December
12,
2012
NEW
THIS
WEEK
•
Guilford,
Iredell‐Statesville
Win
Local
RttT
Grants
•
Smarter
Balanced
Webinar
on
Middle
School
Mathematics
•
Race
to
the
Top
Team
Wraps
Up
READY
Outreach
Meetings
IN
CASE
YOU
MISSED
IT
•
IIS
Becomes
Home
Base
•
Home
Base
Resource
Consortium
•
Student
Ownership
of
Learning
Pilot
Announced
•
NC
Education
Online
Modules
•
Speak
Up
2012
Survey
Reminder
•
New
and
Improved
ELA
Newsletter
NEW
THIS
WEEK
Guilford,
Iredell‐Statesville
Win
Local
RttT
Grants
Congratulations
to
Guilford
County
Schools
and
Iredell‐Statesville
Schools.
They
were
two
among
16
local
districts
selected
from
372
applicants
nationwide
to
receive
a
portion
of
the
Race
to
the
Top
grant
directed
to
individual
school
districts.
Guilford
received
$30
million,
which
will
be
applied
toward
tablet
devices
for
middle
school
students
that
can
track
their
progress,
along
with
professional
development
for
teachers.
Iredell‐Statesville’s
$20
million
portion
will
support
a
blended
learning
initiative
in
middle
and
high
schools.
MORE
INFO:
Adam
Levinson,
adam.levinson@dpi.nc.gov
Smarter
Balanced
Webinar
on
Middle
School
Mathematics
The
Council
of
Chief
State
School
Officers
will
be
host
a
webinar
on
Wednesday,
Dec.
19
at
4:30
pm,
regarding
the
recently
released
Partnership
for
Readiness
for
College
and
Career
(PARCC)
and
Smarter
Balanced
sample
assessment
items
in
mathematics.
Middle
school
mathematics
teacher
Jim
Mamer
will
be
featured.
Mamer
received
the
2012
Ohio
Council
of
Teachers
of
Mathematics
Elementary
Mathematics
Teaching
Award,
is
an
active
leader
in
the
National
Council
of
Teachers
of
Mathematics
(NCTM)
and
is
currently
implementing
the
Common
Core
State
Standards
in
Mathematics
with
his
students.
Mamer
will
offer
his
reactions
and
guidance
to
fellow
teachers
on
what
the
new
assessment
items
illustrate
about
the
Common
Core
State
Standards
in
Mathematics
and
accompanying
assessments
that
students
will
be
experiencing
soon.
After
discussing
select
math
sample
assessment
items
from
PARCC
and
Smarter
Balanced,
Mamer
will
offer
suggestions
for
teachers
on
how
they
individually
and
in
collaborative
conversations
with
their
peers
can
reflect
on
implications
for
their
teaching
practice.
You
may
register
here.
MORE
INFO:
Dr.
Maria
Pitre‐Martin,
K‐12
Curriculum
and
Instruction,
maria.pitremartin@dpi.nc.gov
Race
to
the
Top
Team
Wraps
Up
READY
Outreach
Meetings
Superintendent
June
Atkinson
and
the
NCDPI
Race
to
the
Top
team
wrapped
up
the
Fall
2012
READY
Outreach
meetings
in
Durham
on
Tuesday,
Dec.
11.
It
was
the
culmination
of
a
visit
to
all
eight
regions
across
the
state
that
began
Nov.
19.
Superintendents,
principals,
teachers
and
key
central
office
personnel
were
invited
to
hear
the
latest
on
the
state
‘s
remodeling
efforts
around
college
and
career
readiness.
A
total
of
more
than
3,500
attended
the
sessions
to
hear
Dr.
Atkinson
and
NCDPI
leaders
share
updates
regarding
the
new
Common
Core,
Educator
Effectiveness,
the
new
accountability
system,
and
Home
Base
(formerly
known
as
the
Instructional
Improvement
System),
which
will
provide
teachers
and
administrators
with
access
to
all
the
data
and
resources
they
will
need
with
one
log‐in.
