Shaping Orange County's Future Final Full Report

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SERVING DIVERSE EDUCATIONAL NEEDS - DEVELOPING LEARNERS OF ALL AGES HIGH Q UALiTy K-1 Z EDUCATION The community of Orange County highly values education, and schools in the county provide quality education to all of their students. The education system prepares children to be responsible citizens, well- rounded critical thinkers, and to have marketable skills. Positive learning environments are created by maintaining low student - teacher ratios, emphasizing time - on -task, supporting creative and innovative teaching, and having clear student behavioral expectations and consequences. Special needs of students are met, and special programs prepare at -risk, pre- kindergarten children for school and provide remediation for older students. Programs and curricula are periodically evaluated to assess effectiveness in meeting student needs. Educational choice exists in the form of public schools, charter schools, and private schools, with a variety of options available within the public schools such as vocational and technical skills training programs. Education helps to create Orange County's strong sense of community, with parents highly involved with the schools and their children's learning. Students, teachers, administrators, and parents are all held to high standards, and work cooperatively to achieve them. Schools are multi -use facilities, which provide opportunities for positive interactions between students and other persons and groups in the community. Students explore the community through apprenticeships, workstudy, volunteering, mentoring programs, field trips, and service learning, and members of the community come to the schools as guest teachers. Partnerships are encouraged between high schools and the community to create cultural arts centers using school facilities and involving students with community adults in a number of activities. Also, schoolchildren from the county and its towns have regular interaction with one another sharing special arts and cultural activities several times a year. While Orange County and Chapel Hill - Carrboro continue to operate as separate systems, many administrative processes have been effectively merged and a cooperative spirit exists between superintendents, staff, school boards, and teachers resulting in the sense that education is a shared task for the entire community, rural and urban. ADULT AND CONTINUING EDUCATION Adult education is promoted for professional development and personal enrichment. A strong public /private partnership invests in job and language training. Skills training and job placement services are provided by a long - established skills development center and by community college programs. Community college programs with dedicated space also provide opportunities for lifelong learning. Many apprenticeship and vocational programs are also available. Literacy and English as a Second Language (ESL) classes are accessible to all who need them, and citizenship education is provided to newcomers to the United States seeking citizenship. For seniors there are Learning in Retirement and Peer Learning Programs, many focusing on history, literature and the arts. 100