We the staff of PECHS support the whole child by providing academic rigor and social resources through consistent engagement with the school community.

It is the mission of PECHS to Educate, Expose and Empower the students we serve.

Pender Early College High School (PECHS) first opened its doors in the fall of 2006 under the umbrella of the North Carolina New Schools Project (NCNSP) which was a Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation initiative.   NCNSP’s goal was “to spark and support deep instructional change by purposefully and dramatically rethinking traditional schools’ organization to promote more effective teaching and learning.”  The NCNSP was the force behind innovative schools and the early college movement that swept throughout North Carolina and across the US.  These schools are still some of the top performing schools in the country.  PECHS along with its partnership with Cape Fear Community College (CFCC) has built a program to give students opportunities to not only graduate high school but to also earn an associates or applied science degree from CFCC.  Under the NCNSP, PECHS   follows these six design principles:

1. Ready for College: NCNSP schools are characterized by the pervasive, transparent, and consistent understanding that the school exists for the purpose of preparing all students for college and work. They maintain a common set of high standards for every student to overcome the harmful consequences of tracking and sorting. 

2. Powerful Teaching and Learning: NCNSP schools are characterized by the presence of commonly held standards for high quality instructional practice. Teachers in these schools design rigorous instruction that ensures the development of critical thinking, application and problem solving skills often neglected in traditional settings. 

3. Personalization: Staff in NCNSP schools understand that knowing students well is an essential condition of helping them achieve academically. These schools ensure adults leverage knowledge of students in order to improve student learning. 

4. Redefine Professionalism: Evident in NCNSP schools are the collaborative work orientation of staff, the shared responsibility for decision making and the commitment to growing the capacity of staff and schools throughout the network. 

5. Purposeful Design: NCNSP schools are designed to create the conditions that ensure the other five design principles: ready for college, powerful teaching and learning, personalization, leadership and redefined professionalism. The organization of time, space, and the allocation of resources ensures that these best practices become common practice. 

6. Leadership: Staff in NCNSP schools work to develop a shared mission for their school and work actively as agents of change, sharing leadership for improved student outcomes in a culture of high expectations for all students.

PECHS has always implemented and maintained these design principles since its inception which has contributed to its success.  PECHS has won many awards including School of Innovation and Excellence from the New Schools Project (2016) and National Blue Ribbon Schools Program Recipient (2021).  Graduates from PECHS have also achieved many awards and scholarships including two Moorehead Cain recipients and two early assurance honors college program recipients at ECU.  PECHS continues to achieve excellence in being one of the top rated schools in North Carolina.