The superintendent of Durham's public schools will leave at the end of the calendar year to work for the U.S. Department of Education.

Carl E. Harris will serve as the federal agency's deputy assistant secretary for policy and strategic initiatives, Sadia Latifi reports.

Harris has been credited with improving student performance and calming turmoil within the system. Like Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, Harris has ties to the Broad Foundation, a philanthropic organization for school reform that encourages charter programs, testing for accountability and a corporate model for school governance.

North Carolina fourth and eighth graders outperformed the national average in math on a national end of year test.

The National Assessment of Educational Progress math test results were released by the U.S. Department of Education. The tests showed that fourth graders in North Carolina were particularly strong in math. The average score in the state was 244 compared to 239 for the nation, according to a news release from the state Department of Public Instruction.   

Only Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire and Vermont performed significantly above North Carolina in fourth grade mathematics, according to DPI.

Eighth grade students in North Carolina outperformed their national counterparts although their score did not change from 2007. The average score in the state was 284, compared to the national average score of 282.

"As we prepare our students for the 21st century workforce, the importance of a solid foundation in mathematics cannot be overstated," Gov. Beverly Perdue said in a news release. "We must continue to make progress in this area — and push for excellence in all subjects — to ensure that all of our kids, everywhere in North Carolina, get the skills to succeed in any career, anywhere in the world."

N.C. Republican Party chairman Tom Fetzer sent out a press release late today calling on N.C. school systems to avoid President Barack Obama’s speech on education scheduled for noon Tuesday.

The U.S. Department of Education has encouraged schools to allow students to view the speech and has put out materials for teachers to use along with it, Barb Barrett reports. Despite criticism from Republicans, the White House says the speech is not political and is meant to encourage pupils to work hard in school.

"This speech is clearly political in nature and has no place in the classroom," Fetzer said in a prepared statement. "Our focus should be improving our students’ test scores, not the President’s approval rating."

Fetzer did not mention a visit to Durham’s Southern High School planned by Lisa Jackson, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, to coincide with the speech. Jackson is scheduled to visit students there on Tuesday and watch Obama’s speech with them live.

Several Cabinet and high-level administration officials are being sent to schools around the country to watch the speech with students.

A federal stimulus program called "Race to the Top" could mean hundreds of millions of dollars for North Carolina's cash-strapped public schools.

But the state may be hobbled at the starting gate because North Carolina's cap on the number of charter schools could work against it.

"Charters (are) a high priority for President (Barack) Obama," said Justin Hamilton, a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Education. "States that limit them put themselves at a strategic disadvantage in applying."

Under the federal stimulus program, the education department has nearly $4.4 billion in "Race to the Top" money for states that show innovation in education. Education officials call it the federal government's "largest one-time investment in K-12 public school reform."

States will be invited to submit proposals this fall. A handful will win grants early next year.

"You can bet your bottom dollar I have a team trying to get the money for North Carolina," Gov. Beverly Perdue told a Charlotte workshop on stimulus money this month.

In a conference call with reporters this month, U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan said, "States that do not have public charter laws or put artificial caps on the growth of charter schools will jeopardize their applications under the Race to the Top Fund."

North Carolina is one of 40 states that allow charters, and one of 26 that cap the number.

The current cap is 100, though at least two bills in the General Assembly would raise it. One measure that passed the House would put it at 106; the bill is in a Senate committee. (Char-O)

U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan will be in Cary this weekend for what his office is calling a "major policy speech" focusing on international standards for school achievement.

Duncan will be offering the keynote address Sunday night at the Governors Education Symposium, a meeting sponsored by the James B. Hunt, Jr. Institute for Educational Leadership and Policy, Lynn Bonner reports.

Duncan's speech will be the second in a series of four leading up to the opening of competition for $5 billion from the "Race to the Top"  fund — money Duncan will dole out to states to encourage school improvements.

The fund is part of the stimulus money Congress approved earlier this year.