Wednesday, November 16, 2011
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NEW THIS WEEK
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NC Selected to Participate in National Teacher Effectiveness Policy Effort
‘Point to Point’ New Feature on RttT Website
Professional Development Dates for December
New Link to IIS Video for Students Online
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT…
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Offer Your Input on the Proposed 2012-13 School Accountability Model
Next Generation of Assessments: NC Test
Next Generation of Assessments: Test Specifications
Measures of Student Learning Design Groups Meet in Chapel Hill
NEW THIS WEEK
NC Selected to Participate in National Teacher Effectiveness Policy Effort
North Carolina is one of three states and one territory to be selected to participate in a
national teacher effectiveness policy effort. The National Governors Association (NGA)
has announced that North Carolina – along with Colorado, Nevada and Guam – will be a
contributor to the State Strategies to Evaluate Teacher Effectiveness Policy Academy.
Visit http://www.ncpublicschools.org/newsroom/news/2011-12/20111116-01 to read
more.
MORE INFO: Lynne Johnson, Lynne.Johnson@dpi.nc.gov
‘Point to Point’ New Feature on RttT Website
"Point to Point" indicates the distance between the beginning and ending points of one
day in a long race. NCDPI introduces our own Point to Point, a new feature on the Race
to the Top website. This new addition will offer updates, insights and observations from
various members of the RttT team. We invite you to check in on our progress, as North
Carolina makes its way along the Race to the Top.
Our inaugural Point to Point entry is from State Superintendent June Atkinson. You can
find it at http://www.ncpublicschools.org/rttt/point/2011/20111110.
MORE INFO: Michael Yarbrough, Michael.Yarbrough@dpi.nc.gov
Professional Development Dates for December
1 - Math CCES PD for LEA/Charter Leadership Teams, PTEC
1 – Phase III Principal Training on ITES and Common Core/Essential Standards, Region 1,
James Sprunt Community College, 9am-noon and 1pm-4pm.
2 – Phase III Principal Training on ITES and Common Core/Essential Standards, Region 7,
WRESA, 9am-noon and 1pm-4pm.
8 – Phase III Principal Training on ITES and Common Core/Essential Standards, Region 7,
Foothills Higher Education Center, 9am-noon and 1pm-4pm.
8 – NC Professional Teaching Standards Training for Principals and Assistant Principals,
Sandhills RESA
9 – NC Professional Teaching Standards for Principals and Assistant Principals, SERESA
12 - Phase III Principal Training on ITES and Common Core/Essential Standards, Region 6,
Hilton Charlotte University Place, 9am-12pm and 1pm-4pm.
13 – NC Professional Teaching Standards for Principals and Assistant Principals, NERESA
15 – NC Professional Teaching Standards for Principals and Assistant Principals, SWRESA
MORE INFO: Yvette Stewart, Yvette.Stewart@dpi.nc.gov
New Link to IIS Video for Students Online
Please check out a new link to a video that introduces the vision for the Instructional
Improvement System as told from a student’s point of view. We heard that some were
having trouble viewing it on last week’s link, so it is now on our wesite and can be found
at http://www.ncpublicschools.org/acre/improvement/resources/
MORE INFO: Eric Moore, Eric.Moore@dpi.nc.gov.
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IN CASE YOU MISSED IT…
Offer Your Input on the Proposed 2012-13 School Accountability Model
NCDPI would like to hear your thoughts regarding the new school accountability model.
Please use the following email address, newaccountabilityfeedback@dpi.nc.gov, to send
us your feedback. Before doing so, you might want to also visit
http://www.ncpublicschools.org/acre/redesign/, where you will find a “Key Questions
for Feedback” document to use in formulating your thoughts. Any feedback received
prior to November 30 can be used to inform the State Board of Education’s (SBE)
discussion of the new model in its December meeting. The target date for SBE approval
of this model is January 2012.
Next Generation of Assessments: NC Test
As part of the Next Generation of Assessments, North Carolina aims to have all
assessments online by the 2014-15 school year. NCTest v2.5 is the web browser-based
testing system that will serve as the web application used to deliver online statewide
summative assessments for the North Carolina Testing Program for the 2011-12 school
year. NCTest v2.5 presents test questions that match or are comparable to the
appearance of items on paper forms while keeping the bandwidth footprint very low.
More information is available on our website at
http://www.ncpublicschools.org/accountability/testing/eoc/ and in the NCTest
brochure at
http://www.ncpublicschools.org/docs/acre/assessment/nctestbrochure.pdf.
A tutorial is available to familiarize test administrators and students with the functional
components of the online assessment system at
https://center.ncsu.edu/nctestv3/NCTestSim.html. We strongly encourage all students
to complete the tutorial prior to test day. The tutorial is available to the public and
features sample tests for each of the various content areas that have online
assessments.
MORE INFO: http://www.ncpublicschools.org/accountability/testing/eoc/. Please send
any questions to acre-feedback@dpi.nc.gov.
Next Generation of Assessments: Test Specifications
Specifications for the Next Generation of Assessments aligned to the Common Core
State Standards in English/Language Arts and Mathematics and the North Carolina
Essential Standards for Science are now available. Information on the prioritization of
the standards, cognitive rigor, item complexity, item types, and assessment delivery
modes is included. You can find the new test specifications on our website at
http://www.ncpublicschools.org/acre/assessment/online/.
MORE INFO: http://www.ncpublicschools.org/acre/assessment/online/. Please send
any questions to acre-feedback@dpi.nc.gov.
Measures of Student Learning Design Groups Meet in Chapel Hill
More than 700 teachers came together in Chapel Hill the week of Oct. 24 to discuss
meaningful assessment in currently non-tested grades and subjects. Educators met
together in content groups ranging from the arts to world languages to science.
Teachers first received training on assessment design, including reliability and validity of
measures of student growth. Then they provided feedback on content standards,
including recommendations for the best methods for assessment for their standards
and qualitative feedback on assessment for their content area. The teachers’ feedback
will be used to generate items (including constructed response questions) that the
teachers will review when they meet again in the spring.
Student growth is the focus of the new sixth standard of the teacher evaluation
system. This will inform teachers' ratings in these new measures of student learning.
MORE INFO: Jennifer Preston, Jennifer.Preston@dpi.nc.gov.