Release: IMMEDIATE	Contact: Cari Boyce
Date: 9/8/2004	Phone: (919) 733-5612
GOV. EASLEY ANNOUNCES ‘LEARN AND EARN’ HIGH SCHOOL PROGRAM
Provides Job Training and Advanced Degree Opportunities Through Fifth Year of High School
Raleigh - Gov. Mike Easley today announced a new program designed to provide incentive for high school students to remain in school, earn an associate’s degree and prepare them for high skill jobs in new and emerging industries. Learn and Earn will provide students with the option of a five-year high school program that enables them to earn a high school diploma and a community college associate degree while gaining necessary skills to pursue a career in the new economy.
“Learn and Earn will change North Carolina high schools so that students receive the skills and training they need for high-skilled, better-paying jobs,” said Easley. “If students know that they can graduate with practical job skills and an advanced degree, they will have an additional incentive to complete their degree before entering the workforce.
“Learn and Earn will provide a new model of high school that will boost graduation rates, boost college-going rates, and boost the preparedness of our students to work in an economy that demands knowledge, talent and skills.”
“We have made great strides over the past several years in increasing our college-going rate, and we now rank in the top six in the country,” said Easley. “However, we are still losing too many students between grades nine and 12 who drop out. This plan will give high school students another option that provides them with a marketable degree that prepares them for the workforce.”
Learn and Earn will have 15 initial pilots, five of which have admitted students for the current school year and ten additional start-up sites that will admit students in 2005-2006 school year. The Governor plans to expand the program statewide.
“There is a real demand for skilled workers in our transitioning economy,” said Easley. “Almost all of the new projects we recruit are looking for workers with at least an associate’s degree and it is our job to provide it. Our Learn and Earn program will meet that need.”
For example, Verizon, Infineon and Harris Microwave Communications Division, which recently announced new locations in the state, prefer additional education beyond high school. Verizon prefers its customer service candidates to have an associate’s degree while 50 percent of Infineon’s positions require a Bachelor’s degree as a minimum. The 258 new positions with Harris Microwave Communications Division require at least an associate’s degree and in most cases a four-year degree.
“Our schools have done a tremendous job providing rigorous course work to prepare students for college,” said Easley. “However, for students who plan on entering the workforce, what is needed is a more relevant educational experience that will prepare them to compete in the global marketplace.”
Last year, the Governor announced a record $11 million grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to North Carolina to start the New Schools Project and create new smaller schools that better prepare students for college and work. The New Schools Project began by launching 8 new Health Science-themed schools in districts across the state in partnership with local hospitals and the health care workforce.
Learn and Earn will build on the work of New Schools Project by pairing community colleges or universities with high schools to create a new model of high school. In these Learn and Earn schools, students will earn a high school diploma and an associate’s degree from community college or 2 years of university credit toward a four-year degree by the time they graduate from high school.
Along with the [small high school initiative] undertaken with support from the Gates Foundation, Easley’s Learn and Earn initiative puts North Carolina at the forefront of efforts in the South as well as nationwide to reform high school education and improve the transition to higher education and the twenty first century workplace.
The five Learn and Earn sites are operating this fall in Buncombe, Catawba, Durham, Guilford and Nash counties. The ten additional sites that will open Learn and Earn high schools in the next academic year are in the following counties: Anson, Chatham, Cumberland, Davidson, Edgecombe, Iredell, New Hanover, Robeson, Rutherford and Sampson counties.