Weekly Message - State Superintendent June Atkinson - Lynda Fuller
12/7/15 2:36 PM
Weekly Message + State Superintendent June Atkinson
North Carolina Public Schools <NCPublicSchools@public.govdelivery.com>
Mon 12/7/2015 2:31 PM
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To: Lynda
Fuller <Lynda.Fuller@dpi.nc.gov>;
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Dec. 7, 2015
Last week, the State Board of Education received the annual report
from the NC Virtual Public School (NCVPS) showing a strong
growth pattern. In 2014-15, total student enrollment was 55,817
with 35,966 unique enrollments. The NCVPS offered students more
than 150 courses, including 15 Advanced Placement courses, 16
world languages, 10 Occupational Course of Study courses and 12
arts courses. In the past eight years, NCVPS has grown from
17,326 enrollments to its current level, a more than three-fold
increase.
Thanks for your participation in Friday’s superintendents’ quarterly
meeting. Please remember that packet materials are available
online. We look forward to using your feedback on the policy
proposals we discussed as we take those items forward to future
State Board of Education agendas.
Please continue to stay in touch with us through email, the State Board of Education’s eBoard site,
ongoing webinars and the superintendents’ work groups focusing on test development and teacher
licensing and credentials. Also, on the horizon are the recommendations expected later this month from
the Academic Standards Review Commission (meeting on Dec. 18).
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Weekly Message - State Superintendent June Atkinson - Lynda Fuller
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State Board of Education
Meeting Highlights
At last week’s State Board meeting, members approved policy
revisions addressing teacher evaluation and teacher observation
requirements, school bus stop-arm camera allotment formulas,
Read to Achieve legislative requirement for twice-retained students,
and a number of reports to the NC General Assembly.
The Board heard a presentation on the U.S. House of Representatives’ overwhelming approval of the
Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) reauthorization, “Every Student Succeeds Act,” which
scales back the federal role in education and gives states greater control over accountability and school
improvement. It also keeps in place annual testing and the focus on helping overlooked groups of
students and failing schools. The U.S. Senate is expected to take action this week.
The Board also received a presentation on the Department’s District and School Transformation plans
for supporting the 581 schools and 15 districts that were deemed low performing under legislation
approved this summer.
The complete list of State Board actions is available on the Board’s website.
Testing Update
EOG, EOC and NCFE Released Forms and Items Available
Online
As a reminder, released forms of end-of-course (EOC), grades 5
and 8 science end-of-grade (EOG), and grade 8 English Language
Arts (ELA)/Reading and math EOG assessments are available to
teachers and students through NCTest. The online version of the
grade 7 EOG released form will be available in early March. The
public may access pdf files for EOC and EOG released forms
online.
In addition, the recently expanded fall 2015 NC Final Exam (NCFE) released item sets are available to
teachers and students through NCTest. Expanded sets of grades 4 and 5 social studies NCFE and
grade 4 science NCFE will be available through NCTest in early March. PDF files for the NCFE released
item sets also are available to the public.
Released forms and items may be used as a supplement to the required online assessment tutorials
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Weekly Message - State Superintendent June Atkinson - Lynda Fuller
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through NCTest for the purpose of familiarizing students and staff with the NCTest platform.
LEAs/schools are strongly encouraged to take advantage of this additional resource before student test
days. Technical requirements and installation information for NCTest can be reviewed at
http://center.ncsu.edu/nct.
Questions may be directed to the LEA or charter school test coordinator or your Regional Accountability
Coordinator.
Alignment Study Report for End-of-Grade and End-of-Course Assessments
In September 2014, NCDPI commissioned the Wisconsin Center for Education Research to conduct an
in-depth, independent study of the alignment of the state’s newly developed end-of-grade (EOG) and
end-of-course (EOC) assessments for mathematics, reading and science to the content standards.
North Carolina hosted a content analysis workshop as part of the alignment study in January 2015.
Subject-based teams of content analysts were formed from active North Carolina teachers and other
content specialists and trained to conduct independent analyses of assessment forms for mathematics,
reading, and science for all assessed grades.
English language arts/reading and mathematics results were shared with the State Board of Education
in June. Science results were shared with the Board at its December meeting. The entire alignment
report including all appendices is available to the public.
Please share this information locally. Questions may be directed to your Regional Accountability
Coordinator.
Multi-Tiered System of Support:
Strengthening Instruction for All Students
Building a system of support for all students includes intentional
selection and support of strong instructional, curricular and
environmental components. When data reveals a need to
strengthen core instruction for the benefit of all students, teams
begin to examine practices.
While clear identification of instructional practices is determined, these teams also will be considering
district and school-wide curricular and environmental structures, which when executed effectively
lead to increased student growth.
Examples of these additional structures that impact student achievement are:
• classroom arrangement;
• consistent behavioral expectations;
• methods for teaching/reviewing expectations;
• time allotted for instruction;
• materials/resources utilized; and
• scope and sequence of delivery.
