For the seventh consecutive year, a summer program will be offered to students entering the sixth through ninth grades who reside in Rowan County and are interested in advanced study in science and math.
The program will take place during July 2014 at Salisbury High School.
To receive information about the summer program, parents and students are invited to attend a presentation and question-and-answer session either on Sunday at 4 p.m. or Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. Both sessions will be held in the auditorium at Salisbury High School. Applications for admission to the program will be available to parents in attendance at both informational sessions and in the main office at Salisbury High.
For additional info, contact Barbara Peach at Salisbury High at 704-636-1221, extension 411.
New GED Testing Service data has found that 95 percent of students who take GED Ready: The Official Practice Test and score in the Likely to Pass level go on to pass the real test. GED Ready, which is available online in English and Spanish through MyGED at GED.com, provides students with in-depth information about their performance that helps target studying and remediation needs for the student and the adult educator.
“GED Testing Service is excited to see that test-takers across the country are taking advantage of the study tools available on MyGED including GED Ready, information for local preparation programs and free study resources to prepare for the official GED test,” said Randy Trask, president of GED Testing Service.
Students who take GED Ready receive the Enhanced Score Report immediately. The report includes a personalized study plan that shows the skills they need to work on to score higher and directs them to specific pages and lessons from a dozen test preparation books and online materials. This gives every student their own targeted study plan to work on at home, or alongside a teacher.
“I took the math practice test and scored in the Too Close to Call section,” said Ashley Guerra, who was one of the first students in Texas to take and pass both the practice and official GED test. “I really liked how the practice test score reports I received told me exactly what areas I needed to improve on in math before taking the real test.”
In addition to the official practice test, there are a number of study materials and tools available 24/7 to test-takers on MyGED. On the site, test-takers can access free practice test questions, locate local adult education classes and browse more than a dozen publisher study books and online tutorials.
These study resources and tools better prepare students for the 2014 GED test, which is the only high school equivalency test fully aligned to state College and Career Readiness Standards for Adult Education. The 2014 GED program more quickly moves test-takers to postsecondary education programs and to good jobs with good wages.
The new GED test is currently available in more than 1,800 official GED testing centers across 40 states and the District of Columbia.
Students interested in taking GED Ready: The Official Practice Test or learning more about the 2014 GED program should visit GED.com.
Partners In Learning Child Development and Family Resource Center invites parents, providers and educators to attend a seminar on transition to preschool and kindergarten for children with special needs.
The seminar hosted in partnership with the Exceptional Children’s Assistance Center, will focus on the transition processes from the infant toddler program to the school system and into kindergarten. The center is a private non-profit organization that is operated by and staffed primarily with parents of children with disabilities and special health care needs.
“Both transitions are significant change for the child and the family and we hope this seminar will help prepare people,” said Executive Director Norma Honeycutt.
The Exceptional Children’s Assistance Center speaker will address special education law, Individualized Education Plan writing skills, communication between school and home and needs of the child during the transition process.
The event will be held March 31 from 6 to 8 p.m. at Partners In Learning, 2386 Robin Road, Salisbury, and is free and open to the public. Child care is provided for free upon request.
Situated on the Catawba College campus, Partners In Learning serves as the Model Inclusive Center providing care to children six weeks through five years of age in Rowan County.
The center cares for more than 200 children. It is the only National Association for the Education of Young Children accredited program in Rowan County. The organization serves children on-site and throughout the community, as well as in the children’s homes.
The center also has a regionally recognized wellness program that includes an on-site community garden and athletic programs. The center has after school and summer camp programs.
For more information visit epartnersinlearning.org.
The N.C. State Board of Community Colleges and University of North Carolina Board of Governors signed a revised Comprehensive Articulation Agreement between the two public higher education systems, making college transfer options more defined and easier to follow.
The revised agreement, driven by an increased focus on student success and the growing number of North Carolina community college students transferring to the state’s public universities, will save students and their families both time and money. It also will stretch taxpayer-funded dollars by offering students a more direct pathway to career and educational success.
