research evidence is inconclusive. Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times via TNS

Aug 10, 2026

Education Week: What is ‘Linguistic’ Phonics and Why Are Some Schools Adopting It?

The “science of reading” movement has ended, at least for now, one great literacy debate: Policymakers, education leaders, and experts almost universally agree that explicit, systematic phonics is an essential component of early literacy instruction.

A group of adult learners stand in a group looking at their work.

Aug 10, 2026

EdNC: Belk Center Launches Adult Learner Lab to ‘Help Colleges Scale What Works’

The Belk Center for Community College Leadership and Research announced the launch of the Adult Learner Lab (ALL) last week, a new “national hub for research, innovation and systems transformation focused on adult learners,” according to the ALL’s website.

The Browns are emblematic of the type of family that had sent their children to a brick-and-mortar school before 2020 but switched to homeschooling in response to the Covid-19 pandemic and stayed with it. Parents Arlena and Robert are shown leading their kids Jacoby, Felicity, and Riley through math practice in their home in July 2021.

Jul 22, 2026

Education Next: Parental Choice Is Sending Public Schools a Message. Are They Listening?

District leaders may be starting to see there’s more to be gained from embracing school choice than trying to eliminate it

Jul 8, 2026

EdNC: Partnership between NC State and WCPSS to help instructional assistants earn teaching license while working

NC State University’s College of Education and the Wake County Public School System (WCPSS) recently announced the start of a new partnership between their institutions.

Jul 6, 2026

WUNC: NC State and WCPSS partner to help instructional assistants become teachers

Janaki Palianappan has been an instructional assistant in a special education classroom at Smith Magnet Elementary for the last four years, and dreams of becoming a classroom teacher. The licensure requirements to become a teacher felt like a major obstacle, so she was thrilled when she received an email advertising a new program at North Carolina State University designed for instructional assistants like her.