CommunityLink

Raleigh, NC

Education

Life Long Learning For All

From kindergarten through advanced doctoral programs, the Greater Raleigh area provides outstanding educational opportunities in both public and private settings. The Triangle boasts one of the most educated workforces in the United States. Nearly half of Wake County’s residents hold an associate’s degree or higher, a testament to the quality of education provided by the Wake County Public School System, the area’s community colleges, and 12 highly regarded colleges and universities around the region.

The Wake County Public School System (WCPSS) is a nationally recognized leader, with high scores and other academic achievements in both its traditional and magnet schools. In February 2004, Forbes magazine ranked WCPSS third in the nation for “Best Education in the Biggest Cities.” Wake County made the top 10 list based on factors such as high school graduation rate, best access to educational resources and affordability of housing. Also that year, the American Association of School Administrators named Superintendent Bill McNeal the 2004 National Superintendent of the Year.

School choice is alive and well in the Raleigh area. In addition to the public sector, the selection ranges from many excellent charter schools, to parochial schools, to private academies, to a growing home-schooling movement.

Educational opportunities grow along with students. After high school, students can continue their education in one of Wake County’s seven colleges and universities. Students of all ages can learn new skills, advance their careers and enrich their minds by taking advantage of university adult-learning programs, technical college courses and continuing-education offerings.


K-12 Years

Parents of elementary/secondary school-aged children in Greater Raleigh have a variety of educational options — from the traditional public school system to numerous excellent private and special-needs schools. Many parents are choosing to home-school their children. More information about alternative schools in the area can be found in this guide on page 22.

It’s not surprising that, as a top-rated district in the nation, Wake County Public School System (WCPSS) attracts families who want to take advantage of what the district has to offer. More than 114,000 students are enrolled in the system, and another 4,000 new students are added each year. By 2010, WCPSS is projected to have a student population of more than 131,000, which should grow to 160,000 by 2020.

WCPSS is committed to excellence. The Board of Education has adopted an ambitious goal: By 2008, 95 percent of students in grades three through 12 will be at or above grade level as measured by the state’s end-of-grade or end-of-course tests, and all student groups will demonstrate high growth.

The award-winning magnet school program of WCPSS offers creative ways for teachers to reach students. With more than 20 programs in the district’s 51 magnets, covering all grade levels, each child is assured something of interest.

In three of the past five years, three WCPSS schools (Bugg and Washington elementaries and Enloe High) have been named magnet schools of the year. Bugg, Douglas and Washington elementary schools were among 12 in the United States named Magnet Schools of Excellence; Combs and Farmington Woods elementary schools and Martin and Ligon middle schools were among 40 named Magnet Schools of Distinction.

In June 2005, WCPSS received more good news when North Carolina Gov. Mike Easley announced that Wake County is one of seven school districts in the state to receive a portion of a $2.3 million grant to open eight health- and life-science-themed high schools aimed at developing students for both higher education and jobs in health care and biotechnology. Students will have the opportunity to participate in internship programs and will have access to community college and university-level courses. East Wake High School in Wendell opened the East Wake School of Health and Sciences in the fall of 2005.

Grant funding for the New Schools Project comes from an $11 million grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The New Schools Project will create more than 100 new and redesigned high schools across the state.

Kindergarten/First-Grade Registration
The Office of Growth Management
3600 Wake Forest Road
Raleigh, N.C. 27609
(919) 850-1921

To attend kindergarten, a child must be 5 years old on or before October 16 of the current school year. By state law, a gifted child who is age 4 by April 16 will also be considered for admission. For specific admission guidelines, contact the Kindergarten Office at (919) 850-1854.

Kindergarten enrollment generally starts in February before the school year. Nearly all parents choose to enroll their 5-year-olds in kindergarten, even though the state does not require children to be enrolled in school until the age of 7. Wake County offers a full-day program.

To register your child, please go to your child’s base school. If you need information about the base school assignment, contact the Office of Student Assignment at (919) 850-1921. Your child does not have to be present to be registered, but you will need to take along the following:

• The child’s Social Security card (if available)

• Proof of residence in the form of a current electric, gas or city water bill; newly signed lease agreement; or signed purchase agreement in the name of the parent(s) or court-appointed guardian, with a closing date within 45 days

• A certified copy of the child’s birth certificate, which can be obtained from the county or state health department where the child was born

• An updated immunization record

• North Carolina law requires that a kindergarten health assessment be completed on or before the first day of school before a child can enter kindergarten.

