Preschool programs for all at-risk children. Remedial help for struggling third-graders. More days in the school year. Consistent and more rigorous preparation for teachers-in-training at colleges and universities.
These are the ingredients of a better education system in North Carolina, according to recommendations offered Monday by the Public School Forum, a nonprofit education think tank.
The proposals may seem pie-in-the-sky when the state faces a $2.4 billion budget shortfall. Last week, Republican legislative leaders released early budget targets that could lead to significant cuts to education. The state's preschool programs are considered to be on the chopping block.
But Public School Forum leaders say their recommendations can and should be accomplished over time to keep the state economically competitive.
John Dornan, senior fellow at the organization, argued that some steps cost no money and can be enacted right away. Others would require new spending and could be phased in as the state recovers from the recession.
"The question is: Are we going to sacrifice a generation of kids by not having a plan of moving forward?" he asked. "If you look at what we're dealing with, deficit or no deficit, we're going to have an awful lot more kids in the schools of North Carolina next year. And we've been largely reacting, not looking ahead."
The report, "Our Kids Won't Wait," was written after a year of study by 80 educators, business people and public policy leaders. It offers a long-term road map around two main goals: attracting high-quality teachers and reducing the dropout rate. Between 25 percent and 30 percent of North Carolina students don't graduate from high school.
The state's preschool programs, Smart Start and More at Four, are key to reducing North Carolina's "unforgivably high" dropout rate and should be preserved, the forum said.
"We believe that this has to start early," said Jo Ann Norris, president and executive director.
The plan also includes intervention at key points along the educational path, including intensive remedial help for students in third grade, considered by researchers to be a "make or break" year. In middle school, students should get career and college counseling, Norris said. And the state should expand the number of high schools that offer specialized occupational and technical programs.
And finally, the group recommends a longer school day in low-performing schools and a longer school year for all North Carolina schoolchildren.
The forum proposes gradually adding days to the school calendar starting in 2012. The goal would be to move from a minimum of 180 days to 190 days - still below the 207-day average among industrialized countries.
In the short term, the organization offered recommendations for lawmakers looking at substantial cuts this year.
If class sizes are increased, the lowest-performing schools should be spared, the group said, and if teacher layoffs are necessary, decisions should be based on teacher effectiveness rather than seniority.
