Wednesday, May 30, 2012
***SPECIAL NOTE: With the end of the school year upon us, the RttT Weekly Update will become the
RttT Monthly Update for June, July and August. Next edition: June 27. Weekly publication will resume in
September. Have a safe and relaxing summer!
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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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North Carolina Receives NCLB Waivers
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
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READY Outreach Meeting Posted Online
Education Evaluation System Lockdown
Teacher Evaluation Training Alert
Race to the Top: Taking Stock of North Carolina’s Progress
Webinar: RttT Procurement and Contracting
NEW THIS WEEK
North Carolina Receives NCLB Waivers
North Carolina is one of eight states receiving flexibility waivers from key provisions of No Child Left
Behind in exchange for state-developed plans to prepare all students for college and career, focus aid on
the neediest students, and support effective teaching and leadership. US Secretary of Education Arne
Duncan announced the new round of waiver approvals on Tuesday. To date, 19 states have received
waiver approval, and another 18 waiver plans are under review.
This decision comes after several months of peer reviews and negotiation with the US Department of
Education. Through this process, North Carolina education leaders clarified information provided in
support of its waivers and adjusted some elements of the state’s plan.
The waiver process allows states important flexibility that they need in order to move forward with
efforts to improve schools and support opportunities to close achievement gaps and improve learning
for students. North Carolina’s waivers allow the state to move away from the Adequate Yearly Progress
measure that is an “all or nothing” measure. Many felt the AYP process unfairly labeled schools for
missing one or two targets among many and provided disincentives to states that wanted to implement
new accountability models, more rigorous standards and other improvements.
You can read more about this at http://www.ncpublicschools.org/newsroom/news/2011-12/2012053001
MORE INFO: Vanessa Jeter, Vanessa.jeter@dpi.nc.gov
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
READY Outreach Meeting Posted Online
NCDPI hosted READY Regional Outreach meetings across the state in February and March, as part of the
READY Initiative to ensure that educators are prepared for the many changes coming to NC’s public
schools this fall. These meetings were attended mostly by principals and lead teachers, along with
superintendents and communications directors.
The Regional 3 meeting at NC State University’s McKimmon Center on March 12 was recorded to give
everyone a chance to have access to the information that was shared. This is now available on iTunesU.
The video is segmented according to topics covered, and can be accessed at
http://itunes.apple.com/itunes-u/ready/id415314572.
MORE INFO: Michael Yarbrough, michael.yarbrough@dpi.nc.gov
Education Evaluation System Lockdown
The online Educator Evaluation System will close for the 2011-12 school year on June 30 for all teacher,
assistant principal and principal evaluations. Note: This is a change from last year. The system must be
locked down at this time in order to compile the data for state and federal reporting requirements.
All aspects of the evaluation process must be completed in the online tool prior to June 30. It is
important for all educators to be aware of this deadline. Please remind them of this deadline.
MORE INFO: Lynne Johnson, lynne.johnson@dpi.nc.gov.
Teacher Evaluation Training Alert
Kim Simmons, kimberly.simmons@dpi.nc.gov, has joined the Educator Recruitment and Development
staff as the North Carolina Educator Evaluation Consultant to lead our team in the training process. Kim
has experience as a principal and professional development leader. All LEAs have FREE access to Kim
Simmons, Eliz Colbert, Robert Sox and the PD Leads in your district. Training by these individual is free;
at no cost to you. PD Leads are identified here at this link: www.ncpublicschools.org/profdev/directory.
Face-to-face and online training occurs frequently in your region, and you have the option to customize
your training. It has come to our attention at the agency that outside vendors are hired to assist you
with your training. Please be advised that many of these vendors are neither trained on our current
online system nor the inclusion of Standards 6 and 8. Please take advantage of ensuring you are
observing and evaluating your teachers in with accuracy and fidelity.
MORE INFO: Lynne C. Johnson, lynne.johnson@dpi.nc.gov
Race to the Top: Taking Stock of North Carolina’s Progress
State Superintendent June Atkinson and other state education leaders attended North Carolina's annual
“stock-take” meeting with US Department of Education (USED) Secretary Arne Duncan on May 7 in
Washington, DC. This meeting focused on the progress the department has made toward the
implementation of new standards, assessments and more in North Carolina public schools this fall. All of
this work is supported by North Carolina’s Race to the Top grant, which provides $400 million to support
school improvement and was awarded by the USED in 2010.
Secretary Duncan and his team commended the state for taking the lead in reaching educators across
North Carolina with information concerning the new Common Core State Standards and Essential
Standards, a new accountability model and a refined Educator Effectiveness System. Secretary Duncan
and his team also noted:
• A major boost in professional development for educators around the new standards. Summer
Institutes held in 2011 and scheduled for this summer have reached thousands of principals and lead
teachers. The NCDPI is providing support to local school districts to ensure that this is replicated at the
individual school level. In addition, multiple online modules are in place to help teachers prepare for the
new Common Core.
• Progress toward the development of new assessments. North Carolina is on track to have online tools
that will simplify how students are tested and produce data that will determine areas for improvement
much more quickly.
• Thoughtful planning of a new Instructional Improvement System. The NCDPI is working with a number
of partners to create a new data system that measures student success and informs teachers, principals
and policymakers about how they can improve the delivery of educational services to students.
Proposals for building this system are being reviewed, and vendor selections are expected in the next
several months.
• Building support for a new educator evaluation system. A new evaluation system for educators that
incorporates student growth as one of six factors and involved input from teachers and principals will
give a more accurate view of classroom effectiveness.
Webinar: RttT Procurement and Contracting
On Thursday, May 31, NCDPI will offer a webinar on RttT procurement and contracting for LEA and
Charter School RttT Leads and Finance Officers. This will be an opportunity to review some of the
common findings from the OSBM audits as well as answer any outstanding questions you may have. We
will hold two sessions, one in the morning from 10 to 11 a.m. and one in the afternoon from 3:30 to
4:30 p.m. Please make arrangements to attend either session by registering at one of the links below.
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Morning Session (10:00-11:00 a.m.): https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/643112617
Afternoon Session (3:30-4:30 p.m.): https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/325374128
In addition, please submit any questions related to RttT procurement and contracting to
RacetotheTop@dpi.nc.gov by Monday, May 21. Please include, “RttT Procurement Webinar Question”
in the subject line of the email. We will use your questions to create the agenda for the webinar.
MORE INFO: Eric Thanos, eric.thanos@dpi.nc.gov