Wednesday, February 22, 2012
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appropriate contact(s) directly. Thanks!
Archived Race to the Top Weekly Updates are available here:
http://www.ncpublicschools.org/rttt/updates/
NEW THIS WEEK
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District/Charter School Team Information for 2012 Summer Institutes
Next Generation Assessments: Resources for the Online Transition
CCSSO Webinar on Text Complexity – Recording Now Available
Registration for February 23 Webinar on Common Core Communications
Free Resource for Teachers: Videos of Common Core Lesson
REL Program Releases Reports on College Reading and Common Core State Standards
Instructional Improvement System (IIS) Update
Race to the Top Teacher and Principal Survey through March 30
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
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Next-Generation Assessments: Technology Readiness Tool
Professional Development Dates for Remainder of February, March
Regional Wikispaces
NEW THIS WEEK
District/Charter School Team Information for 2012 Summer Institutes
RttT Coordinators for each LEA and RttT Charter will receive information next week about the
expectations of the leadership team attending the 2012 Summer Institutes. Before your team registers,
we will communicate directly with the RttT Coordinator and share helpful information about developing
your leadership team and who should be included in the composition of your team.
RttT Coordinators will help us communicate who will be representing your district or school at the 2012
Summer Institutes training prior to the registration period to ensure a clear and successful registration
process. While some participant representation may change, this institute is for the same leadership
team that attended last year. Should many changes be required, team participants need to update new
attendees.
As a reminder, the 2012 Summer Institutes website is currently live and includes helpful information to
prepare this year’s participants for their professional development experience. You will find information
about the purpose of the two-day training session, local lodging options around each location,
information about the makeup of the team and a link to the new registration site. Registration
information will be available to you early March.
2012 Summer Institutes Link:
http://www.ncpublicschools.org/profdev/conferences/summerinstitutes/
MORE INFO:: Yvette Stewart, yvette.stewart@dpi.nc.gov
Next Generation Assessments: Resources for the Online Transition
To help districts and schools prepare for the next generation assessments and the transition to online,
there are a number of resources available.
Best Practices Guide - http://www.ncpublicschools.org/acre/assessment/guide/
The purpose of this document is to serve as a guide to help districts and schools prepare for the
transition to online assessments. This guide provides tips and recommendations based on conversations
with LEAs and charter schools around the state that have already started this transition and are
administering some or all of the current end-of-course tests in the online format.
Quick Reference Guide - http://www.ncpublicschools.org/docs/acre/assessment/assess1pageroct11.pdf
A quick reference guide to the next generation of summative assessments that includes the expected
timeline for full implementation of online testing.
SMARTER Balanced Assessment Consortium - http://www.smarterbalanced.org/
The main website for The SMARTER Balanced Assessment Consortium, which is a state-led consortium
working to develop next-generation assessments that are aligned to the Common Core State
Standards and that accurately measure student progress toward college and career readiness.
Online Assessment Tutorial - https://center.ncsu.edu/nctest/NCTestSim.html#StudentSignIn
The assessment tutorial shows you how the online testing system works. You can select a test and then
practice moving between and answering questions.
NCTest Information - https://center.ncsu.edu/nc/course/view.php?id=361
Information related to the latest version of the online testing system, NCTest v 2.5. Here you can find
the technical requirements for the system, information on registration and administration, the
assessment tutorial, and other resources related to administering online assessments.
Additional resources can be found on the online assessment resources page at
http://www.ncpublicschools.org/acre/assessment/resources/.
Contact: Kayla Siler, kayla.siler@dpi.nc.gov
CCSSO Webinar on Text Complexity – Recording Now Available
The recording of the January 26 Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) webinar on text
complexity and the accompanying materials are now available online (PC users hit CTRL when clicking
to open). The webinar, which focused on tools and resources to support teachers and districts on text
complexity, featured Sue Pimentel, a member of the Common Core State Standards English language
arts writing committee, as well as representatives from the Kansas and Louisiana Departments of
Education.
Registration for February 23 Webinar on Common Core Communications
Tomorrow (Thursday, February 23) at 2 pm, CCSSO will release a series of customizable one-page
handouts to communicate the Common Core State Standards quickly and easily with district leaders,
legislators and other audiences. During this webinar, CCSSO communications staff will share how best to
use this new resource and answer any questions. Registration is limited to SEA staff only. Register for
this event (For PCs, you must hit CTRL when you click to open).
Free Resource for Teachers: Videos of Common Core Lessons
There are more than 70 free videos related to Common Core instruction available on the Teaching
Channel (PC users hit CTRL when clicking to open).The videos provide lesson ideas, an overview of the
ELA and Math standards, and demonstrations of teaching practices. Videos vary in length from five to
thirty minutes. REL Releases Reports on College Reading and Common Core State Standards
The Regional Educational Laboratories (REL) recently released a series of studies, including:
• How prepared are subgroups of Texas students for college-level reading? Applying a Lexile®-based
approach (PC users hit CTRL when clicking to open); and
• Plans to adopt and implement Common Core State Standards in the Southeast Region states (PC users
hit CTRL when clicking to open).
Instructional Improvement System (IIS) Update
The Request for Proposal for the Instructional Improvement System (IIS) is now under review at the
state’s Information Technology Services office. Once approved, the RFP will be posted for bids, most
likely within the next several weeks.
In the meantime, NCDPI is initiating a Resource Consortium in partnership with local school districts. The
consortium will focus on gathering locally created resources to share across the state via the IIS. A letter
from Superintendent June Atkinson soon will go out to superintendents and other local school district
officials inviting them to indicate their interest in participating.
We also have updated the anticipated timeline for the IIS project. Please go to
http://www.ncpublicschools.org/acre/improvement/status/ for more information.
