September 12, 2012 If you know someone who would like to be on this listserv, please send their email address 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! ***LINKS: PC users might need to press the CTRL button when clicking on a hyperlink in this document. Archived Race to the Top Weekly Updates are available here: http://www.ncpublicschools.org/rttt/updates/ NEW THIS WEEK • 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 IN CASE YOU MISSED IT • Back‐to‐School Message from State Superintendent June Atkinson • Educator Effectiveness Website Live • Online Evaluation Tool Webinar Series: Getting Started • PD Calendar Website Launched • New Phase II Online Modules Released • Finding NCDPI Wikispaces • Student Achievement Partners Modules on the Common Core State Standards • Common Core Resources from America Achieves the Core • NC Common Core Mathematics K‐8 Week by Week Essentials and Strategies Coming Soon • Reading, Math Foundations Crosswalks Linking to the Common Core State Standards • Quick Reference Guides for the NC Standard Course of Study • Possible Scenarios for Compacting the CCSS‐M in Middle School • Webinar Update: Arts Education, Course Coding Changes Impact, Honors Policy, Student Placement NEW THIS WEEK 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 IN CASE YOU MISSED IT Back‐to‐School Message from State Superintendent June Atkinson As you know, the 2012‐13 school year brings many changes for our schools. State Superintendent June Atkinson welcomes teachers, principals, administrators, parents and community supporters back to school with a message encouraging everyone to work together to ensure that these changes ultimately mean higher achievement for all public school students. Dr. Atkinson's welcome back video is available online at http://www.ncpublicschools.org/ready/principals/ (scroll down to Back‐to‐School Message from State Superintendent June Atkinson). Educator Effectiveness Website Live The new Educator Effectiveness Website is now available for teachers, principals and administrators to access information regarding educator effectiveness data, state board policies governing educator effectiveness, the new Measures of Student Learning, the new educator evaluation system and much more. You can access the site at http://www.ncpublicschools.org/educatoreffect/. MORE INFO: Jennifer Preston, jennifer.preston@dpi.nc.gov Online Evaluation Tool Webinar Series: Getting Started The Professional Development team is offering webinars on strategies for getting started in the online tool. We will also review some of the upgrades for the 2012‐13 school year. The following areas will be reviewed during the webinar: 1. Demonstrate using the online tool to complete Teacher Self‐Assessment 2. Demonstrate using the online tool to complete a Professional Development Plan and explain the changes. 3. Model the use of the Record of Teacher Activity Report 4. Demonstrate using the online tool to complete the Principal/Assistant Principal Self‐Assessment 5. Demonstrate using the online tool to complete goal setting for Principal/Assistant Principal 6. Review Online Tool Updates These webinars will be offered through September. Please select a date and time that works best in your schedule to join us for this informative webinar. Registration information is available at http://ncees.ncdpi.wikispaces.net/Upcoming+Webinars. The webinars are open to district contacts for the online tool, principals, and teachers. Please feel free to share this information. MORE INFO: Eliz Colbert, eliz.colbert@dpi.nc.gov PD Calendar Website Launched The 2012 NCDPI Professional Development Calendar is now live on the Professional Development website. Please visit http://www.ncpublicschools.org/profdev/calendar/ for a listing of PD offerings hosted in each region for your district or charter school leaders. Registration is handled through the Regional Education Service Alliances (RESAs), and their contact person is the NCDPI Regional Professional Development Leaders. Your local contact is the RttT Coordinator or Contact Person for the 2012 Summer Institute Leadership team. Please contact them first if you have any questions regarding the PD Calendar. MORE INFO: Yvette Stewart, yvette.stewart@dpi.nc.gov New Phase II Online Modules Released (Please See Attached) The Department of Public Instruction has developed nine new online 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. These modules were launched on June 30 for district and charter school use through NC Education at http://center.ncsu.edu/nc/. For supplemental 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, geetanjali.soni@dpi.nc.gov Finding NCDPI Wikispaces NCDPI has heard your concerns regarding finding wikispaces in a fast and convenient way. Soon there will be a central location for all NCDPI Wikispaces pages for your convenience. Please