North Carolina's first female governor is taking another trailblazing role as head of a board that oversees standardized tests designed to measure student achievement across the country.

For the past four years, Rowan-Salisbury Schools has undergone a digital conversion with a focus on bridging learning and technology. As a 1:1 district, all students have laptops or iPads, and with teacher-centered partnerships like the Digital Scholars Initiative, educators are very much part of the digital conversion process, too.

At 71 years old, Bev Perdue is championing one thing: technology for education and the future workforce.

A Pandora station streaming Demi Lovato played in the background of Sally Schultz’s sixth grade classroom at Knox Middle School in Salisbury. Students — some seated on couches, some around a desk, and others on the floor — broke off into competing teams to solve EOG (End-of-Grade) practice questions. All of them held iPads.

We know that teachers matter more to student achievement than any other school-related factor, including services, facilities and leadership. Yet for years we’ve forced teachers to work in a system that values testing over teaching, resulting in little to no change in student achievement.

Last week, my home state of North Carolina became the sixth state where thousands of teachers took to the streets to make their voices heard. In a right-to-work state, teachers took personal days to fight for better pay and increases to per-pupil spending, both of which are well below the national average in North Carolina.

With the help of technology, teachers and schools across the country can transform their classrooms into collaborative learning spaces where teachers help students drive their own learning and better prepare for college and careers, according to a report released today by The Digital Learning Institute (digiLEARN).