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Weekly Message - State Superintendent June Atkinson - Lynda Fuller
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A Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS) is about school improvement through engaging, researchbased academic and behavioral practices. North Carolina’s MTSS employs a systems approach using
data-driven problem solving to maximize growth for all.
Find out more at the MTSS wikispace.
North Carolina State Plan to Ensure Equitable Access
to Excellent Educators Approved
NCDPI Federal Program Monitoring and Support staff are pleased to announce that the U.S.
Department of Education approved North Carolina’s State Plan to Ensure Equitable Access to Excellent
Educators on Nov. 18. The final plan and approval letter are available on the Federal Program
Monitoring and Support website.
North Carolina Virtual Public
School Update
Fall semester NCVPS early calendar courses close on Dec. 11. Traditional calendar courses end on Jan.
8. NCVPS staff have some tips and reminders to help your schools successfully close out their fall
semester.
Please have your advisors and other stakeholders visit the NCVPS End of Semester Tips and
Reminders web page, which includes details about the last day of classes for students, EOC and CTE
testing, final grades and much more.
Mark Your Calendars! National Speak
Up Day is Almost Here
Wednesday, Dec. 9, is the day to encourage your school community to participate in National Speak Up
Day. Let your voice be heard about the future of technology in our nation’s schools.
Visit the Participation Map and zoom into your district to see how participation is going. Currently, North
Carolina is ranked 5th in participation nationwide, and Randolph County Schools is ranked 6th and
Sampson County Schools is ranked 10th overall for school districts. Share this information with your
school community and ask them to Speak Up!
Hour of Code
Are your schools hosting an Hour of Code? No coding experience is necessary! This is a great way to
encourage computer science and programming in your schools. Check out the resources at Code.org.
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Weekly Message - State Superintendent June Atkinson - Lynda Fuller
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NCDPI is hosting its own event on Dec. 8. Participating staff will be introduced to the basics of
computer science and programming through a variety of activities. The activities include an hour of
“unplugged” coding through My Robotic Friends; an hour of coding with their personal devices with
Lightbot, Tynker, and The Foos; an hour of coding by Building a Galaxy or Coding with Anna & Elsa; and
an hour of Animating their Name with JavaScript. All of these resources are available at Code.org.
Hoke County Schools’ Superintendent Named
NC Superintendent of the Year
Congratulations to Hoke County Schools’ Superintendent Freddie
Williamson for recently being named the 2016 A. Craig Phillips North
Carolina Superintendent of the Year.
The North Carolina Association of School Administrators, North Carolina School Superintendents
Association and the North Carolina School Boards Association jointly sponsor the award. Scholastic
sponsored the event and provided $5,000 in recognition of Williamson's achievements.
The 2016 North Carolina Regional Superintendents of the Year were:
• Northeast: Don Phipps, Beaufort County Schools
• Southeast: Tim Markley, New Hanover County Schools
• North Central: Tom Forcella, Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools
• Sandhills: Freddie Williamson, Hoke County Schools
• Piedmont-Triad: Darrin Hartness, Davie County Schools
• Southwest: Terry Griffin, Stanly County Schools
• Northwest: Dan Brigman, Catawba County Schools
• Western: Bill Miller, Polk County Schools
NC Teacher Working
Conditions Survey Launches
March 1
Almost 90 percent (88.6) of all licensed North Carolina educators participated in the 2014 NC Teacher
Working Conditions Survey ( NC TWCS). This year’s goal, as always, is to have a 100 percent response
rate from every North Carolina school.
For the past 12 years, the survey has been a platform used to amplify educator’s voices concerning
working conditions in their schools and districts. It also is used to inform state-level policy decisions.
The window for this anonymous, online survey will run from March 1-25. Please visit the NC TWCS
website or talk to your school’s NC TWCS representative if you have questions about the survey
process. If your school does not have a representative, please contact your Regional Educator
Facilitator for assistance.
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Weekly Message - State Superintendent June Atkinson - Lynda Fuller
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Home Base Symposium Call for
Proposals
NCDPI staff invite you to submit presentation proposals for the 2016 Home Base Symposium:
Connections Count! This event will be held February 10-12 at the Sheraton Four Seasons/Koury
Convention Center, Greensboro. Join us as we continue to share innovative practices and lessons
learned using the Home Base suite of tools.
All session proposals must be related to sharing lessons learned and effective strategies as you
implement the various Home Base suite of tools: PowerSchool, Schoolnet, Educator
Evaluation/Truenorthlogic, Professional Development System/Truenorthlogic, Identity and Access
Management, Learning Object Repository; and Canvas. You may submit more than one proposal. One
presenter for each session will have their conference registration fee waived.
Please complete the Request for Proposals Form by Friday, Dec. 18.
Latest Messages Online
Nov. 24, 2015 Teachers’ Biweekly Message
Nov. 25, 2015 Home Base Biweekly Message
Dec. 3, 2015 Principals’ Biweekly Message
Dec. 4, 2015 Finance Officers’ Newsletter
Stay Connected with North Carolina Public Schools:
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Weekly Message - State Superintendent June Atkinson - Lynda Fuller
12/7/15 2:36 PM
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