Please note that schools are staffed year-round and throughout the summer. Your child should be registered as early as possible so the school will be prepared for your child. A special registration day for entering kindergartners is held in February for the following school year, but newcomers arriving after that date can register any time.


The College Years

Opportunities for higher education are plentiful in Raleigh and Wake County. One school located in Raleigh is North Carolina State University, one of the nation’s top research universities.

Under the guidance of Chancellor James Oblinger, North Carolina State University will continue to pursue “innovation in action.” Dr. Oblinger has said that N.C. State’s Centennial Campus is a classic illustration of innovation in action, citing “the way we partner with business, industry, government, all in partnership, working together, involving our students, undergraduate and graduate students, geared toward innovation and providing value.”

Slated to open in early 2007, the monumental $36 million Biomanufacturing Training and Education Center (BTEC) on Centennial Campus will provide a hands-on, full-scale training environment for current and future biomanufacturing employees and attract new biomanufacturing, pharmaceutical and agribiotechnology companies to the state. The facility will bring together faculty from the university’s Engineering and Agriculture and Life Sciences colleges to research and teach methods of biotechnology implementation in manufacturing.

The region’s community colleges offer numerous educational opportunities to individuals pursuing technical careers, as well as to businesses seeking a specifically trained workforce. North Carolina’s biotechnology industry will employ an estimated 125,000 people by 2025. To prepare the workforce, the North Carolina Community College System has focused on biotechnology training.

Wake Technical Community College leads the state in biological and chemical-technology programs and offers North Carolina’s only lab facilities in a community college for industrial pharmaceutical technology. Nearly 80 percent of the students in Wake Tech’s biotechnology-related programs already have bachelor’s degrees.

According to Dr. Stephen Scott, president of Wake Tech, community colleges must serve as a catalyst for economic growth and development. Wake Tech is implementing Dr. Scott’s vision by providing nearly 20 percent of all industry training offered by community colleges in the state. Wake Tech’s Small Business Center assists thousands of business owners each year, and its New and Expanding Industry Program provides customized training for businesses that create new full-time jobs.

Colleges and Universities
Wake County

North Carolina State University (N.C. State)
Raleigh 27695
(919) 515-2011
www.ncsu.edu

As a progressive, research-extensive land-grant institution, N.C. State educates students for the 21st century. It helps generate economic development and applies its research discoveries for the benefit of people in North Carolina and across the country.

N.C. State, the largest of the 16 schools in the University of North Carolina system, was founded in 1887 as a land-grant college to provide instruction in agriculture and engineering. The university has remained true to this mission and is now a nationally recognized leader in science and technology. It keeps its roots deep in the North Carolina community through statewide research, extension and outreach activities.

N.C. State offers bachelor’s degrees in 100 fields of study, master’s degrees in 106 fields and doctoral degrees in 59 fields, as well as a doctorate in veterinary medicine.

N.C. State is ranked third in the nation in research funding among public universities without a medical school, sixth in technology strength of patents, seventh among national research universities in industry-funded research, 12th among national research universities in non-federal-funded research, 19th in total research funding among all universities, and 30th in total expenditures for research and development.

The university’s strengths in genomics, bioinformatics, advanced telecommunications, materials science and biotechnology help fuel innovation and commerce both in the Triangle and statewide. N.C. State has annual research expenditures of $440 million. Graduate students and faculty conduct research in public service and in scientific, technological and scholarly endeavors. N.C. State’s Cooperative Extension Service has offices in all 100 North Carolina counties and the Cherokee reservation.

N.C. State’s Centennial Campus, a 1,334-acre research and technology transfer park, is a model for universities nationwide and is home to more than 100 businesses, government agencies, and university academic units and research programs.

Campbell University Research Triangle Park (RTP) Campus
808 Aviation Parkway, Suite 1100Morrisville 27560
(919) 468-8844
www.campbell.edu

This extended campus of Campbell University offers undergraduate and graduate programs as well as executive and continuing-education programs. The RTP campus supports the mission of the university as well as that of Extended Campus Education to provide outreach programs to the citizens of North Carolina.

