ONE HUNDRED PERCENT!

Eight years ago we opened doors on the AB Tech campus to an entering class of ninth grade high school students from the six Buncombe County School districts. The promise of this new school was to provide unique educational opportunities to a diverse group of students. Each student was offered the opportunity to not only attain a high school diploma but, within a five year period, earn an associate’s degree or two years worth of transferable college credits.  Named Buncombe County Early College (BCEC), this innovative high school received primary support from the NC New Schools Project – a Gates Foundation model of 21st Century education. The school’s mission, to redefine teaching and learning through innovative design, promotes interdisciplinary courses, project based learning and a focus on college readiness. 

In February 2010 ABC's World News Tonight with Diane Sawyer featured BCEC in a story about innovative school programs. The story was prompted by an article in the New York Times about a new system of high school coursework that would allow students who pass "board exams" in their tenth grade year to immediately enroll in community college level courses. Dozens of high schools in eight states would soon use the new model, supported by the Gates Foundation and organized by the National Center on Education and the Economy.

Since BCEC’s opening 36 students have attained associate degrees while many others have pursued post-secondary opportunities after getting their high school diploma. Beginning with the first graduating class in 2010, graduates have earned over 5800 transferable college credit hours.

The past two years in a row Early College has received the highest recognition of academic success given by our state – Honor School of Excellence. The crowning achievement of success came at the close of the 2011-12 school year as BCEC actually met 100% of their AYP goals, and had 100% of their students performing at or above grade level!

Maybe the outstanding success is a direct result of the highly innovative instructional practices; the smaller class size that enhances personalization; the professionalism of staff and administration; the enhanced rigor throughout the curriculum; or the consistently held expectations of college readiness. Most likely, however, the success achieved by Buncombe County Early College is the result of all of the above. Congratulations BCEC!

Superintendent's Blog Dr. Tony Baldwin, Buncombe County Schools Your input and comments are welcome. Please view our Posting Guidelines.

Why Stem?

Did you know that at least 42 percent, perhaps even more, of the new jobs being created in North Carolina will require at a minimum some post-secondary education, many in science,technology, engineering and math (STEM) disciplines? Are you aware that while the average 2010 U.S. wage for all occupations was $21.34 per hour, workers in STEM-related occupations earned $33.69 per hour (58 percent more)? State of the Workforce Report (SOTW) 2011-2020)  A recent study from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation estimates that over 2 million jobs will be created in STEM-related fields by 2014!.

Whether it is speaking to recent college graduates, local college administrators or community based professionals in business and government, I am convinced that if we are to best prepare our students to successfully meet the challenges ahead, the importance of promoting STEM education can’t be overemphasized. A globally competitive work environment is not something our graduates should expect sometime in the future; it exists here and now! Likewise, the integration of science, technology, engineering and mathematics in a majority of both current and future work places is a given.

When we closed the Career Education Center in June of 2010, a commitment was made to our school community to explore the development of a STEM themed high school. What this program will look like and how it will be structured has been an ongoing effort of a comprehensive team of stakeholders over the past two years, utilizing information and guidelines from a variety of state and national resources. 

Of these resources, perhaps the most important is the STEM Strategic Plan approved last November by the State Board of Education (https://www.ncstem.org/stem-strategy/attributes-rubric.html). This Plan outlines the integration of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) curriculum throughout all NC public schools. The comprehensive plan included a detailed rubric that identifies the essential components of a high quality STEM based high school. 

Five of the most important components for a successful STEM school include:

1) Partnerships with area businesses and professional agencies allowing opportunities for shadowing, internships and apprenticeships; 

2) Partnerships with post-secondary institutions including community colleges and universities allowing access to college credit; 

3) Integration of  STEM concepts throughout all subject areas and courses including the language arts and social sciences; 

4) Classrooms instruction designed as heavily student-centered and project based; and 

5) Technology immersed throughout the campus. This document has proven invaluable to our system’s initiative to promote STEM.

On August 2^nd, prior to our regularly scheduled board meeting we will hold a work session to provide our school board and public an initial look at potential courses of study, curriculum offerings, classroom instructional models, and facility design. Included is an alignment designed to connect high school courses of study with similar strands at the college level ultimately leading to identified professional careers. The public is welcome to attend, and encouraged to become informed and involved in our STEM efforts, both for the proposed STEM-themed high school, and for all schools.

Superintendent's Blog Dr. Tony Baldwin, Buncombe County Schools Your input and comments are welcome. Please view our Posting Guidelines.

There are few smiles as memorable as those of the hundreds of students whose hands I shook, and of the thousands of parents, friends and family whose faces I saw from the stage,  during the 10 graduation ceremonies held at the end of the 2011-12 school year. These ceremonies were held for each of our six traditional high schools, Community High School, Early College, Middle College, and our Progressive Education Program students. We are all so very proud of our graduates, and wish them all the best as they go forward to post-secondary education and careers.

As we prepare for a new school year, it is good to reflect on the year past. It was a very, very busy year, with a host of both state and local initiatives that required extensive time and dedicated efforts on behalf of teachers and staff throughout the school system. In this and upcoming blogs, I would like to address the initiatives that will have significant impact on what happens in the classroom for the coming school year and beyond. Let’s start with a look at the re-accreditation process which was completed in April 2012.

Re-accreditation
Every five years, Buncombe County Schools participates in a comprehensive internal and external review process. This includes developing new mission/vision/core belief statements and a revised 5-year strategic plan, with input from all stakeholders. The 2012-13 process resulted in the re-accreditation of the school system. The external review team had members from other school systems from NC and other states. They commended Buncombe County Schools on four key strengths:

• providing quality professional development that enhanced leadership capacity;
• building and nurturing a culture of collaboration among internal and external stakeholders;
• recognizing a “new normal” related to funding for the school system, and proactively adjusting to the reality through innovation; and
• implementation of the highly successful Graduation Initiative aimed at reducing the dropout rate.  

In addition to the four areas of commendation, the review team recognized three areas for growth.  Supported by a new strategic plan that was developed with significant input from stakeholders, the three areas cited for growth will provide a focus for efforts in the 2012-13 school year and beyond. These areas include:

• implementing strategies to improve academic achievement within under performing student subgroups;
• developing more precise and measurable goals to assess continuous improvement; and
• enhancing efforts at ‘school to parent communication,’ especially providing information related to both school effectiveness and student performance.  

We will be focusing on the three growth areas, and continuing the areas of commendation, in a number of ways across the school system in 2012-13, including implementing a pilot program in the North Buncombe district for a new parent portal that provides home web-based access to individual student data. You can read our entire 5-year strategic plan which addresses the work of the school system in the coming years.

As always, I welcome your comments and questions, along with suggestions for areas you would like to see addressed in my blog or in other ways (see planned topics below). Thank you for your interest in our schools!

PS....here is a glimpse at upcoming topics: a look at the 2012-13 Budget; the new Common Core and Essential Standards and changes to assessments; the impact of the school calendar changes enacted by the General Assembly; and, exciting global and technology initiatives.