September 19, 2012
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Archived Race to the Top Weekly Updates are available here:
http://www.ncpublicschools.org/rttt/updates/
NEW THIS WEEK
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New NC Standard Course of Study Site and READY FAQs
NCTest Online Assessment System
October Webinar for New Local RttT Coordinators
RttT Evaluation Team Interest in Local Progress Reports
NCTest Online Assessment System
Race to the Top-District Competition Assistance from NCDPI
Race to the Top Progress Report to the General Assembly
2012-13 DSW Amendment Review in Process
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
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North Carolina Teacher Standards and Evaluation Process: Facilitated
Course for Teachers
North Carolina Central Office Evaluation Rubric: Policy Update
SREB Commission Report on Middle Grades for Counselor-Principal Teams
Fall Training for NC K-12 School Counselors
North Carolina Learning Technology Initiative (NCLTI) Education
Technology Planning Summits
NEW THIS WEEK
New NC Standard Course of Study Site and READY FAQs
NCDPI wants educators and public school supporters to have access to the answers
they need surrounding the many changes occurring this year in our schools. To that
end, we have developed a new website that features a wealth of information on the
new NC Standard Course of Study, including a thorough overview of the new standards,
plus a menu of resources for educators to explore. It can be found
here: http://www.ncpublicschools.org/curriculum/.
MORE INFO: Dr. Maria Pitre-Martin, Maria.pitremartin@dpi.nc.gov
NCDPI staff members also have been synthesizing and researching the answers to a
multitude of questions received from READY meetings earlier this year, along with a
number of questions that have been submitted via our website and email. The
categories posted on the READY website thus far are Accountability, Assessments and
Educator Effectiveness. These FAQs may be found
at http://www.ncpublicschools.org/ready/faq/.
MORE INFO: Michael Yarbrough, Michael.yarbrough@dpi.nc.gov
October Webinar for New Local RttT Coordinators
NCDPI’s RttT Program Management team will host a webinar in October to provide new
local RttT Coordinators with an overview of the RttT Program, particularly requirements
and procedures for managing local plans. New Superintendents, Finance Officers, and
other local staff are also welcome to attend.
To accommodate busy schedules, the webinar will be offered at two different times:
Wednesday, October 24 from 3:00 - 4:30 pm, and Thursday, October 25 from 9:00 10:30 am. Content, which will be identical in both sessions, will include goals of RttT,
the role and responsibilities of the local RttT Coordinator, the DSW and BUD processes,
and procurement guidelines. Please submit any questions by September 28 to your
NCDPI Regional Lead, and we will try to ensure they are covered in the webinar. Time
will also be set aside in each session for discussion of questions from the audience.
MORE INFO: Michael Hickman, michael.hickman@dpi.nc.gov
RttT Evaluation Team Interest in Local Progress Reports
LEAs and charter schools soon will receive a communication from the RttT Evaluation
Team explaining how they will incorporate information contained in the annual local
progress reports as part of the various ongoing studies of NC’s RttT implementation.
It is very important to note that the Evaluation Team’s consideration of the progress
reports is not the same as the monitoring review conducted by the NCDPI Regional
Leads, nor is this an “audit.” The Evaluation Team simply seeks to be able to consider
all available information when describing the progress made by the State and local
entities on various RttT initiatives.
MORE INFO: Trip Stallings, dtstalli@ncsu.edu
NCTest Online Assessment System
End-of-Course (EOC) assessments have been available online since 2007. For the
2012-13 school year, the EOC assessments will continue to be available online along
with end-of-grade (EOG) science and all NCEXTEND2 assessments. The following
assessments will be available through the NCTest online assessment system:
Algebra I/ Integrated I EOC
Biology EOC
English II EOC
Grades 5 and 8 Science EOG
NCEXTEND2 (EOC assessments in Biology, English II, Algebra I/Integrated I, and EOG
assessments in English Language Arts, Mathematics, and Grades 5 and 8 Science)
Paper-and-pencil versions of these assessments will be available for order, but the
NCDPI strongly encourages administering these assessments online.
MORE INFO: Kayla Siler, kayla.siler@dpi.nc.gov or
http://www.ncpublicschools.org/accountability/testing/
Race to the Top-District Competition Assistance from NCDPI
A number of local school districts have inquired about how NCDPI will assist them in
meeting the “state review” requirement for applications for the Race to the Top-District
(RttT-D) competition. Attached to the same email that delivered this Update is a letter
that explains our process for review. The letter was sent recently to Superintendents,
regional leaders and charter school leaders.
We look forward to receiving your RttT-D applications and/or questions.
MORE INFO: Adam Levinson, adam.levinson@dpi.nc.gov
Race to the Top Progress Report to the General Assembly
State legislation requires that NCDPI is to submit four semi-annual reports outlining
Progress toward Implementing the state-level Race to the Top Initiative. The first of
these reports was submitted last week, and it is attached to the same email that
delivered this Update.
