Davidson County has lived the past century as a child of the Industrial Revolution, an economy driven by basic manufacturing where an individual could drop out of school, develop a skill in manufacturing, and provide for themselves and their family. Education for most was neither a priority nor a necessity. But times have changed and those days are no more as our world has evolved into a global, knowledge based economy. Fourteen years of school, two years of post secondary education, have become a necessity in this modern economy. For Davidson County where thousands of residents have less than a high school education, this is more than a paradigm shift…this is a change of culture.

K-14 is a countywide initiative sponsored and coordinated by the Business/Education Partnership of Davidson County and Davidson Vision. The initiative is a coalition of the following organizations:

• College Foundation of NC

• Davidson County Community College

• Davidson County Schools

• Davidson Vision

• Denton Area Chamber of Commerce

• Lexington Area Chamber of Commerce

• Lexington City Schools

• Northern Davidson Chamber of Commerce

• Thomasville City Schools

• Thomasville Area Chamber of Commerce

• Workforce Development Board

• Communities in Schools-Lexington/Davidson Co

• Communities in Schools-Thomasville

The specific goals of the K-14 initiative are to (1) reduce the dropout rate and (2) increase the college-attending rate of public school students throughout Davidson County . From a more global perspective, our objective is to improve the quality of life for the people of our county by positioning them to be more productive, higher paid citizens of this county, a county that will become a target for new business and industry, attracted by an educated, capable workforce and an exceptional quality of life. Working to complement the efforts of our three school systems, the purpose of K-14 is to empower every parent and student in Lexington, Thomasville, and Davidson County with the knowledge, belief, tools, resources and support to achieve college success.

The K-14 program is driven by four primary focuses: Awareness, Career/College Counseling, College Financing and Mentoring.