Expand Access to Postsecondary Pathways

To expand access to postsecondary pathways, GCS needs:

Aligned calendars between high school and community college semester schedules. Providing local calendar flexibility will enable districts to synchronize high school and community college schedules, supporting dual-enrollment students and eliminating the burden of managing misaligned academic calendars that can force students to miss critical end-of-semester examinations across institutions. As GCS seeks to expand Career and College Promise (CCP) and post-secondary access, this flexibility allows students to take advantage of GTCC 8-week mini-mesters, internships, credentials, and workplace opportunities like job shadowing. Additionally, calendar flexibility addresses weather-related disruptions and aligns semester completion with winter break, enabling more effective assessment timing, reducing learning gaps, and maximizing instructional continuity throughout the academic year.

Why this matters:

State calendar restrictions are holding back student opportunities and creating unnecessary barriers to college access. When high school and community college calendars don't align, dual-enrollment students are caught in the middle, and weather-related school closures can force them to miss critical final exams at one institution or the other. As GCS expands Career and College Promise and works to ensure every graduate earns college credits or career credentials through the Guilford Guarantee, this misalignment becomes a real obstacle. Calendar flexibility would allow us to synchronize with Guilford Technical Community College schedules, enabling students to participate fully in dual enrollment, 8-week mini-mesters, internships, and job shadowing without managing conflicting academic calendars. It also gives districts the tools to respond effectively to weather disruptions, align semester completion with winter break for better assessment timing, and reduce learning gaps that occur when instruction is fragmented.

This flexibility maximizes instructional continuity and removes barriers that currently prevent students from taking full advantage of college and career opportunities available to them.