DeVry University
1600 Perimeter Park Drive, Suite 100Morrisville 27560
www.devry.edu

As one of the largest degree-granting higher education systems in North America, DeVry University provides high-quality, career-oriented associate’s, bachelor’s and master’s degree programs in technology, business and management.
Meredith College
3800 Hillsborough St.
Raleigh 27607
(919) 760-8600
www.meredith.edu

Chartered in 1891, Meredith is an independent, private women’s college — one of the largest women’s colleges in the nation. Meredith offers undergraduate programs to women of all ages and coeducational graduate programs in education, music, nutrition and business administration.

Peace College
15 E. Peace St.
Raleigh 27604
(919) 508-2000
www.peace.edu

Peace College is a liberal arts and sciences college that offers women a collaborative educational experience. Peace’s size and setting offer students opportunities for scholarship and other rewarding experiences that prepare them for a lifetime of purpose, leadership and service.

Saint Augustine’s College
1315 Oakwood Ave.
Raleigh 27610
(919) 516-4000
www.st-aug.edu

Founded in 1867, Saint Augustine’s College is a historically African-American, coeducational liberal arts institution affiliated with the Episcopal Church. The college’s mission is to prepare students to become agents of social change by developing their intellectual capacity and providing opportunities for personal growth. New course offerings in forensic science, real estate development, and property and sports management are attracting a record number of students.

Shaw University
118 E. South St.
Raleigh 27601
(919) 546-8300
www.shawuniversity.edu

Founded in 1865, Shaw University is the oldest historically black college in the South. A private, coeducational liberal arts university affiliated with the Baptist Church, Shaw awards degrees at both the undergraduate and graduate levels.

Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary
120 S. Wingate St.
Wake Forest 27587
(919) 556-3101
www.sebts.edu

One of six Southern Baptist Convention seminaries, Southeastern offers master’s degree programs in theology and biblical studies with specialized concentrations in advanced biblical studies, Christian education, church music, church planning, counseling, theology and women’s studies. In addition, doctoral degrees in ministry, philosophy and theology are offered, with a variety of vocational emphases.

Southeastern College at Wake Forest
120 S. Wingate St.
Wake Forest 27587
(800) 284-6317
www.secwf.edu

This four-year accredited college, the undergraduate school of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, prepares students for vocational service and worldwide ministries. Available undergraduate degrees include associate of divinity, bachelor of arts in biblical studies, bachelor of arts in biblical studies and the history of ideas, and bachelor of arts in biblical studies and secondary education. Southeastern also offers a master of arts in intercultural studies degree.

Wake Technical Community College (Wake Tech)
9101 Fayetteville Road
Raleigh 27603
(919) 662-3500
www.waketech.edu

Wake Tech offers associate’s degrees, vocational diplomas or certificates in more than 90 different curriculum programs. Curriculum education is divided into six divisions: arts and sciences, business education, computer and information technology, engineering technology, health education, vocational education, and university transfer (general education).
Wake Tech’s continuing-education programs include short-term, non-credit classes for job skills development, special interests or occupational licensing. The college also offers English as a Second Language, adult high school, GED and basic skills programs.
The Occupational Education Division provides training for many of Wake County’s law enforcement, emergency medical service, fire prevention and hospitality professionals. The Small Business Center provides seminars and counseling for business owners and entrepreneurs.
Wake Tech also holds classes at public high schools throughout the county and offers Internet and telecourses.

Colleges and Universities
Durham County

Duke University
Durham 27708
(919) 684-8111
www.duke.edu

Duke University was created in 1924 by James Buchanan Duke in memory of his father, Washington Duke, who built a worldwide financial empire. Today, the Duke University Medical Center has achieved international prominence, and many Duke schools and departments are ranked among the best in the world.

Duke’s East Campus, with its Georgian architecture, houses the university’s first-year students. The larger, Gothic-style West Campus is exemplified by the magnificent Duke Chapel. The campus also contains the Nasher Museum of Art, the Sarah P. Duke Gardens and the 7,900-acre Duke Forest.

