A group that North Carolina lawmakers created to boost education in the state has begun drafting recommendations for policy change.

The Blue Ribbon Commission on Public Education began meeting in April to examine areas for improvement.

At this month’s meeting, co-chair Don Martin, who heads the Forsyth County Commission, named three topics the group wants to address first.

“We are focusing on strengthening early literacy, strengthening the teacher pipeline and modernizing the current accountability system," Martin said.

Members talked about aligning educator preparation programs with the science of reading and broadening access to Pre-K.

For the second topic, they discussed the importance of raising teacher pay and expanding mentorship programs for beginning educators.

The commission also proposed incorporating factors other than test scores into measuring a school’s performance grade.

The recommendations are in a draft stage right now. The commission will review them again at their meeting in August before taking a final vote in September.