Education Week - February 6, 2013 - Special Report - S24

LESSON LEARNED
and innovative programs for the district, says the superintendent analyzed the school system and brought everyone
to the table to drive expectations.
Obasohan “has been a bridge-builder and advocate for
opening doors for business involvement,” she says.
The push for postsecondary training means promoting
four-year degrees, as well as associate degrees and occupational certificates.
In the school system, there are now five career academies in the high schools for students interested in
agribusiness, computer information technology, health
sciences, teaching, and leadership. Students can take
college-level courses, with the format depending on the
course. With some, a college professor teaches in the high
school. Others are hybrid online courses, where the student goes to class on the college campus one day a week
and works via computer the other four.

Making Adaptations
Bringing the early-college model to all schools has been
a challenge, says Kevin Smith, the senior lead achievement coach for the district and the former principal of the
first Duplin Early College High School.
Administrators from Duplin County visited Texas to
look at the model the Hidalgo district created, but Smith
says schools have to adapt to make the concept work in
their own settings.
“There is not a cookie-cutter way of doing this,” he says.
Duplin County has embraced the North Carolina New
Schools concept of student-centered learning, in which the
goal is for “every student to read, write, think, and talk in
every class, every day,” says Smith.
Before Duplin County can fully expand the early-college model to all of its high school students, it needs to
work through some state legislative hurdles. It must get
a waiver to go beyond the current limit of offering earlycollege classes to just 100 students per grade and get approval to offer the courses in the high schools, not just on
college campuses.
Obasohan says he has garnered support on the issue
from local lawmakers and is hopeful the full legislature
will agree to expand the concept.
Smith says it’s been a major shift in thinking to push
all students to rigorous pathways. Rather than overlook
average students for honors classes, teachers now think
about how to offer courses with supports.
“Educators have always worked hard, but the intensity
has increased,” says Smith. “There is definitely a pressure
to make sure we are offering every student what they
need. The pressure is long overdue.”
The school system has worked closely with James
Sprunt Community College for years, but the relationship has deepened under the current superintendent’s
leadership, says Lawrence Rouse, the president of the
college.
Additional adjunct faculty members have been hired to
accommodate the increase in the number of high school
students wanting to take the college’s courses. The college
has also developed a more cohesive approach to course
offerings, in which students follow a prescribed pathway
based on their long-term goals, rather than having to take
courses that seem irrelevant to them. As a result, Rouse
says, passing rates are up.
Rouse agrees with the idea that students needed to be
better prepared coming to his campus. Obasohan “came in
with a very discerning eye to what’s happening in Duplin
County, and he decided to act on that vision,” says Rouse.
“We are working together to make sure our courses dovetail with what they are doing in high school.”
In the district’s five elementary schools and three K-8
schools, every grade level adopts a college and is encouraged each year to visit one campus.
Tanya Smith, the assistant principal at Rose Hill-Magnolia Elementary School, a district school in Rose Hill,
credits Obasohan for motivating young children to think
ahead to college.
“When we hear ‘college readiness,’ our mind focuses on
the high school students,” she says. Obasohan’s “vision is
that it takes preparation prior to high school. If we can
start the conversation as early as pre-K, [students] have
at least seven or eight years to be exposed to different
colleges.”
What can an 8-year-old get from a campus visit? “To
know that the future does exist,” says Obasohan.
“If you, too, can be on the college campus, then you
can explore and learn more about college,” he says. “It’s
building the connection.” n

S24 |

LEADERS TO LEARN FROM www.edweek.org/go/leaders-report
EDUCATION WEEK • February 6, 2013

“The whole key
is individualizing
instruction and
education for the
student. We’ve got
to reinvent school
and make it a place
where the kids want
to come.”

http://www.edweek.org/go/leaders-report

Education Week - February 6, 2013 - Special Report

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