Editorial: Mooresville Schools paving the way

Gov. Bev Perdue plans to visit East Mooresville Intermediate School today, following a long line of educators from all over the country who have made the trek — chiefly to see what the small school district is doing with technology.

More will be coming since The New York Times published a story on Feb. 12 about the Mooresville Graded School District’s impressive results.

Since assigning all middle- and high-school students laptop computers three years ago and rethinking its approach to education, Mooresville’s graduation rate has increased from 80 percent to 91 percent. Student test scores are up — way up. Eighty-eight percent of students met proficiency standards in the last round of testing, compared to 73 percent three years ago. Attendance has improved.

It’s a phenomenal success — and one that could point the way toward better use of technology in all schools. A new education model is taking shape, one in which students move at their own pace and in their own style, with teachers acting more as leaders and tutors than lecturers.

“It’s about changing the culture of instruction,” Superintendent Mark Edwards told The Times, “preparing students for their future, not our past.” Teachers and administrators value computers, The Times said, “for how they tap into the oldest of student emotions — curiosity, boredom, embarrassment, angst.” In some cases, computers are literally taking the place of teachers. The system let 37 teachers go to free up funds.

Mooresville is a small school district, with about 6,000 students, compared to Rowan-Salisbury’s 20,000. That lends flexibility. More important, the Mooresville Board of Education has taxing authority. It recently increased the district’s supplemental property tax by 5 cents, from 13.5 cents to 18.5 cents per $100 valuation — a $75 hike for a $150,000 home.

Though The New York Times referred to Mooresville as a modest community, the town is affluent compared to Salisbury and Rowan. The median household income in Mooresville is $52,059, compared to Salisbury’s $35,871 and Rowan County’s $43,596.

That doesn’t mean this kind of innovation is out of reach for others, but it does throw up obstacles — mainly cost. Rowan-Salisbury school leaders tout the system’s 21st century classrooms and their high-tech approach, but in some cases that’s just one classroom per school. The system has used iPods and wireless busses to give students more access to technology, but putting a computer in each child’s hands seems like a distant dream.

Still, that’s where many innovations start, with dreams and aspirations. Studying Mooresville’s example may help more systems claim their dreams and build concrete steps to reach them.