North Carolina’s Advanced Learning Efforts Gain National Recognition

The North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (NCDPI) is gaining national recognition for its advanced learning efforts, both as a partner in the new National Research Center on Advanced Education and through a national award honoring one of its leaders.

At Thursday’s State Board of Education meeting, NCDPI announced that it is one of three state agencies participating in the National Research Center on Advanced Education, which will serve as a hub for research, innovation and policy development related to programs and services that meet the needs of young learners with aptitude and skills beyond their peers.

The project is led by Johns Hopkins University and funded by a U.S. Department of Education grant. Other partners include the American Institutes for Research, Texas A&M University, the University of Calgary and the state education departments of New Jersey and Nebraska.

“I’m personally excited to be continuing our work with North Carolina, one of the country’s leaders in advanced education,” said lead researcher Jonathan Plucker. “Pairing a great research team with leaders and educators in a state that continues to push the envelope should pay great dividends for both North Carolina and the country.”

The center's initial research efforts will focus on evaluating automatic enrollment policies in North Carolina and developing toolkits for educators in New Jersey and Nebraska to support the identification of students who may benefit from advanced services.

A Continuum of Potential

In 2018, the NC General Assembly passed legislation to expand access to advanced courses by automatically enrolling rising eighth graders in Math 1, a high school-level course, if they score a level five on their seventh-grade end-of-course math exam. The legislation also directs districts to place all students in grades 4-12 in advanced math courses if they achieve a level five on their end-of-grade or end-of-course exams.

This effort was the first of its kind in the nation and has served as a model for other states due to its simplicity and far reaching impact across the state.

In North Carolina, it's part of an ongoing effort over the past decade to unlock the potential of every child in public schools and broaden access to advanced learning opportunities.

“The auto-enrollment legislation has helped us in our efforts to think about the long game for students – their entire school career,” said Sneha Shah-Coltrane, senior director of the Office of Advanced Learning and Gifted Education. “Sometimes potential is harder to recognize in the early grades because of a variety of challenges, but we have seen that if we continue providing multiple on-ramps for advanced learning opportunities throughout K-12, more students' potential is tapped, and with school supports in place, we expand excellence.”

The office has worked to create a continuum of onboarding points for advanced learning. Student participation in these opportunities rises as they progress through their educational journeys.

For example, in the 2024-25 school year:

• 16% of fourth graders are identified in Academic or Intellectually Gifted (AIG) programs;
• 31% of eighth graders took Math 1 in middle school;
• 56% of 2024-25 graduates participated in college-level coursework while in high school; and
• 62% of seniors were eligible for the NC College Connect direct admissions program.

“Multiple entry points give all students a chance to participate in advanced learning,” said North Carolina Superintendent Maurice “Mo” Green.  “Part of preparing students for their next phase of life is challenging them to strive for excellence, even when they don’t see excellence in themselves or when others tell them they cannot achieve it.”

Honoring an Advocate

Shah-Coltrane has led NCDPI’s Office of Advanced Learning and Gifted Education since 2009. She was recently recognized by the National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC) with its David W. Belin Advocacy Award, which honors an individual who has been a consistent advocate on behalf of gifted students and a voice for supporting gifted and advanced learning services in school settings.

"Sneha Shah-Coltrane has been critical to advanced learning in North Carolina by ensuring that ZIP code and circumstances do not determine a child's access to rigorous coursework," said Superintendent Green. "This national recognition reflects not just her individual excellence, but North Carolina's commitment to expanding excellence for all students, proving that the greatest barriers to student success are not ability, but expectation and opportunity."

During her 30-year career in public education in NC, Shah-Coltrane has held a variety of roles including as an elementary school teacher, gifted education specialist, central office staff, professional developer, researcher and state-level administrator.

She was also the co-director of Project U-STARS~PLUS, a research initiative at UNC-Chapel Hill that developed an instructional framework for cultivating the intellectual and emotional well-being of young children who might otherwise be overlooked due to poverty, cultural/linguistic differences or disabilities.

Shah-Coltrane has held leadership roles for a variety of professional organizations, including NAGC, The Association for the Gifted, the Council of State Directors of Programs for Gifted and the Fordham Institute’s National Workgroup for Advanced Education.

At NCDPI, in addition to advocating for auto-enrollment in Math 1 and other advanced math courses, Shah-Coltrane has led efforts to increase access to and achievement in Advanced Placement (AP) courses and dual enrollment and is a driving force behind NC College Connect, a direct college admission program that has directly admitted over 70,000 students this fall alone.

She also led the creation of the Office of Advanced Learning and Gifted Education at NCDPI, bringing together all advanced learning programming – ranging from early admittance to kindergarten to NC Governor’s School – to promote a K-12 approach to tapping student potential.

Additionally, Shah-Coltrane led the development of the North Carolina's AIG Program Standards, a volunteer regional leadership network that supports the state’s capacity building efforts, and most recently, NC’s Call to Action for Expanding Excellence, which is focused on equitable practices across advanced learning and gifted education.

Despite the Belin Advocacy Award being in her name, Shah-Coltrane said the recognition belongs to the entire state of North Carolina.

“The synergy of our policymakers, educators, students and families has created the policies, practices and mindsets to do what is best for our students. We aim to see each child as ‘at-potential’ and cultivate and respond to their advanced learning needs,” she said. “It’s been my life’s work to advocate for those students whose potential we can see easily and also for those students whose potential has yet to be tapped. Being recognized with this award shows that N.C. is on the right path towards expanding excellence in public schools across our state.”