November 20, 2013
NEW THIS WEEK
● Mark Your Calendars: Summer Institutes 2014
● @NCHomeBase for Instant Notifications
● District and School Transformation School Leaders Session
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
● Exploring the 4 Cs of 21st Century Learning on the Web – Communication
● READY Accountability Results Video from Dr. Atkinson
● Virtual Charter Schools Survey
NEW THIS WEEK
Mark Your Calendars: Summer Institutes 2014
The holiday season starts next week, which means it’s time to begin longing for
summer. But before you make your vacation plans, check out the dates for Summer
Institutes 2014!
The fourth consecutive year of Summer Institutes will take place in all eight regions
across the state of North Carolina, and all in one week. While the locations are still
being finalized, SI2014 will take place on the dates and for regions indicated below:
● Monday, July 7 and Tuesday, July 8, 2014 - Regions 1, 2, 5 and 7
● Wednesday, July 9 and Thursday, July 10, 2014 - Regions 3, 4, 6 and 8.
Innovative practices from across the state will be featured from all eight regions. Please
mark your calendar, and we soon will have more information on locations, sessions and
more. It’s the most fun you’ll have without needing sunscreen!
MORE INFO: Cynthia Martin, Educator Effectiveness, cynthia.martin@dpi.nc.gov
@NCHomeBase for Instant Notifications
The NCDPI knows that you want to receive instant notification about important
announcements surrounding Home Base, especially when systems are down for
maintenance and when they returned to service. A moment’s notice can save a great
deal of time and frustration.
That’s why Home Base is now part of the Twitterverse and waiting for you to follow!
You will continue to receive pertinent news on Home Base via the Home Base Weekly
Update (listsncdpi.weebly.com/homebase­list.html) and other communications
streams.
Simply follow @NCHomeBase to begin receiving instant notifications!
District and School Transformation School Leaders Session
District and School Transformation will hold its 13th Professional Development for
School Leaders Session on Wednesday, Dec. 11. The session will consist of school visits
to eight different sites (selected by the participants).
Principals at each of those schools will have the opportunity to showcase the turnaround
processes that have yielded the most success in increasing student achievement.
School leaders will have the opportunity to delve into practices that are successful by
asking questions, observing implementation and having group discussions.
This Professional Development opportunity is made available to principals and one
additional member of their staff from the 118 schools identified in the RttT grant. The
registration highlighting each site’s area of focus will be available on the DST wiki space
beginning today.
MORE INFO: Donna Miller, District and School Turnaround, donna.miller@dpi.nc.gov
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Exploring the 4 Cs of 21st Century Learning on the Web – Communication
Exploring the 4 Cs of Communication, Collaboration, Critical Thinking and Creativity on
the web will provide educators with the opportunity to maximize interactivity to enhance
teaching and learning. Each webinar will examine a variety of resources with potential
for growing 21st century learning skills in students by focusing on a specific category.
Participants will collaboratively explore resources and be given the opportunity to share
experiences and additional activities related to the 4 Cs.
This webinar will offer K-12 teachers the ability to:
● Learn about and use a web 2.0 tool to enhance students' communication skills;
● Brainstorm ways the tool can be used in the classroom;
● Elaborate, refine, analyze and evaluate their own ideas in order to improve and
maximize communication skills; and
● Explore ways to nurture the home and school connection.
Register: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/662596817
MORE INFO: Donna Albaugh, Professional Development Consultant,
donna.albaugh@dpi.nc.gov
READY Accountability Results Video from Dr. Atkinson
State Superintendent June Atkinson discusses North Carolina’s 2012-13 READY
Accountability results and what they mean for students, parents and educators in a
video that can be found at http://www.ncpublicschools.org/. Select Dr. Atkinson’s
picture, located near the upper right corner, to start the video. A written transcript also
is available.
Virtual Charter Schools Survey
The North Carolina State Board of Education has developed a survey to gather feedback
on the authorization and oversight of virtual charter schools across the state. This survey
has been designed to solicit information from a wide range of individuals with interests
in education. The information will be used to inform a report that will be presented to
the General Assembly.
The survey should take only a few minutes to complete and all information collected will
be kept confidential. Responses will be collected through Saturday, Nov. 30.
The survey may be accessed at
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/NCVirtualCharterSchoolsSurvey. Thank you in
advance for your participation.
MORE INFO: Audrey Martin-McCoy, State Board of Education,
audrey.martinmccoy@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.
***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 online at:
http://www.ncpublicschools.org/rttt/reports/weekly