North Carolina Public Schools Earn 2026 Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) State Leadership Award

The North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (NCDPI) received the Southern Regional Education Board's (SREB) 2026 State Leadership Award, presented today at SREB's Making Schools Work Conference in Nashville, Tennessee.

The award recognizes NCDPI for creating professional learning experiences for educators and for implementing college and career readiness strategies. SREB's State Leadership Award honors states that have established continuous improvement structures and processes to help schools transform school and classroom practices, establish and sustain change, and increase student achievement.

"Thank you to the Southern Regional Education Board for this wonderful recognition," said North Carolina Superintendent of Public Instruction Maurice "Mo" Green. "I accept it on behalf of the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, the State Board of Education and all the public school educators across our state who show up every day to do the incredible work of educating our 1.5 million students. Our recent student results have been historic. We have the highest graduation rate in our history, the greatest participation and performance on Advanced Placement exams in our history, the most industry-recognized credentials earned in our history and the highest percentage of graduates passing a college-level course while still in high school in our history. North Carolina's goal is to be the best state in the nation for public education. We are not there yet. But we are on our way, and we are grateful to have partners like SREB alongside us on this journey."

"North Carolina is creating opportunities for each student to achieve career and college readiness," said Dale Winkler, SREB senior vice president for school improvement.

SREB cited North Carolina for progress in providing educators with professional learning that is engaging, job-embedded and ongoing, noting that schools across the state have implemented the Making Schools Work key practices and built a culture of continuous improvement. Through its work with SREB, North Carolina has made long-term commitments to career and technical education teacher induction, stronger mathematics instruction and family engagement, and the state is a regional leader in aligning curricula to college and career-ready standards.

The recognition aligns with NCDPI's 2025-2030 strategic plan, Achieving Educational Excellence, and its goal of making North Carolina's public schools the best in the nation by 2030.

SREB is a nonprofit, nonpartisan interstate compact based in Atlanta, created in 1948 by Southern governors and legislators to advance education and improve the social and economic life of the region. Governor Josh Stein serves on the SREB board ex officio.