Happy Valentine’s Day, y’all. Earlier this year, as Nation and I talked about EdNC’s 5th anniversary, he challenged, “let’s just do our best work.” Just this week at EdNC…

On Monday, here is our coverage of the MyFutureNC event. ICYMI, check out the — I think the kids would say “dope” — video created by Robert, Carol, and Taylor. Crazy they flew a drone in a gym, right? It’s even more important to us to livestream events like that so that as many of you who want to can see what’s happening. 

Another cluster of our team was working with our colleagues at IEI on ReConnect to Technological Opportunity, where we used Reach during the event and held a breakout session on education focused on the homework gap. I met Joshua Edmonds, the director of digital inclusion for Detroit, and he convinced me North Carolina can win what he calls the new “space race.” North Carolina, he says, places a high emphasis on having a state broadband office committed to access and adoption. Our alignment matters too — our state has digital equity as a priority, and our counties and municipalities are on board. Edmonds says, North Carolina could be the first to leverage federal dollars and build the model for the country. 

Analisa and I then jumped in the car to head to the school board meeting of the Edgecombe County Public Schools, where we testified about our work with IBM in rural districts to build access to data for classroom and school leaders.

On Tuesday, we are all still reeling from our student town hall. Our thanks to Alli for changing the way EdNC and other media outlets will hold town halls going forward.

On Wednesday and Thursday, we had teams in place to cover The Belk Foundation’s in-depth look at #TeacherTalentNC and literacy. And we rolled out a new design for this newsletter — five years in, they told me it was time for a facelift!

Also on Thursday, EdNC covered Adult Promise in Chapel Hill — lot’s more coming your way on that event, including an incredible keynote that brought tears to my eyes. So much work to do, but so much possibility.

Nation was up in DC for much of the week, meeting with our colleagues at Spotlight on Poverty and Internews, and even catching up with John Drescher.

We’ve published 18 articles with more to come today, and sent out more than 100,000 emails. Thank you all for loving us and loving education.

PS. Don’t miss Alex’s Voter’s Guide for Superintendent of Public Instruction.

 

• POLICY SNAPSHOT | School and District Leadership (2019)

  ECS | February 12, 2020

• 1,679 Principals Surveyed: Principals Could Use More Support to Help Students with Disabilities

  RAND | February 13, 2020

• 3 ways community colleges are improving STEM education

  EducationDIVE | February 5, 2020

• Ethics complaints filed against NC schools chief for mass text to parents and teachers

  The Charlotte Observer | February 13, 2020

• Enrollment Rises At NC Community Colleges For First Time In A Decade

  WFDD | February 13, 2020

• ANN DOSS HELMS REPORTS | Free Public Pre-K Isn't Just For Low-Income Families In Mecklenburg

  WFAE | February 14, 2020

• REPORT | Income-Driven Repayment Plans for Student Loans: Budgetary Costs and Policy Options

  Congressional Budget Office | February 12, 2020

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