State Leadership Action
Rigor, Relevance, and Relationships: North Carolina Action Plan for High School Innovation
Source: North Carolina New Schools Project Date: 2004
http://www.newschoolsproject.org/action.html
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The North Carolina New Schools Project is an initiative of the Office of the Governor and the Education Cabinet. The project’s website includes information and links to news, resources, and funding, as well as the North Carolina Action Plan for High School Innovation which attempts to create a vision for high schools that succeed for all students. The vision focuses on North Carolina’s R3 (rigor, relevance, and relationships) strategies for high schools where students attain high standards for learning which prepare them for later success; learning is tied to personal experiences, connected to the working world, and linked across subject areas; and students are known, valued and able to contribute.

This action plan also lists the necessary supportive structures for teachers and administrators; lists key features of redesigned schools; and introduces models such as start-up schools and conversion schools. Finally, the plan breaks future action into five simple steps: convene, learn, plan, act, solicit feedback and refine. North Carolina’s example should help other states define a vision and assign it to a working action plan.

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Background and Context
Providing leadership across a state's vast education system is a daunting challenge. In an era of increased accountability, the state's role is even more central to the teaching that takes place in each classroom throughout the state. Whether through the establishment and improvement of state data systems, or shifting the internal organization of the agency, states are undertaking a variety of efforts to provide stronger leadership.