The
sessions
also
included
ample
time
for
participants
to
ask
questions.
MORE
INFO:
Michael
Yarbrough,
Communications
and
Information,
michael.yarbrough@dpi.nc.gov
IN
CASE
YOU
MISSED
IT
IIS
Becomes
Home
Base
Imagine
that
you
come
to
work
each
day,
go
to
your
computer
or
other
device
and
log
in
one
time
to
access
all
of
the
technology‐based
tools
that
you
need
in
your
work
for
and
with
students
each
day.
That
would
be
one
log‐in
for
tasks
such
as
attendance
and
grades,
instructional
resources,
digital
textbooks
and
digital
storage
for
student
work
and
other
items.
Imagine
that
the
data
side
of
your
technology
tools
would
connect
to
the
instructional
side
of
your
tools,
better
enabling
you
to
target
materials
to
meet
the
specific
needs
of
each
student.
That
is
the
goal
of
Home
Base,
North
Carolina's
comprehensive
instructional
improvement
system
that
will
include
both
instructional
resources
and
also
PowerSchool,
the
replacement
for
NC
WISE.
Home
Base
is
the
new
name
for
what
was
formerly
known
as
the
Instructional
Improvement
System
(IIS).
The
Home
Base
website
is
now
available
at
www.ncpublicschools.org/homebase.
MORE
INFO:
Please
send
questions
to
Home_Base_Ready@dpi.nc.gov.
Home
Base
Resource
Consortium
NCDPI’s
Learning
Systems
Division
hosted
a
day‐and‐a‐half
rubric
training
on
Oct.
30
and
31
as
part
of
the
overall
plan
to
leverage
existing
resources
in
local
districts
and
schools.
Twenty‐five
participants
from
11
LEAs
and
schools,
all
members
of
the
Home
Base
Resource
Consortium,
attended
the
training,
which
was
facilitated
by
members
of
the
Achieve
staff.
The
NCDPI
has
partnered
with
Achieve
in
finding
Open
Education
Resources
(OER)
for
Home
Base.
To
this
end,
we
have
adopted
the
OER
rubrics
to
identify
resources
that
are
aligned
to
the
Common
Core
State
Standards
and
the
NC
Essential
Standards.
Training
on
these
rubrics
will
ensure
that
the
resources
submitted
by
LEAs
and
schools
are
aligned
and
are
of
high
quality,
which
is
the
criterion
for
all
resources
for
Home
Base.
At
the
Home
Base
Resource
Consortium
meeting
on
Nov.
27,
participants
reported
that
they
had
begun
to
apply
what
they
learned
during
the
rubric
training
in
the
following
ways:
‐ to
review
their
resources
for
submission
to
Home
Base;
‐ to
create
future
lessons;
and
‐ to
train
other
district/school
staff
on
how
to
use
the
rubrics.
Staff
members
would
like
to
thank
the
following
counties/schools
for
their
participation
in
the
rubric
training
and
for
their
willingness
to
provide
quality
content
for
Home
Base:
Alamance‐
Burlington
Schools,
Asheboro
City
Schools,
Charlotte‐Mecklenburg
Schools,
Cleveland
County
Schools,
Guilford
County
Schools,
Hoke
County
Schools,
Jones
County
Schools,
Union
County
Schools,
Wake
County
Schools,
Wayne
County
Schools
and
the
NC
School
of
Science
and
Mathematics.
MORE
INFO:
Sarah
McManus,
Learning
Systems,
sarah.mcmanus@dpi.nc.gov
Student
Ownership
of
Learning
Pilot
Announced
More
than
80
NC
FALCON
Coordinators
participated
in
a
webinar
on
Wednesday,
Nov.
14,
where
the
Student
Ownership
of
Learning
Module
was
one
of
the
items
discussed.
The
module
was
developed
for
students
as
a
way
to
help
them
understand
the
formative
assessment
process
and
how
they
can
take
responsibility
for
their
own
learning.
The
module
is
presented
in
the
context
of
a
racing
game
with
comparisons
between
learning
to
drive
a
racecar
and
learning
in
the
classroom.
