Diverse teachers in the classroom improve student success across the board and can help fill a significant gap in the number of qualified teachers North Carolina needs in our schools, To improve equity and inclusion in the education profession, Governor Cooper issued Executive Order 113 to establish the DRIVE Task Force on December 9, 2019. DRIVE stands for Developing a Representative and Inclusive Vision for Education.

The Task Force is comprised of parents, educators, administrators, education advocates, representatives of state and local government, representatives from the University of North Carolina system and North Carolina Community College System, and employers with a presence in North Carolina.

The Task Force will submit a report to the Office of the Governor on how to achieve greater equity and inclusion in the education field. The report will  assesses the state’s progress in increasing educator diversity in K-12 public schools, identify short, mid-range, and long-term strategies to increase educator diversity, identify stakeholders, assets, and sources of funding that can be leveraged to recruit, retain, develop, and support more educators of color,  propose metrics and standards by which the Governor can evaluate the state’s success in achieving its goals under the Plan, improve recruitment, retention, development, and support of educators of color, and identify priorities for increasing educator diversity in the state.