Superintendent Dr. Andrew Houlihan of Union County Public Schools (UCPS) championed his district’s high-dosage math tutoring model to the General Assembly's Joint Legislative Education Oversight Committee (JLEOC) on Tuesday.
Dr. Houlihan shared that the model has demonstrated strong gains in 4th and 7th grade math. The UCPS model centers on a whole-grade approach, where all students receive daily 30-minute math tutoring sessions during the school day. These sessions occur in a pull-out format with a strict three-to-one student-to-tutor ratio.
“What we learned was that over time, no matter if you’re identified as an exceptional child, if you’re academically gifted, if you are a multilingual learner, all of them are benefiting from this approach,” Houlihan told the committee.
The estimated annual cost for UCPS to run its current program across all participating schools is approximately $2.75 million. UCPS has already trained over 50 school systems nationwide, including some in NC, on its approach. Houlihan proposed a “lead district” partnership model, where UCPS would collaborate with other interested NC districts that would receive funding through state-funded grants to assist with increased staffing and other costs.
The full presentation provides more details about the tutoring model and the recent evaluation conducted by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
The JLEOC also heard a presentation from Rockingham County Schools (RCS) leaders Nina Walls, Director of Innovation/CTE; and Dr. Charles Perkins, Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction. They were joined by Dr. Sylvia Cox, Rockingham Community College President, to share information about North Carolina’s first CTE Innovation High School.
Rockingham County CTE Innovation High School opened in the 2025-26 school year with 38 students in the following 3 pathways: Advanced Manufacturing, Health Science, and Construction Trades. The CTE Innovation High School is a regional workforce development model designed to align high school instruction with high-demand career sectors in Rockingham County and reduce time and cost to credentials and postsecondary certificates. The full presentation provides more details about the school and plans for expansion.
Packed with a lot of great information, the JLEOC agenda also included the additional presentations linked below.
