Press Releases

Release Date between
As many students in North Carolina public schools begin school this week, State Superintendent Mark Johnson announced that he has taken steps to reduce the time spent testing for many of the state’s youngest scholars. The move follows a survey (pdf, 101kb) Johnson sent to teachers last school year that showed that 76 percent of North Carolina teachers think their students are tested too much.
School nutrition managers from across North Carolina have had the opportunity this summer to participate in regional K-12 Culinary Institute workshops. The School Nutrition Services Section of the Department of Public Instruction designed the institute to increase the availability of appealing, nutritious meals at school.
The North Carolina Department of Public Instruction today announced the 2018-19 U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) policy for free and reduced-price meals for children enrolled in North Carolina’s schools. The federally assisted school nutrition programs help ensure all students have access to wholesome, nutritious, appealing meals at school.
As part of the state’s Read to Achieve program, State Superintendent Mark Johnson announced today that the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) has provided new Apple iPads for every public school K-3 reading teacher in the state to support K-3 literacy. The iPads, which were purchased in June and delivered in time for school districts and charter schools to distribute to early-grades reading teachers before the start of the school year, will help teachers monitor students’ reading growth and identify where students need help. Each classroom will also receive a new set of books for students.
More than 460 North Carolina students from 41 high schools and 17 community colleges traveled to Louisville, Ky., earlier this summer as the third-largest delegation to attend the 54th annual SkillsUSA National Leadership and Skills Conference, which drew more than 17,000 participants in all from every state and U.S. territory.
North Carolina Superintendent Mark Johnson announced Monday that 16 districts have been awarded grants totaling $800,000 under the second round of the Coding and Mobile App Development Grant Program that was launched last year with funding from the General Assembly.
A Hertford County school bus driver and Pitt County bus technician won top honors at North Carolina’s annual School Bus ROADeo and Technician Inspection Competition held earlier this summer as part of the 2018 NC Pupil Transportation Summer Transposium in Charlotte.
This summer, 670 of North Carolina’s most academically gifted and creative rising high school juniors and seniors are exploring cutting-edge ideas and concepts in academics and the arts as part of the 2018 session of the North Carolina Governor’s School. The 2018 session started June 17 and continues until July 25.
Students from Franklin, Harnett and Union County Schools received top honors Wednesday in the North Carolina Summer Nutrition Programs promotional materials contest, in which students design promotional materials to help increase the awareness of N.C. Summer Nutrition Programs.
Two elementary school students from North Carolina will compete Friday and Saturday in Los Angeles in the final round of the Braille Challenge, a series of events culminating in a national competition for students who are blind or visually impaired. 
N.C. Summer Nutrition Programs mascot, “Ray F. Sun,” and State Superintendent Mark Johnson visited the General Assembly today to share information about summer meals for students. The Department of Public Instruction’s School Nutrition Services section works with local schools and organizations to offer summer nutrition programs, providing children and teens with nutritious meals when school is out.
Nearly three-dozen school districts and charter schools across North Carolina will share $2.18 million in grant funding during the 2018-19 school year to advance digital-age teaching and learning through locally developed initiatives.
Nearly 110,000 educators across North Carolina shared their opinions in this year’s Teacher Working Conditions Survey, setting a record response rate of 91 percent for the state’s biennial comprehensive survey of educator perceptions that was first given in 2002.
North Carolina’s long-established Troops to Teachers program has secured a grant of more than $800,000 to continue its outreach efforts to assist service members in becoming teachers in the public schools.
A student culinary team from Clyde A. Erwin High School in Buncombe County won third place in the Southeast Jr. Chef Competition May 9-10 with their Hot Asheville Chicken with Farmers Market Salad paired with a Cool Carolina Strawberry Smoothie. The team of three students, who call themselves the Caliente Cowboys and Cowgirl, represented North Carolina in the first-ever regional competition held at Sullivan University in Kentucky.
Tabari Wallace, a Craven County school administrator who helped boost student performance at two middle schools in his district, was named Wells Fargo North Carolina Principal of the Year at an awards luncheon today in Cary. Now principal of West Craven High School, Wallace was chosen from a field of eight regional finalists named earlier this year.
<p>A middle school teacher in Winston-Salem/Forsyth schools has won national recognition from the American Association of Family &amp; Consumer Sciences as the organization&rsquo;s national teacher of the year.</p>
<p>The State Board of Education today approved a report to the General Assembly on the results of an independent operational review of the Department of Public Instruction that includes 18 specific recommendations to help the department better support educators and students at North Carolina&rsquo;s school districts and charter schools.</p>
<p>Thirteen North Carolina Summer Nutrition Program sponsors are among the 111 nationwide this year to receive&nbsp;<em>Turnip the Beet</em>&nbsp;awards, given by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to recognize outstanding providers who work hard to offer high quality meals that are appetizing, appealing and nutritious. &nbsp;</p>
Freebird McKinney, a social studies teacher at Walter M. Williams High School in Burlington, was named the 2018 Burroughs Wellcome Fund North Carolina Teacher of the Year during an awards luncheon today in Cary. McKinney was selected from a field of nine finalists representing the state’s eight education districts and charter schools.