Nine schools across North Carolina were recently recognized at the N.C. Child Hunger Leaders Conference with N.C. School Breakfast Challenge Awards for using innovative strategies to increase participation in School Breakfast Programs and ensuring that their students start each day with a healthy breakfast. Breakfast Challenge Winners are the top three schools at each level - elementary, middle and high - that achieved the highest percentage increases in School Breakfast Program participation. The 2018 N.C. Breakfast Challenge winners achieved increases in School Breakfast Program participation in the range of 22 to 62 percent.
Press Releases
State Superintendent Mark Johnson joins Gov. Roy Cooper and North Carolina’s business community in recognizing March as Students@Work℠ Month. This statewide career-awareness effort offers students the chance to hear from guest speakers, take part in worksite visits or engage in virtual programs to begin exploring potential careers.
High school students from across North Carolina are putting on their chef’s hats to cook up creative school lunch recipes for the second N.C. Jr. Chef Competition. Eight finalist teams from Career and Technical Education food, nutrition, and culinary arts courses will meet in a cook-off April 1 at the Piedmont Food & Agriculture Processing Center in Hillsborough. Based on a review of all applications and recipes submitted, the following teams were selected for the cook-off phase of the competition:
Surrounded by hundreds of teachers, school and district leaders, business and community leaders, and lawmakers, State Superintendent Mark Johnson announced his “#NC2030” plan Tuesday, a detailed strategy that will ensure North Carolina’s public schools are the best place to learn and teach by 2030. Tactics of the comprehensive strategy include continuing to increase teacher compensation, eliminating high-stakes standardized testing through personalized learning, recruiting our best and brightest to the teaching profession, providing more local flexibility to school districts, encouraging all viable career pathways for students, and investing in school construction, pre-K and kindergarten-readiness programs, and better support for beginning teachers.
Eight outstanding public school principals have been selected as regional Wells Fargo North Carolina Principals of the Year and will now compete for the state title of 2019 Wells Fargo North Carolina Principal of the Year. The winner will succeed the 2018 recipient, Tabari Wallace, principal of West Craven High (Craven County Schools).
North Carolina school bus drivers will get extra attention next week during School Bus Driver Appreciation Week, as schools and districts honor drivers for their important role with various events and celebrations. Nationally, February is Love the Bus month, intended to raise awareness and appreciation for the safe experience of riding the bus to and from school.
North Carolina Superintendent of Public Instruction Mark Johnson announced several leadership additions for the Department of Public Instruction today.
Nine teachers from across North Carolina have been selected as the state's regional Teachers of the Year for their dedication, innovation and ability to inspire students to achieve.
State Superintendent Mark Johnson and North Carolina Community College System President Peter Hans have joined to proclaim the month of February "Career Pathways Month" in North Carolina. The proclamation acknowledges the many great career paths that are available to North Carolina's public school students. Superintendent Johnson and President Hans made the announcement at the North Wake College and Career Academy in Wake Forest.
Nearly 1 million North Carolina public school students last year were eligible to receive free or reduced-priced school meals through the National School Lunch Program. But only a little more than 100,000 of them received meals during the summer months through the state’s Summer Nutrition Programs.
<p>Under the five-year program, Advancing Charter Collaboration and Excellence for Student Success, or NC ACCESS, the Department of Public Instruction expects to award five-year grants of up to $600,000 to 10 schools this year and 40 additional schools during the next four years.</p>
Making good on the promise he made when he entered office, State Superintendent Mark Johnson today announced initiatives to reduce the testing currently required for students in North Carolina’s public schools. The steps come after getting feedback from parents and teachers. Recent surveys showed a high percentage feel that students are taking too many tests. These steps are in addition to changes that have already been taken over the last two years by Johnson.
State Superintendent Mark Johnson visited one of the areas hardest hit by Hurricane Florence today to announce major new corporate support for Florence Aid for Students and Teachers in NC (FAST NC). FAST NC is a bi-partisan initiative created last fall after so many North Carolina Schools were affected by the storm.
The academic gains North Carolina schools achieved last year are in the spotlight as communities across the state commend their schools and educators with presentations of award certificates from State Superintendent Mark Johnson.
With 557 North Carolina teachers earning their national certification this month, North Carolina continues to lead the nation with the most teachers holding the credential from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards.
Summer Nutrition Programs fulfill a critical need in providing nourishment and educational enrichment to children when school is out. Fifteen Summer Nutrition Programs in North Carolina were recently recognized with one of three state-level awards for going above and beyond to serve children.
State Superintendent Mark Johnson announced today that an additional $35 million has been awarded to school districts affected by Hurricane Florence, meaning all $60 million appropriated by the General Assembly on Oct. 15 as part of the Hurricane Florence Disaster Recovery Fund has been distributed to schools. Funding in the first round of awards, announced Oct. 16 and totaling $25 million, was focused on assisting districts in reopening closed schools. Monday, districts learned of the awards in this final round, which total $35 million and are intended to again assist districts with reopening closed schools as well as covering the costs already incurred to reopen schools, with a priority given to districts that have depleted or encumbered their local funds.
North Carolina’s high school class of 2018 saw performance gains over the previous year’s graduates on the SAT college admissions exam while also opening a wider margin with the nation overall, according to results released today by The College Board, which administers the national exams.
State Superintendent Mark Johnson announced today that the N.C. Department of Public Instruction is disbursing $60 million in emergency capital funding for the public schools damaged by Hurricane Florence: $25 million from the N.C. Education Lottery fund and $35 million appropriated by the General Assembly Monday from the state’s rainy-day fund. The funds will go toward emergency capital needs for damaged schools in the 28 counties designated in President Donald Trump’s disaster declaration following the storm and flooding in September.
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) has awarded an $8.8 million grant to the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction in support of NC Project ACTIVATE, a five-year program that increases mental health awareness for students, provides training for staff in recognizing and accommodating students with mental health needs, continues research into early prevention plans for substance abuse, and more.