We are passionate about our students’ futures, and are responsible for providing the direction to help them succeed. To accomplish that, our state’s Department of Public Instruction (DPI) is committed to providing the strategy and developing the tools you will need to play your role in each child’s success most effectively.
As with any initiative of this importance, decisions are made carefully, responsibly, and with the overall goal in mind – to make a difference in the lives of our students. Allow us to pull back the curtain and convey the goals and vision of each element of our brand.
This guide details the following brand components:
What is READY? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
READY’s Technology Platform . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
• Home Base
SM
Examining READY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
• What does READY stand for?
• Summary of logo graphic elements
READY’s Common Denominator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
• Summary of audience values
Expressing READY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
• Tone and voice guidelines
Examining Home Base . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
• What is Home Base?
• Summary of logo graphic elements
Using READY and Home Base Properly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
• Logo usage guidelines
• Logo application guidelines
Using READY Logos Properly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
• READY logo application guidelines
Using Home Base Logos Properly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
• Home Base logo application guidelines
Using READY and Home Base Logos Together . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
• Combined logo usage guidelines
READY and Home Base Colors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
• Logo specifications and usage
It is our goal to see that all READY materials are consistent and accurate to these brand guidelines. If you have any questions, please contact the communications director at the NC Department of Public Instruction | 919-807-3450
Public Schools of North Carolina
State Board of Education | Department of Public Instruction 1

Knowing the competitive environment that young people will face upon graduation, we are detailing an ambitious alignment of our educational standards, assessments, and accountability methods to meet future expectations.
READY is the name of our accountability initiative, formerly known as the ABC’s.* The READY program sets growth and performance standards for each elementary, middle, and high school in the state.
*ABC’s: The program focuses on strong Accountability, teaching the Basics with an emphasis on high educational standards, and maximum local Control.
READY is a component of Career and College Ready, Set, Go.
Career and College Ready, Set, Go is still an active part of our Race to the Top initiatives and has a broad focus that includes activities from pre-K to higher education.
Ready Increasing the number of students who can read, write and do math by the end of third grade.
Set Increasing the number of students who perform at or above grade level.
Go Increasing the number of students taking college credit courses in high school; graduating from high school; going to college; and completing their degree from a community college, college or university.
Home Base is an all-encompassing technology platform designed to elevate the craft of teaching.
Formerly known as the Instructional Improvement System (IIS), Home Base is created to optimize our efforts to help children learn and succeed by housing all of our performance and administration tools in
one place with one login.
Think of Home Base as the starting point for success each day.
It is our goal to see that all READY materials are consistent and accurate to these brand guidelines. If you have any questions, please contact the communications director at the NC Department of Public Instruction | 919-807-3450
Public Schools of North Carolina
State Board of Education | Department of Public Instruction 2

Simplicity and quick recognition is accomplished with a silhouette of a student.
Mental activity and participation are present through the visual of a raised hand.
Active learning is conveyed through the simple icon of a book with pages turning.
READY is not an acronym and it does not have a hidden meaning. READY is a goal. Our goal is to prepare
(or to READY) our students for college, careers, and adulthood. It’s that simple.
Like the name of our initiative, the simplicity of the visual is critical to its acceptance, recognition, and success. Notice there are only four graphic elements in this logo, but together they communicate several key principals.
Upward movement in an arrow-like/schoolhouse structure signifies student preparedness and potential.
Positive path for success is conveyed by keeping the area above the logo clear at all times. No visual barriers means no limits for students.
Energy and positive movement are reinforced in the colors of orange and green.
A solid base with the name
READY is the foundation that provides this launchpad for success.
It is our goal to see that all READY materials are consistent and accurate to these brand guidelines. If you have any questions, please contact the communications director at the NC Department of Public Instruction | 919-807-3450
Public Schools of North Carolina
State Board of Education | Department of Public Instruction 3