The report outlines progress around Transition to the New Standards, the Instructional
Improvement System, NC Education Cloud, Educator Evaluation, Performance
Incentives, Regional Leadership Academies, Teacher Recruitment, Virtual Schools,
Professional Development, District and School Transformation and STEM.
MORE INFO: Adam Levinson, adam.levinson@dpi.nc.gov
2012-13 DSW Amendment Review in Process
NCDPI has received a great number of LEA/Charter RttT Detailed Scopes of Work (DSW)
amendments over the past several weeks. In addition to reviewing the amendments,
we are fielding many questions regarding various ARRA and OERI requirements.
Our staff members are working diligently to review the amended DSWs and to ensure
that any questions are answered clearly and completely. We greatly appreciate your
patience in awaiting review results and answers to your questions during this highvolume period.
MORE INFO: Eric Thanos, eric.thanos@dpi.nc.gov
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
North Carolina Teacher Standards and Evaluation Process: Facilitated Course for
Teachers
A six-week, facilitator-led module designed for teachers begins on Monday,
September 17. This module, North Carolina Teacher Standards and Evaluation Process,
provides an in-depth look at the North Carolina Professional Teaching Standards,
helping teachers deepen their understanding of the six professional teaching
standards and their role in the new evaluation process.
The module is available at no cost to North Carolina teachers and will be facilitated by
the DPI Professional Development Leads. The course will take approximately 20 hours
to complete over a period of six weeks, and teachers will earn 2 CEUs upon
completion.
LearnNC hosts the course. Teachers may go to https://ncelearning.org/sectionsopen
to register for the course. Four sections are offered this year, and the registration is
now open for the September and October sections. There is a limit of 23 participants
per section.
Course start dates are September 17 and October 8, 2012, and January 14
and February 4, 2013. Registration is currently open for the September and October
dates.
MORE INFO: Dr. Lynne Johnson, lynne.johnson@dpi.nc.gov
North Carolina Central Office Evaluation Rubric: Policy Update
The original version of TCP-C-021 offered the North Carolina Central Office Staff
Evaluation Process as an option for the evaluation of central office staff members with
the rank of director or above. Teacher leaders, coordinators and instructional staff
working directly with adults were previously not identified in this policy. Given the
need to evaluate LEA staff members with an instrument appropriate to their roles and
responsibilities, the revision to TCP-C-021 allows LEAs to use the Central Office Staff
Evaluation Process with employees regardless of rank. For purposes of this policy,
Central Office Staff members include: Deputy, Assistant, and Associate
Superintendents, instructional staff members with a rank of Director or above; and
coordinators and teacher leaders who are not responsible for direct student
instruction. The State Board approved this policy change at its September 6 meeting.
MORE INFO: Dr. Lynne Johnson, lynne.johnson@dpi.nc.gov
SREB Commission Report on Middle Grades for Counselor-Principal Teams
School counselors work as leaders and advocates in the school by collaborating with
the administration to meet the learning needs of all students. Please join members of
the SREB Middle School Commission to review the strategies of the report “A New
Mission for Middle Grades.” Dr. Gene Bottoms from the Southern Regional Education
Board; Dr. June Atkinson from the NC Department of Public Instruction; and Dr. Cathy
Tomon, Principal, Marylene Vines, Assistant Principal and Joann Norman, School
Counselor of Broad Creek Middle School will lead this “lunch and learn” session for
Middle School Counselors and Principals.
Thursday, November 8, 2012 - 10:45 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
NCSCA Conference - Sheraton Koury Convention Center, Greensboro, NC
The registration link for this session is already on the NCSCA Fall Conference Landing
page as follows: http://www.ncyi.org/www/docs/135.290
(A Save the Date card is attached.)
MORE INFO: Linda Brannan, linda.brannan@dpi.nc.gov
Fall Training for NC K-12 School Counselors
There are many RttT training opportunities for NC K-12 School Counselors. All are
listed in detail with registration information on the NCDPI School Counseling
Wikispace, at http://schoolcounseling.ncdpi.wikispaces.net/. Click on the Professional
Development tab.
MORE INFO: Linda Brannan, linda.brannan@dpi.nc.gov
North Carolina Learning Technology Initiative (NCLTI) Education Technology
Planning Summits
NCDPI and the Friday Institute for Educational Innovation at NC State University have
collaborated around preparing the state for technology-enabled learning. The
partnership is committed to providing “just-in-time” assistance and support to LEAs
and charter schools planning and/or implementing educational technology initiatives.
In that spirit, we are pleased to announce a series of intensive two-day Planning
Summits for LEAs and charter schools. The first is an intensive two-day leadership
planning summit to provide an orientation to the NCLTI Framework for Planning and its
supporting tools and resources. During sessions, you will have the opportunity to
begin using the tools and resources to launch your district and/or school planning
efforts or strengthen existing plans for technology-enabled learning environments.
Additional information and application/registration information is available online at
http://it.ncwiseowl.org/resources/nclti_summits.
MORE INFO: Neill Kimrey, neill.kimrey@dpi.nc.gov