U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan celebrated his 50th birthday Thursday by making his first trip to Greensboro.
But it was Duncan who brought the gift: $20 million in federal grant money for a nonprofit education reform group based in Raleigh that helps high school students get a head start on college.
“This is not a gift,” Duncan told a packed ballroom at UNCG. “It is an investment.”
The federal money will go to the North Carolina New Schools, which was launched about 10 years ago with funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Duncan was in Greensboro to recognize one of N.C. New Schools’ key programs, the North Carolina Investing in Rural Innovative Schools initiative. The rural schools project works with the UNCG iSchool, which offers online college courses to students at high schools across North Carolina.
A $15 million federal grant in 2011 helped start the rural schools project, which aims to let students in isolated areas know that college is not such a distant or impossible dream.
The program has since spread to 18 high schools in 11 rural counties. N.C. New Schools said it would reach 16,000 students by 2016.
Students at participating schools take tuition-free college courses at their area community colleges or online at either UNCG or East Carolina University. Students can earn as many as 21 college credits while still in high school.
Duncan said he has been impressed with the results so far. At the project’s first five schools, dropout rates fell 30 percent.
“You guys have demonstrated to us the impact you’ve had on students’ lives,” he said.
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Find additional coverage of Secretary Duncan’s visit and the grant announcement at the following links:
- WXII | Preparing rural area students for college
- News 14 | NC early college program gets $20 million grant
- News & Observer | NC New Schools chosen for $20 million federal grant
- Education Week - Politics K-12 blog | Twenty-six applicants poised to win Investing in Innovation grants
- Education Week - Rural Education blog | Federal grant to boost rural dual enrollment program
- Triad Business Journal | Top U.S. education official will visit the triad on Thursday
- WNCN | U.S. schools head sees college prep in rural areas
- WRAL | 2 NC schools among 26 noted for innovation grant
- Philanthropy NC (blog)| NC New Schools gets $20 million federal grant
- WSOC (Charlotte)| 2 NC schools among 26 noted for innovation grant
- Columbus (Ga.) Ledger-Enquirer | 2 NC schools among 26 noted for innovation grant
- Education Week - Published newspaper | 26 Applicants Poised to Win Federal Innovation Grants