At Rowan-Cabarrus Community College, faculty, students and alumni are excited that the community college and university faculty have worked collaboratively, on behalf of students, to solidify and clarify the articulation between the institutions.
“The North Carolina Comprehensive Articulation Agreement goes a long way toward making the transition between the community college and the university system a seamless and efficient process,” said Dr. Rod Townley, vice president of academic programs at Rowan-Cabarrus. “Students will be better served knowing early on in their college careers exactly which courses will transfer if their intention is to acquire a bachelor’s degree.”
The revised agreement will go into effect for new college transfer students in the fall of 2014. Students currently enrolled in an Associate in Arts or Associate in Science program will continue under the existing agreement as long as they remain continuously enrolled.
For more than 15 years, N.C. community college students planning to transfer to a UNC campus have been guided by a 1997 joint agreement that outlines how course credits transfer between the two systems. As years passed, general education requirements evolved and students increasingly found that some credits did not count toward their major programs of study, resulting in delays in degree attainment and added costs for students and their families.
Under the revised agreement, community college students will enter transfer pathways with clearly defined goals and an understanding of how earned transfer hours fit into university requirements. Additionally, the revised agreement: identifies foundational courses that will transfer to all UNC campuses to meet general education requirements; improves transfer student success by requiring coursework that helps students map their academic pathway from community colleges to universities and encourages community college students to complete an AA or AS degree before transferring to a UNC campus by guaranteeing entry as juniors with full transfer credit.
“Nearly 24,000 students who began their studies at a community college are now undergraduates on a UNC campus, accounting for more than half of all UNC transfer students,” observed UNC President Tom Ross. “By working together, UNC and the NC Community Colleges can continue to grow that number and better meet North Carolina’s future workforce needs. This revised agreement is an important step forward in streamlining the transfer process and providing opportunities for more North Carolinians to attain a baccalaureate degree.”
Hundreds of faculty and administrators from North Carolina’s 58 community colleges and 16 UNC campuses weighed in on the design and development of this revised transfer agreement.
“Ensuring the success of this revised articulation agreement will mean we have to be more vigilant, sharing and analyzing data on student success, examining what we can do independently and collaboratively to expand and improve on this agreement,” said NC Community College System President, Dr. Scott Ralls. “Today’s articulation agreement is just another step in North Carolina’s proud history of higher education progress.”
BRENTWOOD, Tenn. – Tractor Supply Company and the National FFA Foundation recently announced the results of their second annual Growing Scholars program. From Feb. 14 to 23, Tractor Supply customers across the country donated $447,671, an increase of more than 20 percent from 2013 donations. This year’s donations will result in 334 scholarships awarded to FFA members in their pursuit of a college degree.
The Growing Scholars program was supported nationally by each of the more than 1,245 Tractor Supply stores as part of National FFA Week. Tractor Supply customers supported local FFA chapters and their members by purchasing an FFA emblem for $1 at store registers during the checkout process. Ninety percent of funds raised are being utilized to fund scholarships for FFA members, with the remaining 10 percent benefitting state FFA organizations.
“We have very loyal and giving customers, and to see an increase in support for our Growing Scholars program is a tribute to the kind of customers that shop at our stores,” Tractor Supply President and CEO Greg Sandfort. “Being able to provide scholarships to FFA members and funding for state FFA organizations is tremendous because they are a part of Tractor Supply, both as customers and as potential team members. They share the same values and lifestyle that Tractor Supply supports.”
The National FFA Foundation selected FFA members across the United States to receive the scholarships. To be eligible for a scholarship, students must have been current FFA members and either a high school senior or a freshman, sophomore or junior college student seeking a two- or four-year degree or other specialized training program. Major areas of study were also considered when determining scholarship recipients. For the final report of funds raised, visit www.TractorSupply.com/FFA.
Tractor Supply has been a sponsor of the National FFA Foundation for 28 years. The National FFA Foundation is the fundraising arm of the National FFA Organization, which provides leadership, personal growth and career success training through agricultural education to 579,678 student members in grades seven through 12 who belong to one of 7,570 local FFA chapters throughout the U.S., Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.