This page features a listing of Action for Children's Education Publications, featured in chronological order (most recent first).  To see more information, click "Read More."

Putting The Pieces In Place: A North Carolina School Readiness Report - June 2008

Research tells us that children really need to be on grade level by third grade to see good long-term educational outcomes. Action for Children's first-of-its-kind Putting the Pieces in Place: A North Carolina School Readiness Report explains that school readiness is really about working with all the key pieces of the puzzle—children, the schools, and families and communities—to ensure that those crucial first 8 years of life are filled with the kinds of resources, interactions and experiences that make for school and life success.

• Press Release 

Fact or Fiction: Corporal Punishment in North Carolina Public Schools - April 2008

North Carolina is one of 21 states with a law that permits corporal punishment in the public schools.  Yet, it may be the only state that does not monitor the administration of corporal punishment.  That is the core message of an issue brief, entitled Fact or Fiction: Corporal Punishment in North Carolina Public Schools. Findings include:

• Sixty local districts still permit corporal punishment.

• Fifty-five local districts ban it, and this number grows each year.

• Only 23 districts require principals to report the occurrence of corporal punishment to the superintendent’s office.  Thus, there is no check on the principal’s “discretion” with regard to corporal punishment.

• None of the policies reviewed require training for school personnel who administer corporal punishment.

• Seven districts have policies that require specific written parental permission to hit their child.  In all other districts, parents are notified only after the fact that their child has received corporal punishment.

In response to the fact that there is no statewide ban, Action for Children calls for the practice of corporal punishment to be standardized and monitored.

What Stands Between North Carolina Students and A Sound Basic Education? - March 2007

What Stands Between North Carolina Students and A Sound Basic Education?, issued jointly by Action for Children and The University of North Carolina School of Law’s Center for Civil Rights, documents the wide variations in school system resources and outcomes, and details policy options to improve outcomes statewide.  This easy-to-understand analysis of key education variables, 10 years after the first N.C. Supreme Court Leandro decision, examines data that focus on teacher, administrator and resource adequacy within our public schools, and in particular, within our most disadvantaged school systems.

Click for Instructions to Access More School District Data

Short-Term Suspensions; Long-Term Consequences; Real-Life Solutions - February 2007

Short-term Suspensions; Long-term Consequences; Real Life Solutions analyzes three years of school district level data by race and gender while offering concrete solutions for reducing short-term suspensions and thus reducing the likelihood of students dropping out of school.

2006 Children's Index - May 2006

The 2006 North Carolina Children's Index includes more than 75 indicators of child and youth well-being in the following areas: child health and safety, economic (in)security, early care and education, child maltreatment, juvenile justice and demographics. The 2006 Index also includes a special section highlighting how the children and youth of North Carolina are developing in positive ways.

Copies of the Children's Index are free.  If you would like to order multiple copies of the Index, we do ask that you pay postage costs. Please email your name, organization, mailing address and phone number to admin@ncchild.org

Outcomes By Income: Low-Income Children Fare Worse on Many Indicators - December 2005

North Carolina children who live in families above 200% of the federal poverty line—about $38,700 for a family of four—are more likely to enjoy excellent physical and dental health, more likely to be read to as young children, more likely to participate in after-school activities and sports, and less likely to repeat a grade than their lower-income peers.

One Out of Ten: The Growing Suspension Crisis in North Carolina - September 2005

North Carolina made a promise to provide all our children with a sound, basic education.  Yet, this promise is being broken for the more than 150,000 students who are suspended each year. In all, more than 1-out-of-every-10 students in North Carolina are suspended from school.  Suspensions occur in every single grade (including kindergarten), but are most prevalent during ninth grade.

Appropriate Education for Suspended Students - August 2005

Today’s students are tomorrow’s workforce.  North Carolina cannot afford to write-off more than 150,000 students.  But that is what is happening as more and more students lose out on their right to an education due to suspensions.  H1747 will promote appropriate education for this segment of the student population and further move North Carolina toward providing a sound, basic education to all of our children.

Brief History of the Leandro Case

Leandro is a court case that has been twice upheld by the North Carolina Supreme Court.  It determines that every North Carolina child has a Constitutional right to sound, basic education.  Action for Children has compiled brief history covering the case from its beginning in 1994.

• Click for "Confirming (2004) NC Supreme Court decision" (Justice Robert Orr) - July 2004
• Click for "Final Rulings (2002) of Judge Howard Manning in Leandro" - April 2002
  
• Click for "Original (1997) NC Supreme Court decision" (Chief Justice Burley Mitchell) - July 1997