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WakeEd Partnership’s Free Classroom Supply Store for Wake County Teachers Opens Next Week

WakeEd will officially open Tools4Schools, a new free classroom supply store for Wake County Public School System teachers on January 18th. A ribbon-cutting ceremony and first wave of teacher shoppers is scheduled for 11AM.

WakeEd Partnership Hits $50,000 Goal for Matching Grant for Classroom Supply Store for Teachers

WakeEd Partnership announced that it has met the $50,000 goal to secure a matching grant from the 4 Others Foundation to support its new teacher classroom supply warehouse Tools4Schools.

WakeEd Partnership Reaches Halfway Mark for $50,000 Matching Grant for its Free Classroom Supply Store for Teachers

WakeEd Partnership announced today it has reached the halfway point to secure a $50,000 grant from the 4 Others Foundation to support its new teacher classroom supply warehouse Tools4Schools.

WakeEd Partnership Board of Directors Urges Action on Leandro Plan, Adopts Resolution Calling for Full Funding from NC General Assembly

WakeEd Partnership’s Board of Directors has adopted a resolution urging the North Carolina General Assembly to fully fund the Leandro Action Plan. The resolution calls on the NC General Assembly to “fully enact the policy and funding reforms included in the Leandro Plan to ensure that all North Carolina students have access to a sound basic education by the 2028 school year.”

COVID Gives North Carolina a Chance to Scrap a Bad Grading Policy

Gov. Roy Cooper’s recent signature on a bill that includes a waiver of school performance grades for 2020-21 has opened an unexpected window of opportunity.

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WakeEd Partnership Board of Directors Urges Action on Leandro Plan, Adopts Resolution Calling for Full Funding from NC General Assembly

Investor Spotlight: BASF

For innovation to happen, we need people who understand our customers’ needs and challenges, as well as the ability to use creativity, critical thinking, collaboration, and STEM training to come up with solutions for our current and future needs.

WakeEd Wednesdays

WakeEd Wednesdays is a video series produced to simplify many of the complexities of North Carolina’s largest school district, the Wake County Public School System. With more than 180 schools, 160,000 students, and 11,000 teachers, WCPSS has a major impact on all Wake County residents regardless of whether they have children enrolled in the schools.

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WakeEd Partnership Names Keith Poston President

Wake County education nonprofit WakeEd Partnership has named Keith Poston as its new President. From 2014 to 2019, Keith served as President and Executive Director of the Public School Forum of North Carolina, leading the statewide public education nonprofit during a critical juncture in its 33-year history.

WakeEd Board of Directors: Schools need support and flexibility during COVID-19

Earlier this week, the WakeEd Board of Directors sent a letter to all members of the NC House and Senate who represent Wake County, and to members of the House Select Committee on COVID-19's working group on education. The letter encourages the continuation of pay and...

WCPSS Response to COVID-19 An Example of Masterful Leadership

The response by Wake County Public School System to the COVID-19 pandemic is a masterclass in leadership by example in using the 4 C’s: Collaboration, Communication, Critical Thinking and Creativity.

Girls in STEM at Carroll Magnet Middle School

Earlier this year, Carroll Magnet Middle School partnered with local television station The CW22 through WakeEd’s Link program to help 7th and 8th grade broadcasting students develop both technical and communication skills needed to produce Carroll’s daily news show, the Carroll News Network.

STEM education or educated companies? We need both.

When it comes to careers in STEM, we need more women involved. According to the World Economic Forum, in science alone, less than 30% of the world’s researchers are women and this under-representation occurs in every region in the world.

Investor Spotlight: BASF

Attrition Report Ignores Serious ‘Brain Drain’ Among K-12 Teachers

According to a report about teacher attrition prepared for the State Board of Education this week, the fact only 7.5 percent of teachers have left the public schools to work in another industry or state is seen as an indicator of rising job satisfaction among teachers. It’s reasonable to draw that conclusion, but this is not a significant victory.

WakeEd Partnership Announces Leadership Change

Wake County Education Nonprofit Names Interim President, Begins Search for Leader in 2020 RALEIGH, N.C. — WakeEd Partnership (WakeEd), a business-backed nonprofit organization committed to supporting teachers and students in the Wake County Public School System...

Investing in Education is A Choice, Not An Invoice

The 25-year lawsuit to improve education funding in North Carolina reached a major milestone last week and reactions ranged from “I told you so.” to “How will we pay for it all?”

Boosting Hourly Pay is One Way to Ease School Bus Driver Shortage

For most people, the yellow school bus has a straightforward purpose: to get kids to and from school safely and in a timely manner each day. The concept is so simple it borders on mundane, but ask any school transportation official, bus driver, or school principal and it will be clear that the yellow school bus is perhaps the most crucial component of the school day for many kids.

National Reading Scores Show NC Literacy Instruction Needs Improvement

The disappointing news last week that the state’s overall reading proficiency of fourth graders has dropped since the start of the Read to Achieve law reveals some major flaws with that program, and it’s not with the teachers.

Even in large organizations like WCPSS focusing on finer details contributes to overall success

It can be easy to overlook details that tell a larger story while running a $1.6 billion organization with more than 19,000 employees, but as the saying goes: the devil is in the details.

Desegregation Efforts Taking an Important New Direction in WCPSS Schools

Wake County has been a national leader for its desegregation efforts for more than 40 years, and the Board of Education is poised to continue that leadership with a new approach to improving integration in its 191-and-growing schools

Stagnant School Performance Reveals It’s Time For A Change

The North Carolina school performance grades released last week continue to tell the same stories across the state: the schools with well off students perform better than schools with students from lower income families. That’s not what the school accountability is supposed to be telling us about our schools.

MVP Math = content + skills: A formula for workforce readiness and student success

There’s a common theme that comes through frequently as WakeEd interacts with dozens of business leaders around the Triangle: they need a ready workforce. Readiness means more than credentials and content knowledge, however. Business leaders almost unanimously say they need employees who can work in teams, convey information, perform analysis and solve problems.

BTLN: School Grade Versus Teacher Turnover

By: Margaret Borden | Math Teacher, Knightdale High School “Mrs. Borden, I know I want to study schools, but there are so many variables to choose from, how in the world will I narrow this down in time?” - Kiara Bush, May 17, AP Statistics class Since February, Kiara...

A 15-Point Win for School Report Cards

A bill on its way to the governor for signature will prevent a major upheaval in the way school performance is measured. It’s an issue that WakeEd and others have actively pursued for three years.

Wake’s Leaders Chose Wisely with New Tax Rate

This year’s Wake County tax increase was a big step in the direction of adequate funding because state leaders persist in approving austere budgets which have left large and small counties alike with picking up the tab for services traditionally funded by the state.