As teachers, principals, parents, and administrators, we all want the same thing — to prepare our children for their next big steps after graduation — college, career, and adulthood. The READY plan is designed to empower all parties who care about the success of our students. Through our experience, research, focus groups, and studies, we’ve outlined the values that are most important to each audience.
value helping students and enjoying their profession. The READY plan will empower them through:
Teaching Support, Student Insight, and Teacher Leadership.
value improving schools and creating a productive environment. The READY plan will empower them through: Enriched Teaching Resources, School Performance and Growth, and Instructional Leadership.
value creating a solid future for their children through education. The READY plan will empower them through: Quality Education Assurance, Productive Assessments, and Enriched Teaching Resources.
Refer to our READY one-pager, shown below, titled Elevate Our Students for additional detail.
As teachers, principals, parents, and
administrators, we owe every one of our children an education that properly prepares them for their next big steps after graduation — college, career, and adulthood. To accomplish that, our state’s Department of Public Instruction
(DPI) is committed to providing the strategy and developing the tools you will need to most effectively play your role in each child’s success.
To elevate our students means no more steps back . Together, we’re taking steps forward .
PRINCIPALS
Enriched Teaching Resources
• Support, recruit, retain, and evaluate quality teachers
• Create a culture of continuous improvement focused on student learning, achievement, and teaching excellence
School Performance and Growth
• Improve accountability measures based on graduation rates and student achievement
• Empower teachers with refined standards and assessments that more accurately monitor student progress and adjust teaching based on progress and needs
Instructional Leadership
• Promote professional growth and quality teaching through fair and constructive evaluations
TEACHERS
Teaching Support
• Support and promote effective leadership, quality teaching, and student learning
• Improve instruction and enhance professional practice
Student Insight
• Enable a clearer understanding of student strengths and weaknesses through current technologies and methodologies
• Utilize meaningful data to understand how to assess students and make well-informed teaching decisions
Teacher Leadership
• Leverage input from teacher organizations to perform fair and meaningful evaluations based on refined standards and assessments
• Apply evaluation process that provides meaningful feedback and ensures the quality of the teaching profession
PARENTS
Quality Education Assurance
• Ensure student growth and learning through refined standards that better serve him or her no matter the path chosen after graduation
Productive Assessments
• Empower teachers to understand your child’s progress and needs
Enriched Teaching
Resources
• Provide teachers with meaningful tools and a network of peer support to grow professionally
• Evaluate teachers to ensure quality instruction in a positive learning environment
The READY plan supports you and your students with these objectives.
Here is how the READY plan will empower each of you .
TEACHERS
You play the most vital role in our students’ day-to-day learning. You are their guide and motivator. To help them be their best, you need to be at yours.
You are the focus of the READY plan, and we are working hard to give you the meaningful support you need to help you achieve your professional goals.
PRINCIPALS
You set the tone for learning and ensure that your school is a positive environment for your students and teachers. To support you, the READY plan will put objectives into action to elevate your students, grow teachers, and enhance school performance.
Just like your students, each of you has a unique skill set. To help you be at your best, you’ve asked for access to a network of your peers — their experience, best practices, and ideas. Through teaching resources like workshops, learning communities, virtual courses, webinars and more, the READY plan is guiding development to provide you with ongoing learning opportunities applicable to the contemporary classroom. Your teachers will have the tools they need to help them reach their professional goals, and you will have the help you need to recruit and retain quality teachers.
Creating a culture of teaching leadership and continuous improvement promotes active learning and achievement at the highest level for every student.
With access to emerging methodologies, you will more clearly understand each of your student’s strengths and weaknesses.
And integrated technologies will enable you to assess your students more accurately and make more meaningful teaching decisions. These technologies will further help you communicate students’ progress and challenges to their parents with concrete data.
The READY plan has many moving parts. These include new standards and assessments to guide student achievement and improve graduation rates, as well as display your school’s performance. Other important components include: new data systems that provide your team with quality information, help for schools that are low-performing, and stronger professional support for you and your teaching staff. Together, as partners, we will elevate our students.
We recognize the daunting challenge of being a great teacher, and we need to elevate your profession to the status you deserve. Using fair and helpful evaluations that focus on student outcomes will ensure the quality of your profession. The more you grow, the more your students will grow, and that’s why we’re all here.
PARENTS
You are critical to your child’s success.
Your involvement in your child’s education, at school and at home, shows your support of the teacher, principal, and school. That positive support makes your child eager to learn, opening the future to endless possibilities.
The READY plan is focused on elevating your child and ensuring he or she is ready for every next step —from grade to grade, school to school, and after graduation. With updated standards and assessments, based on current learning expectations and nationally accepted standards, teachers will have a clearer understanding of your child’s progress and needs. Giving teachers the ability to accurately monitor progress on a daily, monthly, and yearly basis enables them to adjust to your child’s strengths and areas of need. This in turn provides you with the information you need to support your child’s growth.
To make sure your child is able to grow and succeed, his or her teachers need to as well. Through various teaching resources and peer support, teachers will be able to grow professionally, and create the most effective plan for your child’s education. Teachers will be evaluated fairly and continually to ensure they are providing a quality education, in a productive environment for great teaching and learning.
With your support, and ours, teachers will be able to foster the potential that lives within each of our students.
YOUR SUPPORTERS
The State Board of Education, State Superintendent June Atkinson, and the NC Department of Public Instruction fully support your success as educators and the success of North Carolina’s students. We are passionate about our students’ futures and are responsible for providing the direction to help them succeed. Knowing the competitive environment that young people will face upon graduation, we are detailing an ambitious alignment of our educational standards, assessments, and accountability methods — set to launch in 2012 — to meet future expectations. These efforts are further fueled by our recent win of federal “Race to the Top” funds, which will enable us to speed the integration of new methodologies and relevant technologies in the classroom.
Together, we will elevate our students, preparing them to thrive at college, in a career, and in adulthood .
Public Schools of North Carolina
State Board of Education
|
Department of Public Instruction
If you have any questions, please contact the communications director at the NC Department of Public Instruction | 919-807-3450
It is our goal to see that all READY materials are consistent and accurate to these brand guidelines. If you have any questions, please contact the communications director at the NC Department of Public Instruction | 919-807-3450
Public Schools of North Carolina
State Board of Education | Department of Public Instruction 4

