State's new K-12 chief has championed high school innovation

Bill Harrison, Gov. Beverly Perdue's choice to be the state's first-ever chief executive officer of the Department of Public Instruction, comes to his new post with a strong track record of leadership in high school innovation.

As superintendent of Cumberland County schools, Harrison was one of the first district leaders to push for new models of high school education in North Carolina, pioneering two of the first schools in the state aimed at ensuring that all students graduate prepared for college, careers and life. Since then, Cross Creek Early College High School and Howard Health & Life Sciences High School have made impressive strides towards delivering on that promise.

Perdue this week appointed the 56-year-old veteran educator to a newly constituted position of chief executive of the Department of Public Instruction and asked the State Board of Education to name him its chair.  The steps are aimed at strengthening the governance of K-12 education across North Carolina. Current State Board Chairman Howard Lee, another champion of high school innovation, will become executive director of the Education Cabinet, which Gov. Perdue has pledged to reinvigorate.

"Superintendent Harrison possesses the experience and drive to help accelerate the considerable progress we have made in our state's public schools," said Burley Mitchell, chairman of the North Carolina New Schools Project's Board of Directors. "The advances we've seen in the innovative high schools in Cumberland County, and the great success of their students, speaks to his commitment."
 
Cross Creek Early College was honored last year with the state's first Innovator Award, which highlights the new opportunities offered to students by the growing number of early college high schools in North Carolina. The state now has 60 early college high schools, with 12 now in planning for next year. Cross Creek was singled out for the strong performance of its first three years: Not a single dropout reported and strong achievement, particularly among the school's mostly poor and minority students, nearly all of whom have parents who never attended college.

NCNSP is negotiating with the Cumberland County school board to designate Cross Creek one of four "learning lab" high schools where innovative classroom practices will be showcased for visiting educators from across the state.

Howard Health & Life Sciences High School has also shown promise since opening in 2005 as a small school subdivided from one of Cumberland's  large, traditional high schools. Students at the school have outperformed district averages and nearly all remain on track to graduate. Only two students dropped out during its first three years.

For the past two years, Harrison has chaired NCNSP's Superintendent Advisory Committee to help inform the organization's works with schools and school districts. In that role, Harrison has guided discussion among some of the state's most accomplished superintendents about how to push more aggressively for high school transformation.

"Bill's personal leadership for change in the state's secondary schools has been instrumental to our progress," said NCNSP President Tony Habit.