Last week, 120 policy, business and education leaders gathered at the Friday Institute on N.C. State’s Centennial Campus for the annual meeting of the North Carolina Business Committee for Education (NCBCE). NCBCE is a public private partnership within the Office of the Governor that gives business leaders across the state opportunities to support and become involved in public education.
NCBCE Chair Albert Eckel opened the meeting by identifying the day’s theme: Building Collaboration to Produce a Globally Prepared Student, Teacher and Workforce. Gov. Perdue spoke about the importance of strong collaboration between business and education. Her education agenda is focused on one goal: Every child, no matter where he or she lives, must graduate high school with what it really takes to succeed in a career, in college or in technical training. The Governor stressed the value of working together to make this a reality---in order for North Carolina to continue to thrive.
First Gentleman Bob Eaves thanked NCBCE for partnering with him in the Students@Work initiative which gives middle school students a chance to see what the real world of work requires. Visit www.governor.state.nc.us/studentsatwork for more information about ways middle school students are connecting their academics with the workplace.
Meeting participants were asked to identify the most important skills needed for success in the global economy. As that list of skills was developed, Superintendent June Atkinson facilitated a discussion led by NCBCE members Jeanene Martin (WakeMed) and Francisca Yanez (Inspire). These experts talked about assessing skills and making employment decisions.
The final panel of the day focused on a few of the successes in North Carolina. Abel Real, a student at East Carolina University, testified about the ways technology transformed his learning and directed his life. Abel benefitted from teachers who changed learning environments to better engage students when those students were given laptops in rural Greene County. James Blackwell, a junior at North Carolina Central University described his experience at the Early College High School located on that campus---and what raising expectations for his performance meant to him. Finally, Hiller Spires talked about the changes in preparing teachers to take advantage of all of the new learning tools that are available.
Prior to leaving the meeting, attendees were asked to help develop action steps for NCBCE by leaving behind their notes on what can be done to help students acquire the skills described.
Convening these leaders and giving them ways to share their expertise will help ensure that education progress continues---and that we prepare every student to succeed.
Check www.ncbce.org to find actions that will be emerging over the next few weeks!