When communicating about the READY plan, you need to be confident, focused, assured, and simple.
Communications should be straightforward and written to the least educated – but never “dumbed down.”
Always tie the Department of Public Instruction to the audience to establish unity and togetherness, and convey that you understand their hurdles and pains.
Speak to each audience, not about them. Example: “You play a vital role.” Not: “Teachers play a vital role.”
Here are some writing samples to illustrate the proper tone and voice.
We are responsive to and supportive of schools, the district, and the larger community.
We provide educators with training, research on best practices, tools and grant opportunities to help every student succeed. We collect data and provide thorough analysis to promote district-wide decisions that are data-driven and research-based. Through careful and accurate analysis of student and program outcomes, we help maintain and demonstrate accountability for schools and the system.
DPI recognizes we must be responsive and supportive of you, your schools, your district, and your community. As a teacher, you will be empowered with the training, research, tools, and grant opportunities to help every student succeed. We will collect data and provide you with thorough analysis to help you make insightful decisions that are data-driven and research-based.
Through careful and accurate analysis of student and program outcomes, DPI will maintain and demonstrate accountability for your school so you have a clear picture of your expectations.
It is our goal to see that all READY materials are consistent and accurate to these brand guidelines. If you have any questions, please contact the communications director at the NC Department of Public Instruction | 919-807-3450
Public Schools of North Carolina
State Board of Education | Department of Public Instruction 5

