State Superintendent discusses new educational plan in Burke visit

The North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (NCDPI) recently rolled out eight “Pillars of Excellence” for public schools in the state to work toward with the intention of being the best in the country by 2030.

State Superintendent Maurice “Mo” Green made a stop in Burke County Public Schools on Wednesday to discuss their values and the State Board of Education’s (SBE) unanimous decision to pursue the strategic plan called “Achieving Educational Excellence.”

“It has three major goals,” Green said. “Those are high academic achievements, character development, and then this audacious goal — that we will have the very best public education system in the entire country by 2030.”

The SBE developed the plan after Green’s “Mo Wants to Know” tour earlier this year, when he traveled around the state listening to feedback from teachers, students, parents, and communities.

According to Green, no pillar is more important than another, with each being integral to the SBE’s 2030 goals.

“When we’re saying we’re trying to be best in nation, we’ve got to have it all,” Green said. “We can’t have anything short of having all of them working in conjunction with each other to make it happen.”

The eight pillars consist of preparing each student for their next phase in life; revering public school educators; enhancing parent, caregiver, and community support; ensuring healthy, safe, and secure learning environments; optimizing operational excellence; leading transformative change; celebrating the excellence in public education; and galvanizing champions to fully invest in and support public education.

Each pillar contains focus areas and tangible actions aimed at satisfying specific measures. The 110 actions come with deliverables and launch dates covering the next four years.

“In the plan, you will see at the end of each action, a launch date. That’s the date when something becomes public,” Green said. “Not everything is launching at once. We’d kill ourselves to try to do it all at one time.”

Pillar Two addresses revering public educators — Green prefers “revere” to “respect” due to the immense importance of educational staff across the state in this new plan. Focus areas include recruitment, retention, increased compensation, and the restoration of pride in the education profession for teachers.

“We’ll come up with a strategy for advocacy with the general assembly,” Green said. “We’ll attempt to highlight all of the things that our educators are doing that are not being recognized in the appropriate level of compensation.”

One concern Green plans to highlight is the loss of educators in border counties, where educators may find the perks of other states to outweigh the opportunities in North Carolina.

While educational funding primarily comes from the General Assembly, Green expects to receive funds from private and nongovernmental sources as well. To elaborate on the financial opportunities, he cited a recent $25 million grant from the Golden Leaf Foundation for the improvement of mathematics in 15 rural schools in North Carolina.

“It isn’t all about what the General Assembly does, although they have a critical part to play. It will vary by action as to when we need to have whatever money we think we need to have,” Green said.

While some aspects of the Achieving Educational Excellence plan are still in development — such as what the exact definition and measurement of character education and development look like — some are fully fleshed and awaiting launch dates.

Green said the launch dates serve as a “measure of accountability for certainly the folks within DPI — and I would argue that’s also an accountability for the state board and for all of us as well. As each action launches, all of us will have some part to play in it.”

To review the full Achieving Educational Excellence plan including all eight pillars and their 110 actions, go to dpi.nc.gov/documents/statesuperintendent/achieving-educational-excellence-strategic-plan/download?attachment.