CEI Fall Conference 2006

Monday, October 9, Luncheon Speaker
Jane W. Worsham, State Coordinator
The American Diploma Project

Jane Worsham, a resident of Raleigh since 1976 is currently serving as State Coordinator for the North Carolina American Diploma Project initiative. Jane retired from state government in January of 2006 after working with the North Carolina State Board of Education since 1986. Jane came to Raleigh to work as a consultant to deaf-blind programs in the Department of Public Instruction. Previous to working in DPI, Jane was a teacher and a principal at a school for hearing impaired children in New Orleans and was the supervising teacher in a teacher-training program for teachers of the deaf and deaf-blind at the University of Alabama. In addition to her training and work with special students, Jane also served as the Assistant Director of the NC Leadership Institute for Principals, which was Governor Jim Hunt’s special initiative to provide on-going professional development for school principals in the early 80’s. She also worked in State Superintendent Craig Phillip’s office in the area of budget and management.

As Executive Director of the State Board of Education, a position she held since 1998, Jane reported directly to the Chairman of the State Board and served at the pleasure of the Board. Prior to being Executive Director, Jane served as Assistant Director to the Board for eight years. She served under eight Board Chairmen. Her responsibilities included the planning and implementation of the monthly meetings of the State Board of Education as well as supervising the Board’s five employees. She acted as liaison between the SBE and the Department of Public Instruction, and sat on the State Superintendent’s Leadership Team. As Executive Director, Jane was responsible for briefing the State Board members on current and emerging policy issues, staffing any sub- committees of the Board, maintaining the Board’s official records and policy manual, responding to requests made by the board members and representing the State Board members at in- state and out-of-state meetings. While working with the Board, Jane was active in the National Council of State Board of Education Executives (NCSBEE) and the National Association of State Boards of Education (NASBE) and served as national president of NCSBEE.

Jane’s current responsibilities as State Coordinator of ADP include leading the state’s ADP Alignment Team through the three Achieve Alignment Institutes and keeping the team members informed of high school reform efforts in the state, communicating the team’s work with members of the Governor’s Education Office staff, the State Board of Education members, the State ADP Leadership Team, the Gates funded NC New Schools Project, and Business-Education partners. As the primary state contact with Achieve, Inc., the Washington DC based think tank that sponsors the American Diploma Project, Jane has assumed responsibility for keeping the state “on track” with the commitments it made when joining the ADP network in 2005.