North Carolina Readies Students for Careers and College

Gov. Bev Perdue announced yesterday her education agenda, Career and College – Ready, Set, Go!, in a speech to a Joint Session of North Carolina’s Educational Governing Boards in Kannapolis. Gov. Perdue outlined a framework to take on the educational challenges facing the state with the goal of preparing every student to be college or career ready after graduating from high school.

“We must re-focus our state’s public schools on a single goal. Every kid — no matter where he or she lives in North Carolina — must graduate from high school with what it really takes to succeed in a career, in a two- or four-year college or technical training,” she said.  “That means no more losing out on jobs that require more than low skills and no more remedial courses in college. Graduates will have what it really takes.”

North Carolina’s Educational Governing Boards — including the State Board of Education, the Universit of North Carolina Board of Governors, the N.C. State Board of Community Colleges and the N.C. Independent Colleges & Universities Board of Directors — are critical partners in Gov. Perdue’s plans for education in the state. They have the ability to set policies that will work together to achieve student readiness.

Gov. Perdue’s education agenda will work in three steps:

Ready :: Increasing the number of students who can read, write and do math by the end of third grade.

Set :: Increasing the number of students that perform at or above grade level.

Go :: Increasing the number of students taking college credit courses in high school; graduating from high school; going to college; and completing their degree from a community college, college or university.

Specific policy highlights include:

• incentives for great teachers in hard to staff schools and content areas;
• leadership Academy for school leaders;
• restructuring the ABCs program to include diagnostic assessment, 21st century skills and national assessments so we can see how our students compare to others across the nation and world;
• adopt the Common Core national standards, as everyone agrees on the skills that all students need to know to graduate ready to work, go to college or vocational school; and
• community college readiness initiative for diagnostic-type assessments to make sure that students graduate with skills necessary to do community college work.