Daily Lessons: Inside Western Guilford High School

Series produced by WUNC

Series image
Image by: Billy Barnes 

Free! - Ten part series about challenges facing a public high school in North Carolina.

A series about challenges facing public high schools, with a focus on the challenges and implications of increasing standardized testing and "No Child Left Behind" requirements

Series' pieces fit into Morning Edition and ATC

"Daily Lessons: Inside Western Guilford High School" is a ten part documentary series about a public high school in Greensboro, North Carolina. A team of reporters spent six months at the school to document how a ?typical? high school is dealing with some daunting new realities. Schools across the nation are facing similar challenges:

Expanded testing requirements: Complying with the federal "No Child Left Behind Act" and the North Carolina "ABCs of Public Education" means tests, tests, and more tests. The result is a radical shift in the traditional rhythms of high school and big changes in what students are learning and how teachers are teaching.

A worsening teacher shortage: North Carolina needs 10,000 new teachers annually to fill classroom vacancies, yet the state?s teaching colleges are only turning out 3,000 a year. At the same time, many new teachers burn out quickly, and veteran teachers are increasingly frustrated with the direction of public education, and wondering whether they?ll stay.

Demographic change: NC has one of the fastest growing immigrant populations in the nation, meaning schools have to figure out ways to teach thousands of students whose first languages can be Spanish, Tagolog, Urdu or Arabic. Supporting those students, helping them learnEnglish, and making sure they pass standardized tests, is a challenge for high schools.

A radically changed economy: The manufacturing and agriculture jobs that once fueled the North Carolina economy are fast disappearing, replaced by jobs that require more skills and higher education. Some educators say high schools must prepare all students for college. Others say high schools can?t forget students who might not be headed for higher education.

"Daily Lessons: Inside Western Guilford High School" was produced for the series "North Carolina Voices: Studying High School" on North Carolina Public Radio - WUNC. The series originally aired in May 2006. For more about the series, please visit http://wunc.org/voices

A script for each radio piece, including a suggested host introduction, is attached with each piece. Please feel free to edit intros.

Hide full description

A series about challenges facing public high schools, with a focus on the challenges and implications of increasing standardized testing and "No Child Left Behind" requirementsSeries' pieces fit into Morning Edition and ATC "Daily Lessons: Inside Western Guilford High School" is a ten part documentary series about a public high school in Greensboro, North Carolina. A team of reporters spent six months at the school to document how a ?typical? high school is dealing with some daunting new realities. Schools across the nation are facing similar challenges:Expanded testing requirements: Complying with the federal "No Child Left Behind Act" and the North Carolina "ABCs of Public Education" means tests, tests, and more tests. The result is a radical shift in the traditional rhythms of high... Show full description


11 Pieces

Order by: Newest First | Oldest First
Piece image
We begin a series to better understand the challenges facing all high schools by looking closely at one school: Western Guilford High School in Gre...

Bought by WEZU, Red River Radio Network (E. Texas/Louisiana/Arkansas/Mississippi), and WAMC Northeast Public Radio


  • Added: Sep 05, 2006
  • Length: 08:13
  • Purchases: 3
Piece image
More students drop out in the 9th grade than any other year of school. At Western Guilford High School in Greensboro, North Carolina, school leader...

Bought by WEZU, Red River Radio Network (E. Texas/Louisiana/Arkansas/Mississippi), and WAMC Northeast Public Radio


  • Added: Sep 05, 2006
  • Length: 08:16
  • Purchases: 3
Piece image
A ball game at Western Guilford High School was once the "only" place to be on a Friday night. Western was the heart of a tight-knit community that...

Bought by WEZU, Red River Radio Network (E. Texas/Louisiana/Arkansas/Mississippi), and WAMC Northeast Public Radio


  • Added: Sep 05, 2006
  • Length: 07:59
  • Purchases: 3
Piece image
Do you remember what you learned in high school? Much of what is taught stays the same, year after year, from generation to generation. Homer's Ody...

Bought by WEZU, Red River Radio Network (E. Texas/Louisiana/Arkansas/Mississippi), KZMU Moab Community Radio, and WAMC Northeast Public Radio


  • Added: Sep 05, 2006
  • Length: 08:07
  • Purchases: 4
Piece image
In Greensboro, North Carolina the textile and manufacturing industries once provided good jobs to generations of people with little or no education...

Bought by WEZU, Red River Radio Network (E. Texas/Louisiana/Arkansas/Mississippi), and WAMC Northeast Public Radio


  • Added: Sep 05, 2006
  • Length: 08:02
  • Purchases: 3
Piece image
There has been a dramatic change in education and it?s all about numbers. State and federal laws now require schools to measure just about everythi...

Bought by WEZU, Red River Radio Network (E. Texas/Louisiana/Arkansas/Mississippi), WAMC Northeast Public Radio, and KPFT


  • Added: Sep 05, 2006
  • Length: 07:54
  • Purchases: 4
Piece image
In the past five years, at Western and high schools around the country, there's been a big push to increase the number of students taking higher le...

Bought by WEZU, Red River Radio Network (E. Texas/Louisiana/Arkansas/Mississippi), 90.5 WSNC, and WAMC Northeast Public Radio


  • Added: Sep 05, 2006
  • Length: 07:35
  • Purchases: 4
Piece image
Schools across the country are scrambling to fill a teacher shortage. In Greensboro, North Carolina, the school system is offering new teachers fre...

Bought by Red River Radio Network (E. Texas/Louisiana/Arkansas/Mississippi), WAMC Northeast Public Radio, and KQAT


  • Added: Sep 05, 2006
  • Length: 08:03
  • Purchases: 3
Piece image
We conclude our series from Western Guilford High School in Greensboro. A team of reporters visited Western over the course of six months?. gettin...

Bought by WEZU, Red River Radio Network (E. Texas/Louisiana/Arkansas/Mississippi), and WAMC Northeast Public Radio


  • Added: Sep 05, 2006
  • Length: 07:54
  • Purchases: 3
Piece image
Every year, hundreds of thousands of teenagers in the United States drop out of school. The reasons are many and each story is unique. Today, as ...

Bought by WEZU, WVAS, Red River Radio Network (E. Texas/Louisiana/Arkansas/Mississippi), SpiritHouse Inc/Youth Noise Network, and WAMC Northeast Public Radio


  • Added: Sep 05, 2006
  • Length: 08:09
  • Purchases: 5