NC
FALCON
Coordinators
will
select
teachers
across
the
state
to
voluntarily
pilot
the
student
module.
Support
materials
will
be
available
to
assist
teachers
during
the
pilot.
The
statewide
pilot
of
the
module
will
begin
in
January.
MORE
INFO:
Carmella
Fair,
Learning
Systems,
carmella.fair@dpi.nc.gov
NC
Education
Online
Modules
The
NCDPI
released
nine
new
online
modules
(Phase
II
Modules)
as
a
means
of
providing
professional
development
that
is
flexible
and
can
be
used
by
districts
and
charter
school
teams
in
ways
that
best
suit
their
needs
in
June
2012.
Combined
with
the
six
Phase
I
Modules
released
in
June
2011,
there
are
a
total
of
15
NCDPI
modules
available
through
NC
Education.
To
access
the
modules,
please
visit
https://center.ncsu.edu/nc/course/category.php?id=33281
and
click
on
the
links
under
Professional
Development.
Contact
your
local
data
managers
for
username
and
password
information.
First
time
users
or
non‐LEA
educators
must
first
create
an
NC
Education
account.
Click
the
“Login”
link
and
follow
the
steps.
For
additional
information
about
the
modules,
enrollment
information,
and
strategies
for
implementation,
please
refer
to
the
Phase
II
Online
Module
Implementation
Guide
at
http://rt3nc.org/pubs/implementation_guide_2012.pdf.
MORE
INFO:
Geetanjali
Soni,
RttT
Instructional
Design
Team
Lead,
geetanjali.soni@dpi.nc.gov
Speak
Up
2012
Survey
Reminder
Speak
Up
is
a
national
initiative
of
Project
Tomorrow
(formerly
known
as
NetDay).
Since
fall
2003,
the
annual
Speak
Up
project
has
collected
and
reported
on
the
views
of
2.6
million
K‐12
students,
teachers,
administrators
and
parents
representing
more
than
23,000
schools
in
all
50
states.
The
Speak
Up
National
Research
Project
dataset
represents
the
largest
collection
of
authentic,
unfiltered
stakeholder
input
on
education,
technology,
21st
century
skills,
schools
of
the
future
and
science
and
math
instruction.
Education,
business
and
policy
leaders
report
using
the
data
regularly
to
inform
federal,
state
and
local
education
programs.
Register
for
your
school's
survey
at
http://www.speakup4schools.org/speakup2012
MORE
INFO:
http://it.ncwiseowl.org/resources/speak_up2012/,
or
email
Ouida
Myers,
Instructional
Technology,
ouida.myers@dpi.nc.gov.
New
and
Improved
ELA
Newsletter
The
English
Language
Arts
Newsletter
has
a
new
look!
Check
out
the
latest
edition
on
informational
texts.
Sign
up
on
the
listserves
to
receive
future
news!
Click
here
to
view
the
ELA
Scoop:
http://simplebooklet.com/publish.php?wpKey=6qyK2QPzeroOV1v3fUfem3#wpKey=6qyK2QPzer
oOV1v3fUfem3#page=0
MORE
INFO:
Julie
Joslin,
K‐12
English
Language
Arts,
julie.joslin@dpi.nc.gov
RACE
TO
THE
TOP
WEEKLY
UPDATE
INFO
If
you
know
someone
who
would
like
to
be
on
this
list,
please
send
their
email
address(es)
to
Michael.Yarbrough@dpi.nc.gov.
***PLEASE
NOTE:
Each
entry
in
this
Weekly
Update
features
the
email
address
of
at
least
one
contact
person,
department
or
website.
For
questions,
concerns
or
technical
assistance,
please
email
the
appropriate
contact(s)
directly.
Thanks!
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users
might
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press
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CTRL
button
when
clicking
on
a
hyperlink
in
this
document.
Archived
Race
to
the
Top
Weekly
Updates
are
available
online
at:
http://www.ncpublicschools.org/rttt/updates/