Home Base is an online portal where educators, parents and students can easily find all instructional and professional tools in one place – under one login.
Designed with educator input, it will provide access to actionable student insight, teaching best practices and collaborations with fellow educators across the state. Home Base will set us apart from the rest of the country as a model of how an intuitive, robust technology tool can greatly impact the success of our students.
As Home Base rolls out in phases, you can expect that each phase will carry additional benefits.
Like the READY logo, we felt the simplicity of the visual is critical to its adoption among users.
Using only three graphic elements, this logo communicates the importance of ease of use.
Stability and
dimension are illustrated in our elongated hexagon.
Support and teamwork are communicated when combined with the READY logo
(shown on page 10).
Ease of use and participation are demonstrated with a simplistic and well-recognized icon.
A friendly and safe environment is conveyed with the welcoming blue color.
Refer to our Home Base one-pager, shown below, titled Elevate Your Craft for full details.
The READY plan empowers educators and parents to give our children an education that properly prepares them for their next big steps after graduation – college, career, and adulthood. The plan is part of
North Carolina’s commitment to providing the tools we need to most effectively achieve that goal.
SM technology platform is an allencompassing resource to elevate the craft of teaching and help our children succeed. as the starting point for success.
Think of Home Base
Supporting Educators
You play the most important role in our students’ learning. To help them reach their full potential with a relevant education, you need a tool to help you reach yours, instructionally and professionally.
Home Base was designed with input from your peers to ensure you have access to actionable student insight, teaching best practices, and collaborating with your fellow educators across the state. It will set us apart from the rest of the nation as a model of how an intuitive, robust technology tool enables you to make more meaningful teaching decisions, which will greatly impact the success of your students.
We know each of you has your own methods and needs. That’s why we built
Home Base with you in mind, enabling you to use it to best meet your specific needs. Your input and involvement are vital to its success. The more you put in, the more you will get out. And even as it continues to grow and evolve, individualization and ease of use are always the first priority.
Home Base is quite literally your home base, where you can easily find all of your instructional and professional tools in one place – under one login. It’s where you take attendance, post grades, create your lesson plans, and communicate with students, parents, and other educators. You have access to assessment data, as well as the ability to create and deliver assessments. Professionally, you can earn
Continuing Education Units through Home Base, as well as have access to eventsharing resources and educator evaluation data.
This is merely skimming the surface of what Home Base is and will become. As it rolls out in phases, we will always be mindful that elevating your craft and your students is the number one priority.
Helping Parents and Students Thrive
As a parent, you are critical to your child’s success. Your involvement in his or her education not only supports your child but also it supports teachers. In turn, Home
Base supports you and your child with a technology tool that better prepares him or her for the next level, whether that’s the next grade or the next big steps after graduation.
At its most basic, Home Base lets you view your child’s grades, assignments, and attendance. But it’s much more robust than that. If your child is having problems with a particular subject or homework assignment, Home Base enables you to search for specific resources that can help him or her succeed. You can also reach out to other parents for help and insight, as well as communicate privately with teachers.
For students, Home Base can make the difference between doing well at school and excelling. In the broadest sense, you will gain valuable skills that set you apart by interacting with such an advanced technology tool. Not only will you have access to your schedules, class agendas, assignments, grades, and test scores but also Home Base is the hub where you store your work and turn in assignments. You will be empowered to collaborate and share helpful insight with other classmates, and have access to textbooks and other digital resources.
Our state is committed to helping better prepare our children for the world they will live in. As we all recognize, the skills they need today and tomorrow are much different than the ones needed yesterday. Together we must embrace this change to elevate our students, and
Home Base is a major step in making sure they will succeed.
It is our goal to see that all READY materials are consistent and accurate to these brand guidelines. If you have any questions, please contact the communications director at the NC Department of Public Instruction | 919-807-3450
Public Schools of North Carolina
State Board of Education | Department of Public Instruction 6

