Under the guise of school assemblies, two North Carolina educators were surprised on Friday when they received the national Milken Educator Award. Pitt County’s Ainsley VanBuskirk, a first grade teacher at Pactolus Global School, and Durham County’s Aisa Cunningham, principal of Pearsontown Elementary School, were named national Milken Educator Award winners, receiving a $25,000 prize.
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Sixteen North Carolina public school districts have been selected to join the North Carolina Recovery Practitioners Network, where they will work together with education researchers to develop recovery-focused interventions and evaluation plans to tackle some of the most pressing issues impacting schools and districts
Kurt Garner, a business teacher at J.H. Rose High School in Pitt County Schools, was named the North Carolina Center for the Advancement of Teaching (NCCAT) 2023 Career & Technical Education (CTE) Teacher of the Year in a special ceremony at the John W. Bardo Fine and Performing Arts Center on the campus of Western Carolina University Thursday, October 19, 2023.
This year, a dozen North Carolina school districts will benefit from a total of $800,000 in grants aimed at developing student skills in computer science through coding.
Today, the budget (HB 259) became law without the Governor’s signature. The budget includes more than $600 million additional dollars for public education, totaling almost $13.5 billion for North Carolina’s K-12 public school system. State Superintendent of Public Instruction Catherine Truitt issued the following statement in response:
Educators convicted of sexual misconduct against students will now face harsher penalties under new legislation approved by the General Assembly. The “Protect Our Students Act,” House Bill 142, will also help students be better equipped to understand appropriate teacher-student relationships.
Initiatives championed by the Department of Public Instruction (NCDPI) and State Superintendent of Public Instruction Catherine Truitt will require all North Carolina students to gain much-needed skills in computer science before graduation.
A record-setting 256 elementary schools across North Carolina will participate in the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program (FFVP) for the 2023-24 school year, the largest number of schools ever to participate in a given school year.
Rebounding from pandemic lows, North Carolina high school students in 2022-23 participated and performed in college-level Advanced Placement courses at levels above those during the 2018-19 school year, according to data reported by the College Board, which administers the AP program and exams.
Eight North Carolina public schools were named National Blue Ribbon Schools for 2023 by U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona.