Race to the Top Weekly Update
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
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In this issue

Update on RttT DSW Approval Process

Online Writing Instruction

NCDPI/RESA Partnership Professional Development Calendar -- September

Math Unpacking Standards Updated

Summer Institute Presentations Now Online

NC FALCON
Update on RttT DSW Approval Process
LEAs and charter schools are refining and submitting their Race to the Top Detailed
Scopes of Work (DSWs) based on feedback provided by NCDPI. We appreciate all the hard work that each district/charter has dedicated toward strengthening and clarifying your DSW planning documents. We are confident this work will pay valuable dividends as various stakeholders – including State and Federal auditors and the media – examine all of our efforts over the next several years. Currently, 33 DSWs have been fully approved. Please be aware that the sooner you submit a DSW that appropriately addresses the comments provided by the Department, the sooner the DSW will be approved and posted, and the sooner we can then approve your corresponding detailed budget. Again, thank you for your cooperation and patience during this process.
MORE INFO: Adam Levinson, Adam.Levinson@dpi.nc.gov
Online Writing Instruction
North Carolina has established resources for Online Writing Instruction that provide students with opportunities to have a variety of experiences with writing across curricula and throughout the school year. There are a few changes for the 2011-12 school year. The following modifications will be incorporated between September and December:
 The on-demand tasks will be removed from the Moodle design.
 The number of content-specific writing opportunities available to registered students will range from two to twenty. This online portfolio will be available for

grades 3 through 12. Currently, the NCDPI consultants in the K-12 Curriculum and Instruction Division are developing sample content-specific writing assignments for grades four and seven (ready by early fall), and will soon be developing sample content-specific writing assignments for grades 3, 5, 6 and 8 through 12 (ready by the end of first semester).
 Content-specific writing assignments will align to the Standards for Literacy in
History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects, 6-12, as well as each specific content area’s NC Essential Standards or the Common Core State
Standards for Mathematics or English Language Arts.
 Online Writing Instruction rubrics will be modified to align with the above documents.
All additional information regarding Online Writing Instruction will be posted to http://www.ncpublicschools.org/acre/writing/.
MORE INFO: Jim Kroening, Jim.Kroening@dpi.nc.gov.
NCDPI/RESA Partnership Professional Development Calendar -- September
LEA teams will now begin local training on the Common Core and Essential standards for teachers, developing their implementation plans, and designing local curricula resources.
There are two ways NCDPI will deliver face-to-face professional development to districts and schools: Local PD Leadership Teams from the Summer Institutes will receive continuous support trainings and selected principal and teacher leaders will receive follow up support through trainings set up through the RESAs (Regional Education
Service Alliances/Consortia). Below are the dates of the regional professional development offered this year for local PD Leadership Teams, principal and teacher leaders.
The professional development online modules and tools created by NCDPI that will supplement your local trainings to show teachers what is “different,” how to connect the new standards directly to our evaluation processes, and tools to identify district strengths and areas of improvement are available through NC Education. The link is https://center.ncsu.edu/nc/login/index.php.
September Calendar:
7 – Teacher Evaluation Training for Principals and Assistant Principals, NWRESA
13 – Regional Fall Institutes for Principals/Assistant Principals, CCRESA
12-13 – Math Common Core/Essential Standards (CCES) PD for LEA/Charter
Leadership Teams, NWRESA
12 – ELA CCES PD for LEA/Charter Leadership Teams, SWRESA
14-15 – ELA CCES PD for LEA/Charter Leadership Teams, CCRESA

15 – Teacher Effectiveness Vetting/New Accountability Model Meetings, PTEC
20 – Teacher Effectiveness Vetting/New Accountability Model Meetings, Sandhills
RESA
19-20 – Math CCES PD for LEA/Charter Leadership Teams, WRESA
20 – ELA CCES PD for LEA/Charter Leadership Teams, NERESA
29 – Teacher Evaluation Training for Principals and Assistant Principals, CCRESA
26-27 – ELA CCES PD for LEA/Charter Leadership Teams, SERESA
28 – Teacher Effectiveness Vetting/New Accountability Model Meetings, NWRESA
28 and 30 – Regional Fall Institutes for Principals/Assistant Principals, Sandhills RESA
29 – Teacher Evaluation Training for Principals and Assistant Principals, PTEC
The Regional PD Leaders (http://www.ncpublicschools.org/profdev/directory), the local
RttT District/Charter Coordinators (http://www.ncpublicschools.org/rttt/lea-charter/) and the RESA Directors will coordinate this work and communicate the details to the appropriate persons directly. Please contact your RttT District/School Coordinator for specific details pertaining to your LEA/Charter school.
MORE INFO: Yvette Stewart, yvette.stewart@dpi.nc.gov
Math Unpacking Standards Updated
Updated Math Unpacking Standards for Grades 3, 4 and 5 have been added to the
Common Core Support Tools page of the Accountability and Curriculum Reform Effort
(ACRE) website. The unpacked standards are documents for educators that define the knowledge and skills students must master to accomplish specific goals. They list the common core standards for each grade level and subject then provide detailed examples on how to teach a standard. To view the unpacked standards, plus standards for grades K-
12 in English Language Arts and Math, please visit http://www.ncpublicschools.org/acre/standards/common-core-tools/#unmath .
MORE INFO: Kitty Rutherford, Kitty.Rutherford@dpi.nc.gov
, or Barbara Bissell,
Barbara.Bissell@dpi.nc.gov
Summer Institute Presentations Now Online
The NCDPI has posted content-specific presentations shared during the 2011 Summer
Institutes. The presentations and speakers’ notes are additional resources provided to assist districts and charter schools as they design and implement training on the new standards at the local level. Along with the presentations are sample agendas to guide in the planning of content sessions. These resources are located at http://newdev.www.ncpublicschools.org/acre/profdev/institute/.
MORE INFO: Tracey Greggs at Tracey.Greggs@dpi.nc.gov, or Maria Pitre-Martin@
Maria.pitremartin@dpi.nc.gov.
NC FALCON

The NC Formative Assessment Learning Community Online Network (NC FALCON) is now accessible at https://center.ncsu.edu/nc. District and charter teams who have never implemented this formative assessment online module are encouraged to include this as a component of your professional development. The new addition to NC FALCON,
Student Ownership, will be piloted in October 2011 .
The module will be available for rollout in spring 2012 .
MORE INFO: LEAs interested in piloting this module should contact Carmella Fair,
Carmella.Fair@dpi.nc.gov.