Duke’s undergraduates enroll in the Pratt School of Engineering and Trinity College, the liberal arts college. Duke schools conferring graduate and professional degrees are Graduate School, Divinity School, Fuqua School of Business, School of Law, School of Medicine, Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences, Pratt School, and School of Nursing.

The university has more than 6,500 full-time undergraduate students and 6,200 graduate and professional students from all 50 states and more than 80 foreign countries.

Durham Technical Community College (Durham Tech)
1637 Lawson St.
Durham 27703
(919) 686-3300
www.durhamtech.edu

Durham Tech offers degrees, diplomas and certificates in more than 75 areas, including business and public service, computers, health, industry, and engineering. Durham Tech’s university transfer program is recognized as among the state’s best. The college’s Corporate Education Center provides training to Triangle employees at their work sites, the Durham Tech main campus or the Northern Durham Center.

Mount Olive College at Research Triangle Park
5001 S. Miami Blvd.
Research Triangle Park 27709
(919) 941-2970
(888) 258-5188
www.moc.edu

Mount Olive College is a private, coeducational liberal arts institution offering academic programs for working adults in an accelerated, modular format. Students can obtain a degree in criminal justice, early childhood education, management, management information systems or religion.

North Carolina Central University (NCCU)
1801 Fayetteville St.
Durham 27707
(919) 530-6100
www.nccu.edu

The nation’s first public liberal arts institution for African Americans, North Carolina Central University offers bachelor’s degrees in more than 100 disciplines and master’s degrees in over 40 areas. The NCCU School of Law offers the juris doctorate and joint degrees in business administration and library science. NCCU has a state-of-the-art biotechnology research center and is in the process of constructing a new biomanufacturing research institute. NCCU has been a constituent institution in the University of North Carolina System since 1972.

Colleges and Universities
Orange County

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill 27599
(919) 962-2211
www.unc.edu

Chartered in 1789, UNC, or Carolina, is the nation’s first state university and its only public university to award degrees in the 18th century.

Carolina offers bachelor’s, master’s, doctoral and professional degrees in areas critical to North Carolina’s future: business, education, law, medicine and social work, among others. The health sciences are well-integrated with the liberal arts, basic sciences and high-tech programs. Patient-outreach programs affiliated with Carolina and the UNC Health Care System serve citizens in all 100 North Carolina counties.

Students learn from a 3,100-member faculty, many of whom hold or have held major posts in virtually every national scholarly or professional organization and have earned election to the most prestigious academies and organizations.

The university launched the Carolina Covenant initiative to make a debt-free college education possible for low-income students. In lieu of paying tuition, students agree to work on campus 10 to 12 hours a week in a federal work-study job, and Carolina meets the rest of their needs through a combination of grants and scholarships.

Research funding has risen steadily at Carolina. Chapel Hill is one of the top U.S. public universities in research support. Faculty secured $577 million in research funds in 2004, ranking among the leaders in grants from the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation.


Alternative Schools

Health Education
As one of only 11 such facilities in the country, the Alice Aycock Poe Center for Health Education (www.poehealth.org) offers dynamic multimedia programs to age groups from preschool through adult. The center offers a state-of-the-art exhibit on how the brain works, as well as programs on dental health, drug education, family life, and general health and nutrition.

Home Schools
Home schools in North Carolina are regulated by the Division of Non-Public Education. The agency provides abundant resources for this thriving alternative in Wake County. For information and the legal forms necessary to establish a home school, visit their Web site at www.ncdnpe.org or call (919) 733-4276.

Private Elementary and Secondary Schools
Many private schools operate in Wake County and the Triangle area, including day schools and boarding schools, religious and nondenominational, and coed and same-sex facilities. Each is accountable to either regional or national accreditation and provides unique and highly focused educational experiences for students.

The U.S. Department of Education recently named Cary Academy as one of its Blue Ribbon schools. Cary Academy, located on 52 acres in Cary, is an independent college prep school for grades six through 12.

A full listing of independent schools in the Triangle area is available through the North Carolina Association of Independent Schools at www.ncais.org. For more information, call the state Division of Non-Public Education at (919) 733-4276.

Special-Needs Schools
Various schools offer special training and developmental schooling for children and adults, including Governor Morehead School for the Blind, Frankie Lemmon School and Developmental Center, Raleigh Vocational Center, and Tammy Lynn Center for Developmental Disabilities.