This is the second installment in a two-part series on the tenure of outgoing State Superintendent Catherine Truitt. Part 1 can be read here.
RALEIGH — Undoubtedly one of the biggest impacts of State Superintendent Catherine Truitt’s term in office has been legislation passed in April 2021 that implemented phonics-based learning through the Science of Reading
By June of that year, training began using Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling (LETRS), and through the end of last school year, 44,000 had completed the required courses.
Truitt’s office recently reported that elementary student reading improved for the third year in a row, with North Carolina students outperforming the national average at every grade level tested
Doing the same thing in math is something Truitt had her eye on, however, those plans stalled when the legislature ended its short session.
“So we had a legislative ask for the short session, which was on track to be funded that would include expanding the early screener, which is DIBELS 8, to make that mandatory for grades four and five because it so it’s such a great way for teachers to pinpoint where gaps are,” said Truitt. So that, plus the same company that does LETRS professional development has a 40-hour professional development for middle school teachers. That was on our list of asks, but then session imploded.”
Even though she is leaving office after losing the Republican primary to Michele Morrow in March, Truitt wanted it to be “very clear” that LETRS is here to stay because it was already law through the Excellent Public Schools Act.
“So regardless of who comes in office, that work must continue because it’s in legislation,” said Truitt. “But that’s just the elementary, the legislation doesn’t contemplate middle and high school.”
Truitt has worked dozens of programs during her one term including the creation of the Office of Learning Recovery and Acceleration, LETRS training, Operation Polaris, Portrait of a Graduate, workforce development and spearheading a law cracking down on teacher sexual misconduct.
Truitt said she has two signature accomplishments during her time in office.
“My signature, which solely came from the person sitting before you, is the realignment of K-12 education to workforce development,” said Truitt. “In other words, approaching public K-12 education from the standpoint of ‘the purpose of this is so that all students can be enlisted, employed or enrolled when they graduate.’ That was solely my team and me.”
She also mentioned reading and literacy as being a joint effort with the legislature.
“The thing that we’ve done with the reading, I think, will have the single biggest impact on students and their trajectories,” Truitt said. “Because reading is the foundation of everything else. The work that will probably fall to the wayside when I leave office is the workforce development piece.”
Other pieces she’s proud of include computer science and career development plan legislation, and launching a toolkit with the North Carolina Chamber of Commerce to engage with local high schools.
Items she regrets were largely unfinished included math and reading at the middle and high school levels, revamping the A-F School Accountability Model, and being able to move the needle on the teacher Pathways to Excellence Program.
Truitt said the A-F model is “inadequate,” and surveys showed 90% agreed a single letter grade was not an accurate way to measure a school or student success. She said her office presented a viable model to the General Assembly, but lawmakers wanted to wait and “now that chance has expired.”
“We also have got to reimagine the teaching profession itself, which we had started to do with the Pathways to Excellence Program,” said Truitt. “We can’t continue to expect that a first-year teacher does the same job on day one as a veteran teacher. And we can’t continue to keep paying teachers the same way.”
Truitt acknowledged they were “asking for huge changes” in those items and she “would have been lucky to get those things done by year three of a second term. “
“That’s a huge paradigm shift, you know, the way we license and compensate teachers and the way we define the good quality school,” said Truitt. “Those are big, weighty issues that just needed more time to bake. And I get that. I get that.”
During her tenure, Truitt also pioneered the first parent advisory commission, which included public homeschool, charter and private school parents. She said the commission, along with charter schools and school choice in general, were a few points of friction between her and the state Board of Education.
Truitt has maintained support for school choice since she first campaigned for the post in 2020.
“That’s part of my core belief system; that is that the parent, not the state, is raising their child. So, that’s certainly not going to change,” she said. “I don’t see the school choice movement as being a criticism of public schools. I see the school choice movement as indicative of the fact that not all schools can be all things to all students. And that shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone.”
She compared it to switching pediatricians and pointed out she transferred as a college student because the first choice wasn’t “the right fit.”
“And I’ll also say, we don’t have this public-private fight with our university system,” said Truitt. “This is specific to K-12 public schools, and we have this fight because it’s political.
“Parents don’t care about the politics of school choice. Parents just want to be able to choose what’s best for their child.”
With her term ending in January 2025, Truitt said she’s had some offers but most are out of state and she isn’t interested in leaving North Carolina.
“So all I know is that whatever I’m doing come January, I want to find a way to continue to do the work that I’ve been doing, in whatever that looks like,” said Truitt. “In any job change situation, it’s hard to find the right fit.”
