The year ahead: Education advocate Brenda Berg

This essay is one of a series written by Triangle leaders and experts about their visions for a new decade.

When I moved to North Carolina around the turn of the millennium, it seemed like everyone in education was focused on “21st Century Learning.” We needed 21st century schools with 21st century classrooms that educated students for the 21st century.

Our students and educators are now entering the third decade of the 21st century, but in the 20 years since I made North Carolina my home, I have seen our state’s workforce needs expand dramatically, while student outcomes have remained essentially flat.

Over the past few years, I have had the privilege of engaging in education conversations both in our state and around the country. While we are not where we need to be, I have come to realize that North Carolina is perhaps the best hope in the nation for realizing a transformative vision of 21st Century Learning.

As a state, we recognize the constitutional, moral and economic imperative for a sound basic education for every child in North Carolina. We have a proud history of being first in education innovation: the first state to open a public university and the first to offer all-day kindergarten. We also led the nation in Smart Start and high school dual enrollment courses. Besides being both visionary and strategic, each of these firsts had something in common: they placed students as the top priority.

And I believe we can do it again.

In a time when public discourse has grown less civilized, my hope for the new decade is that North Carolinians can come together — laser-focused on student success — to truly realize 21st Century Learning and, once again, lead the nation in education innovation.

Brenda Berg is the president and CEO of BEST NC, a nonprofit, nonpartisan coalition of business leaders focused on making education in North Carolina the best in the nation.

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This story was originally published December 28, 2019 at 5:00 AM with the headline "The year ahead: Education advocate Brenda Berg."