During the myFutureNC conference last week, a video was shown that illustrated the leaky education-to-workforce pipeline. Anthony Jackson, superintendent of Chatham County schools, appeared in the video with 100 of his students, meant to represent 100 North Carolina 9th graders. As he recited some numbers, students started walking out of the video.
He started with 100. Thirteen of 9th graders will not graduate high school on time. So, 13 kids walked away.
Of the 87 left, 39 will not enroll in a post-secondary institution – a community or four-year college – within 12 months.
Of the 48 that do enroll in a post-secondary institution, 11 will not make it to a second year. That leaves 37.
Nine more will make it to the second year, but will not earn a credential or degree within six years. So we were down to 28 kids in the video, behind Jackson.
“Only 28 out of the 100 North Carolina 9th graders earn a degree or credential within six years of graduating high school,” said Jackson.
“That means not even one-third of our students will earn a degree or credential from our community colleges or a four-year college or university.”
That’s despite having a community college system with 58 colleges, a University of North Carolina system with 16 universities, and several dozen private colleges and universities in the state.
There are programs like North Carolina Promise, Longleaf Commitment grants, and Golden LEAF Foundation scholarships to help students pay for college.
But affordability isn’t the only problem. A lot of young folks have trouble seeing how much can be unlocked even with a short-term certificate program. Educators in K-12 are trying to show students those possibilities, but they could use all the help they can get from business.
In the words of Herman Locklear, CTE director of Robeson County, “You can’t be what you can’t see.”