Race to the Top Teacher and Principal Survey through March 30
On Feb. 6, principals and teachers at selected schools around the state were emailed a link to the annual
Race to the Top Teacher and Principal Survey. The survey takes 15 to 30 minutes to complete, and
respondents only need their district-provided email address to log in. The survey will be open through
March 30th.
This survey is extremely important as it will provide information to the larger RttT Evaluation regarding
the impacts of RttT on educational outcomes as well as teachers’ and principals’ attitudes and behaviors
related to the central reforms of the RttT initiatives – it will not be used to evaluate individual schools or
educators.
MORE INFO: Race to the Top Evaluation, Omnibus Survey Team, SERVE Center at UNC-Greensboro,
RttTSurvey@serve.org.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Next-Generation Assessments: Technology Readiness Tool
The SMARTER Balanced Assessment Consortium and the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for
College and Careers (PARCC) are working together to launch a Technology Readiness Tool to support
states in the transition to next-generation, online assessments. The tool will allow districts and schools
to capture readiness indicators, including: number and types of computers, network and bandwidth
infrastructure, local staff resources, and other information related to the digital delivery of assessments.
The consortia are planning for communication and training on the tool to begin in February 2012, with
the first collection window opening in March 2012. The technology readiness data will be collected
twice annually through 2014. For more information about the announcement from SMARTER Balanced
and PARCC, you can find the official press release at
http://www.k12.wa.us/SMARTER/PressReleases/TechReadinessTool.aspx.
MORE INFO: Kayla Siler, kayla.siler@dpi.nc.gov
Professional Development Dates for Remainder of February, March
February
27 - Teacher Effectiveness Vetting/New Accountability Model Meetings, CCRESA
28 – Teacher Effectiveness Vetting/New Accountability Model Meetings, WRESA
29 – Teacher Effectiveness Vetting/New Accountability Model Meetings, NWRESA
March
6 - Teacher Effectiveness Vetting/New Accountability Model Meetings, NERESA (Vernon James Research
Center)
8 – K-12 Programs Arts Education (Dance, Music Theatre Arts, ESL, Healthful Living [Physical Education,
Health Education] and World Languages) Essential Standards PD for LEA/Charter Leadership Teams,
PTEC (Room 1, Special Events Center, Greensboro Coliseum)
8 and 9 – K-12 Programs Arts Education (Dance, Music Theatre Arts, ESL, Healthful Living [Physical
Education, Health Education] and World Languages) Essential Standards PD for LEA/Charter Leadership
Teams (Day 1) and Process Support Session (Day 2), NWRESA
12 – K‐12 Programs Arts Education (Dance, Music Theatre Arts, ESL, Healthful Living [Physical Education,
Health Education] and World Languages) Essential Standards PD for LEA/Charter Leadership Teams,
SWRESA (UNCC Campus, Cone Building)
26 – K‐12 Programs Arts Education (Dance, Music Theatre Arts, ESL, Healthful Living [Physical Education,
Health Education] and World Languages) Essential Standards PD for LEA/Charter Leadership Teams ,
WRESA
14 – Fidelity Support Session for LEA/Charter Leadership Teams, NWRESA
14 and 15 – K-12 Programs Arts Education (Dance, Music Theatre Arts, ESL, Healthful Living [Physical
Education, Health Education] and World Languages) Essential Standards PD for LEA/Charter Leadership
Teams (Day 1), and Process Support Session (Day 2), CCRESA (NCSBA Building, Assembly Room)
19 – K--‐12 Programs Arts Education (Dance, Music Theatre Arts, ESL, Healthful Living [Physical
Education, Health Education] and World Languages) Essential Standards PD for LEA/Charter Leadership
Teams, SERESA, [WL and ESL: Celtic Court/Mad Boar Restaurant, HL and Arts: River Landing Clubhouse]
20 – K-12 Programs Arts Education (Dance, Music Theatre Arts, ESL, Healthful Living [Physical Education,
Health Education] and World Languages) Essential Standards PD for LEA/Charter Leadership Teams (Day
1), NERESA, Vernon James Research Center
21 – Teacher Effectiveness Vetting/New Accountability Model Meetings, NWRESA
22 – Fidelity Support Session, Sandhills RESA, Robeson County Dept. of Social Services, Lumberton
22 – Common Core ELA and Math PD for LEA/Charter Leadership Teams, PTEC (Room 1, Special Events
Center, Greensboro Coliseum)
26 – K-12 Programs Arts Education (Dance, Music Theatre Arts, ESL, Healthful Living [Physical Education,
Health Education] and World Languages) Essential Standards PD for LEA/Charter Leadership Teams,
WRESA
MORE INFO: Yvette Stewart, yvette.stewart@dpi.nc.gov
Regional Wikispaces
Below are links to each regional resource page created by the NCDPI RttT PD Leads designed to share
information and support the work of the district/charter PD teams. This information is shared and
compiled as a result of the training sessions, individual virtual conferences, district/charter team
meetings and more that are held in each region. Please take advantage of these resources and feel free
to contact the RttT PD Leads for additional information.
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Region 1: http://region1rttt.ncdpi.wikispaces.net
Region 2: http://NCRegion2.ncdpi.wikispaces.net
Region 3: http://region3pd.ncdpi.wikispaces.net
Region 4: http://rt3region4.ncdpi.wikispaces.net
Region 5: http://ncregion5rttt.ncdpi.wikispaces.net
Region 6: http://region6pd.ncdpi.wikispaces.net
Region 7: http://rt3region7.ncdpi.wikispaces.net
Region 8: http://region8wnc.ncdpi.wikispaces.net
MORE INFO: Yvette Stewart, yvette.stewart@dpi.nc.gov