Partnering with schools across state, NCSSM offers proven academic outcomes
Public high schools throughout North Carolina are providing students access to world-class
science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) instruction, as well as to other
advanced placement and honors level courses by partnering with the North Carolina School of
Science and Mathematics (NCSSM) through distance education.
Though NCSSM may be best known as the nation's first public boarding school specializing in
STEM, the school actually serves just as many students through its distance education efforts as
it does through its residential program. NCSSM connects to more than 30 schools
statewide, educating nearly 500 students through IVC classrooms and more than 200 students via
online courses. In each case, course offerings provide advanced instruction that is largely
unavailable in the local district.
"It takes a team effort to give North Carolina’s students every advantage in science and math
education. Part of our mission is to provide support to schools and students across the state by
providing them access to advanced course content and offerings that help meet individual
academic needs," said Todd Roberts, NCSSM Chancellor.
Most of the School’s educational outreach is achieved through interactive videoconference (IVC)
courses, where students from up to six separate schools receive real-time classroom instruction
from an NCSSM teacher and collaborate in real-time with one another to engage in problembased learning.
Focused on honors and advanced placement content, these courses are currently provided
entirely cost-free to high schools where students would not otherwise have access to advanced
STEM content, such as higher mathematics, physics, genetics and biotechnology, and forensics.
The program is funded by NCSSM’s state budget.
One of NCSSM’s distance education partners is Perquimans County Schools, located in the
northeastern part of the state - one of North Carolina’s most impoverished regions. Since 1992
Victor Eure has been director of technology at Perquimans County Schools. From the start, his
goal was to level the playing field for students in his district. As is the case in most rural areas,
the school system struggles to recruit and retain teachers for STEM and other AP and Honors
level courses.
“It’s hard to describe how remote we are. We have zero industry here other than farming.
There’s not even a hotel in the county. Two-thirds of the kids qualify for reduced lunch. It’s just
very hard for us to attract teachers.”
One-quarter of the Perquimans County High School student population is taking distance
education courses at any given time.
“We want our kids to be able to connect to the rest of the state, to allow them to be competitive.
We want to close the gap between the northeast and the rest of the state. NCSSM has opened
doors to us that we couldn’t have been able to offer.”
Since 1996, Eure has partnered with NCSSM to bring IVC advanced placement courses to the
county, and the relationship has continued unbroken since.
“We don’t have any AP courses other than the ones offered by NCSSM, and that’s been true for
many years. In fact, I think we may have been one of the first school systems in the state to
partner with NCSSM and use distance education to provide advanced coursework to our
students. It’s the best way we know to assure very high-quality instruction in a very costeffective way.”
The benefits to students transcend pure academics, including giving students an opportunity to
interact with students in other parts of the state.
“Ultimately, we all hope that students who have gained broader academic experiences such as
these will be better equipped to lead our area, to bring more economic and educational
opportunities to this part of the state.”
“There is no doubt that our students who have participated in the NCSSM distance learning
courses have been better prepared to be successful in post-secondary college environments.”
While NCSSM provides the technical infrastructure and instructors to broadcast IVC courses, a
key to the success of an IVC course is the home school’s in-house faculty member acting as
videoconference facilitator. They are the eyes and ears in the classroom. A good facilitator is key
to a successful IVC class.
Alisha Ryan of A. L. Brown High School in Kannapolis is one such facilitator, forming a
collaboration with NCSSM that has been particularly successful.
“I love my job and have since day one,” said Ryan. “It’s very important for the success of the
course that I’m in constant communication with the instructor at Science and Math. Because the
instructor isn’t physically here, the facilitator really sets the tone for the class.”
The facilitator monitors progress in class, communicates technical and personal issues to
NCSSM and provides an anchor for students attempting to master challenging course content.
“The students want to excel, to be challenged. All of the courses we take via IVC we would not
be able to offer if it were not for Science and Math. It’s actually cheaper for us to take these IVC
courses than it is to hire and try to retain qualified staff for these kinds of advanced courses,”
said Ryan.