WELCOME TO NIGHT VALE is a twice-monthly podcast in the style of community updates for the small desert town of Night Vale, featuring local weather, news, announcements from the Sheriff's Secret Police, mysterious lights in the night sky, dark hooded figures with unknowable powers, and cultural events.Pitt Community College administrators say the college will participate in the inaugural North Carolina Educator Pipeline Collaborative cohort to help ensure the state’s methods of recruiting and preparing educators for its workforce are effective and innovative.

The collaborative, which was launched last week by the Public School Forum of North Carolina in partnership with the N.C. Office of the Governor and The Belk Foundation, features eight teacher preparation partnerships comprised of school districts, universities and community colleges. The cohorts will share, develop and implement policies and practices that will enhance and extend their efforts to recruit, prepare, support and retain a diverse, highly effective educator workforce.

“The Public School Forum is thrilled to be working with the eight collaborative partnerships. Their dedication to growing and diversifying the educator pipeline to ensure that every child has access to a high-quality and well-prepared educator is inspiring,” said Dr. Mary Ann Wolf, President and Executive Director of the Public School Forum of North Carolina. “Their engagement and expertise will fuel efforts to develop programs and recommend policies to strengthen and expand recruitment and retention efforts across North Carolina.”

The collaborative’s four main goals are:

- Identify and understand the work of successful partnerships and programs
- Develop a framework for effective teacher preparation partnerships across K-12, higher education and workforce development that work to recruit, prepare, support and retain a diverse, high-quality educator pipeline
- Support a cohort of teacher preparation partnerships in their development of programs that meet their context and community needs
- Share findings and recommendations with school districts, higher education and state leaders to promote best practices and advocate for policies and programs that will have a lasting impact on the teacher pipeline

Dr. Thomas Gould, PCC Executive Vice President of Academic Affairs and Student Services, said that in addition to Pitt, the local teacher preparation partnership includes East Carolina University and Pitt County Schools. He said the partners will work together to develop strategic recruitment and marketing methods, as well as construct clearly defined pathways for students selecting education as a career.

“Pitt Community College looks forward to working with our educational partners to develop a teacher preparation pipeline that will produce the next generation of diverse and highly-qualified educators,” Gould said, adding that the collaboration illustrates its members’ commitment to enhancing the local workforce and economic development.

Since 1986, the Public School Forum of North Carolina has been a nonpartisan champion of better schools and source for research and analysis on vital education issues.