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North Carolina PTA
3501 Glenwood Avenue
Raleigh, North Carolina 27612-4934

email: office@ncpta.org
phone: (919) 787-0534
In NC: (800) 255-0417

 

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Public School Forum of North Carolina Study Reports

The results of the Public School Forum’s fourteenth Study Group, a year-long process in which leading business people, educators and elected officials focused on the challenges facing North Carolina as it works to build a school system second to none.

A Message from the Executive Director Debra J. Horton

America’s ability to compete in the world going forward hinges to a large degree on how our education system stacks up with our global competitors. We need to do better. At the NC Chamber Education Summit last week, Dennis Bega, senior policy advisor at the US Department of Education, presented some alarming statistics on our competitiveness. The US ranks 17th out of 29 developed counties on scores among 15-yearolds. In math, the US ranks 24th out of 29 developed countries on scores among 15-yearolds. China and India graduate 950,000 engineers every year, compared with 70,000 in the US. The US ranks 10th in the world for 25-34 year-olds in college completion. Finally, and this one really moved me, if we were to increase the graduation rate by 5% for male students alone, our country would save nearly $8 billion each year in crime control.

There has been a focus in the media on destructive negativity and finger-pointing. How often do we hear creative ideas that actually are focused on solving problems
instead of political squabbling? As Executive Director of the North Carolina PTA, I ask what are we as parents and caregivers doing to address the implications resulting from the statistics shared by Bega? Can we focus on these problems and use our combined efforts and ideas to move our country back to number one in education, a place that we enjoyed not so long ago? Someone once described PTA as a sleeping giant that once stirred could make a tremendously positive impact for our children.
Imagine what we could accomplish if we as parents and caregivers across the state combine our efforts and become the greatest advocates not only for our children but for children across North Carolina. As Bega said, quoting U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan, “if it takes a village, the village needs to wake up.”

What is Advocacy?

NC PTA members study state and local education issues carefully, and NC PTA has endorsed several major goals and positions designed to improve schools for all children throughout North Carolina.
NC PTA members advocate for children in schools, before local government agencies like school boards and county commissions, in the state legislature in Raleigh, and the Federal government in Washington.
PTA is one of the nations oldest and most successful advocacy organizations. PTA has been an advocate for children since 1897, and has always been at the forefront in supporting laws that benefit children.