When is it appropriate to use the READY logo?
The READY logo and branding should be a part of any communication concerning:
– the topic of educator effectiveness, and
– our evaluation standards and measures of assessment and accountability.
In Text: When using the name READY in text, READY should always be all-capped.
How is the READY logo used in relation to the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) logo and the Career and
College Ready, Set, Go (CCRSG) logo?
The DPI logo should be represented on all communications produced by DPI, like this one.
Career and College Ready, Set, Go is still an active part of our Race to the Top initiatives and has a broad focus. You will find this logo used on various materials that describe activities from pre-K through higher education.
When is it appropriate to use the Home Base logo?
The Home Base logo and branding should only be used on communication concerning:
– the use, functionality, or process of using Home Base, and
– as a technology platform in support of our READY initiatives.
In Text: When using the name Home Base in text, H ome and Base should always be capitalized and the first usage of Home Base should include the service mark, like this – Home Base SM
It is our goal to see that all READY materials are consistent and accurate to these brand guidelines. If you have any questions, please contact the communications director at the NC Department of Public Instruction | 919-807-3450
Public Schools of North Carolina
State Board of Education | Department of Public Instruction 7

The READY logo has one primary version to use in all cases.
2-colors*: Orange on top, green on bottom
When production requirements do not accommodate for a 2-color logo choose between the versions below.
1-color*: All green 1-color: Solid black 1-color black and grey: 60% shade of black on top, solid black on bottom
Inappropriate usage of the READY logo includes the following examples:
Do not reverse the colors Do not stretch or change the logo proportions
Do not place the logo on dark colors
Do not add colors to any part of the logo
*See color specifications details on page 11.
It is our goal to see that all READY materials are consistent and accurate to these brand guidelines. If you have any questions, please contact the communications director at the NC Department of Public Instruction | 919-807-3450
Public Schools of North Carolina
State Board of Education | Department of Public Instruction 8

The Home Base logo has two versions, horizontal and stacked. Consider the horizontal version the primary logo to use in all cases. When spacing does not accommodate for a wide logo, use the stacked version.
Horizontal, 2-color*: Blue and orange Stacked, 2-color*: Blue and orange
When production requirements do not accommodate for a 2-color logo choose between the versions below.
1-color*: Blue 1-color: Solid black
Inappropriate usage of the Home Base logo includes the following examples:
Do not reverse the colors
Do not add colors to any part of the logo Do not stretch or change the logo proportions
*See color specifications details on page 11.
It is our goal to see that all READY materials are consistent and accurate to these brand guidelines. If you have any questions, please contact the communications director at the NC Department of Public Instruction | 919-807-3450
Public Schools of North Carolina
State Board of Education | Department of Public Instruction 9

When are READY and Home Base logos used together?
The Home Base logo is designed as a support platform to our READY initiatives.
On all technology platform communications (i.e., any former IIS materials) Home Base may appear
by itself in either the horizontal or stacked format (shown on page 9).
On READY communications where the topic is covering the support of our technology platform the
Home Base logo can be use in its combined* format, shown below.
*See color specifications details on page 11.
It is our goal to see that all READY materials are consistent and accurate to these brand guidelines. If you have any questions, please contact the communications director at the NC Department of Public Instruction | 919-807-3450
Public Schools of North Carolina
State Board of Education | Department of Public Instruction 10

This will help guide the portion of color application.
(Logo) Orange (Logo) Green
Gray Purple
(Logo) Orange (Logo) Blue
®
■
■
■
■
■
®
■
It is our goal to see that all READY materials are consistent and accurate to these brand guidelines. If you have any questions, please contact the communications director at the NC Department of Public Instruction | 919-807-3450
Public Schools of North Carolina
State Board of Education | Department of Public Instruction 11

It is our goal to see that all READY materials are consistent and accurate to these brand guidelines. If you have any questions, please contact the communications director at the NC Department of Public Instruction | 919-807-3450
Public Schools of North Carolina
State Board of Education | Department of Public Instruction