visit http://wikicentral.ncdpi.wikispaces.net to find any resource page you may be looking for. We are continuously updating this space with the most recent information, so please “pardon our progress” while the site remains under construction. MORE INFO: Robert Sox, robert.sox@dpi.nc.gov Student Achievement Partners Modules on the Common Core State Standards Student Achievement Partners, a nonprofit founded by three of the contributing authors to the Common Core that develops tools for effective standards implementation, released four professional development modules designed to support district and school leadership in their transition to the Common Core. The four modules cover: the Common Core Shifts in Math, the Common Core Shifts in ELA/Literacy, Creating Text Dependent Questions in ELA/Literacy and Instructional Leadership in the context of the Common Core. http://www.achievethecore.org/steal‐these‐tools/professional‐development‐modules MORE INFO: Maria Pitre‐Martin, maria.pitremartin@dpi.nc.gov Common Core Resources from America Achieves the Core. America Achieves the Core has a number of SS, ELA, and Math lessons that illustrate the Common Core shifts. Users have to set up an account to view the lessons but it is free. http://commoncore.americaachieves.org/ MORE INFO: Maria Pitre‐Martin, maria.pitremartin@dpi.nc.gov NC Common Core Mathematics K‐8 Week by Week Essentials and Strategies Coming Soon NCDPI has begun the process of selecting high cognitively demanding tasks from the K‐8 Week by Week Essentials and Strategies to create a new support document that aligns with the Common Core State Standards. With the support of North Carolina educators and other public school partners, we anticipate the release of this new document in late fall. Updates regarding this new document will be posted on the K‐8 NCDPI Math Listserves and NCDPI Math Wiki: http://maccss.ncdpi.wikispaces.net/ MORE INFO: Barbara Bissell, barbara.bissell@dpi.nc.gov Reading, Math Foundations Crosswalks Linking to the Common Core State Standards The course goals and competencies of the North Carolina State Improvement Project (NCSIP) Reading Foundations Training (RFT) and the Foundations of Mathematics Training are aligned to the concepts and skills of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). These crosswalks reflect a comparison between these state initiatives. It is designed as a resource to inform educators about how the Reading Foundations and Foundations of Mathematics courses align with the CCSS. To view these crosswalks, please visit: http://www.ncsip.org/mathematics/resources‐and‐materials.php http://www.ncsip.org/reading/documents/RFandCommonCoreCrosswalk.pdf MORE INFO: Paula Crawford, paula.crawford@dpi.nc.gov Quick Reference Guides for the NC Standard Course of Study The Quick Reference Guides for The North Carolina Standard Course of Study, available in sets for K‐5 or 6‐8, serve as resources for teachers as they plan instruction to implement the North Carolina Standard Course of Study across multiple disciplines. IS175, 2012, $25 (K‐5) IS176, 2012, $15 (6‐8). Order at http://www.ncpublicschools.org/publications/ Free PDF download at: http://aplus.ncdpi.wikispaces.net/Reference+Guides MORE INFO: Elaine Darby, elaine.darby@dpi.nc.gov Possible Scenarios for Compacting the CCSS‐M in Middle School Possible scenarios for compacting the CCSS‐M in middle school are now available at http://maccss.ncdpi.wikispaces.net/Middle+School+Mathematics Two models are available: A 3:2 model which begins compacting in the 7th grade and a 4:3 model which begins compacting in the sixth grade. With each model is a 6 ‐ 8 overview of the standards (this document was previously posted; however, revisions have been made), a possible grouping of standards by units for each grade level, and a document with all grade levels together. MORE INFO: Robin Barbour, robin.barbour@dpi.nc.gov Webinar Update: Arts Education, Course Coding Changes Impact, Honors Policy, Student Placement This webinar is intended for public school counselors and other educators interested in learning more about the impact of course coding changes, honors policy, and student placement in relationship to students’ participation in arts education programs. Linda Brannan, School Counseling Consultant, and Christie Lynch Ebert, Arts Education Consultant, will lead this session. Please plan to attend to have your questions answered and find out what you can do to support student learning in the arts! Participants are encouraged to log in and check all connections 15 minutes prior to the start time for the broadcast. This webinar will be recorded and archived for future reference if your schedule does not allow you to attend the live meeting. Registration Web Link: https://www4.gotomeeting.com/register/183294615 MORE INFO: Christie Lynch Ebert, christie.lynchebert@dpi.nc.gov