CBS News Calls Gov. Easley’s High School Education Reforms “Revolutionary”

Gov. Mike Easley’s initiatives to reform high schools in North Carolina were praised as “revolutionary” in a national network news broadcast Thursday. CBS Evening News Correspondent Lee Cowan characterized the Learn and Earn program as high school reform “on steroids” and a “jumpstart that saves time and resources.”

Learn and Earn high schools are located on university or community college campuses. In five years, students can earn their high school diploma and an associate’s degree or two years of college credit.

CBS News spent almost a week in North Carolina looking at the state’s high schools, visiting Learn and Earn programs, and talking with administrators, teachers and students. The report is posted on the CBS News web site at:
www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/12/28/eveningnews/main2307635.shtml
and the video report can be viewed at:
www.cbsnews.com/sections/i_video/main500251.shtml?id=2309215n

The Governor’s Learn and Earn early college initiative has also been profiled by Newsweek magazine. In the June 12, 2006 edition, Newsweek looked at promising efforts to prepare people for globalization and changing economic times in the 21st century. “The Future is in their Hands” described North Carolina’s high school reform work and its effort to overhaul “its education system to create a 21st century work force.” The article can be found on the web at:
www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13122863/site/newsweek/.

The New Schools Project, which is supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, currently administers funding to 33 Learn and Earn schools through out North Carolina. Twenty new Learn and Earn school sites are planned to open in 2007. Easley has also fought for 25 smaller, economic development-themed schools and plans to open 10 more in 2007. These schools have no more than 400 students and a theme that enables students to make the connection between the courses they take and their desired career fields.