June 26, 2013 NEW THIS MONTH • 2013 Summer Institutes ‘Tweetups’ • Phase III Online Professional Development Modules: Friday Launch • EVAAS FAQs Now Available Online • New Website Explains Common Core and More • History of Measures of Student Learning IN CASE YOU MISSED IT • Dr. Atkinson Sets Stage for Fall Test Score Release • RttT Funds Cleared for Use in Home Base Expenditures • Transition to Principals’ Online Evaluation NEW THIS MONTH 2013 Summer Institutes ‘Tweetups’ The 2013 Summer Institutes kick off in just a couple of weeks! This year’s Institutes will feature Twitter “Tweetups” during Facilitated Team Time. In order to prepare LEAs and charter schools for this new, fun feature, professional development consultants to the NCDPI have created a page with Twitter tutorials and a link to an archived webinar training on Twitter and Tweetdeck. It can be accessed at http://bit.ly/ncsi13. MORE INFO: Beth Edwards, Educator Effectiveness, at Elizabeth.edwards@dpi.nc.gov, and for general info on SI 2013, visit http://www.ncpublicschools.org/profdev/summerinstitutes/2013/ Phase lll Online Professional Development Modules: Friday Launch Online learning modules should be used over time as part of PLCs, during staff meetings or independently (over a series of days). Central office personnel might also use them for district training with specific groups. The modules are designed for in a variety of settings – by individuals or by cohorts, with or without a facilitator, depending on local needs. NCDPI is pleased to announce the Friday, June 28 release of Phase III online professional development modules for the 2013-­‐14 academic year. All are available through the NC Education site at https://center.ncsu.edu/nc/. Please review the updated implementation guide, https://rt3nc.org/. Modules include: Building and Sustaining Professional Development Data Literacy in Action Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science and Technical Subjects, Part 2 NC Principal and Assistant Principal Evaluation: Understanding the Process NC Teacher Evaluation: Understanding the Process Responsibilities of the 21st-­‐Century Educator 21st-­‐Century Mentoring Universal Design for Learning Two additional modules were released earlier this year: Measures of Student Learning: Common Exams, Grades 9–12 Measures of Student Learning: Common Exams, Middle and Elementary Grades MORE INFO: Dr. Lynne Johnson, Director of Educator Effectiveness, lynne.johnson@dpi.nc.gov, or Dr. Geetanjali Soni, Online Module Developer, geetanjali.soni@dpi.nc.gov EVAAS FAQs Now Available Online With the many changes that are occurring in our schools, the NCDPI seeks to provide as much information as possible up front for our teachers, principals and support staff. One of these provisions is a new FAQ feature for the Educator Value-­‐Added Assessment System (EVAAS). It offers answers to the most commonly-­‐asked questions about EVAAS, including the incorporation of EVAAS into the State's accountability and educator effectiveness models. The FAQ feature is now available online at http://www.ncpublicschools.org/docs/effectiveness-­‐
model/evaas/resources/2013-­‐spring-­‐faq.pdf. New Website Explains Common Core and More North Carolina’s Standard Course of Study includes the Common Core State Standards for English language arts and mathematics. The State Board of Education adopted these standards in 2010; and local districts and charter schools have been implementing them since last fall. Nonetheless, there continue to be questions about the Common Core, what these standards are and are not, and why North Carolina chose to use these multi-­‐state-­‐developed standards as its own. To help your team and you in communicating about the Common Core State Standards, we've launched a new Common Core webpage that gathers in one location many of the information resources that were already on the NCDPI website and some new resources. The link to the Common Core webpage is http://www.ncpublicschools.org/core-­‐explained; and a direct link also is available under “Highlights” on www.ncpublicschools.org. Two specifically helpful features of this site include, “13 Things to Know about Common Core in North Carolina” and “Frequently Asked Questions.” Each of these documents is available as a printable PDF that you can use with parents or others. These documents are available in the left side navigation bar on the page. History of Measures of Student Learning In 2010, when NCDPI staff met with local superintendents, they discussed options for determining student growth as a part of teacher effectiveness. Those options included: 1. That each school district would develop its own valid and reliable tests to determine student growth in state non-­‐tested areas. 2. That the NCDPI, in consultation with teachers and local school districts, would develop valid and reliable measures. 3. Any other strategy superintendents may develop. Local superintendents unanimously voted for Option 2. In 2011-­‐12, superintendents across the state met to give feedback about whether to apply for an ESEA waiver. Again, superintendents agreed that NCDPI staff should apply for a waiver using the teacher effectiveness growth model in exchange for eliminating AYP, supplementary educational services requirements, and school choice. As a part of the process in giving Measures of Student Learning statewide, we have made a commitment to do an item and test analysis. If any items or tests do not perform in a valid way, we will adjust accordingly. MORE INFO: Jennifer Preston, Educator Effectiveness, educatoreffectiveness@dpi.nc.gov IN CASE YOU MISSED IT Dr. Atkinson Sets Stage for Fall Test Score Release In her latest blog entry, State Superintendent June Atkinson sets the stage for what educators, parents and community supporters can expect when scores from the new assessments are released this fall. As we know from past experience, raising the bar on standards and issuing new assessments for them will most likely result in lower scores after the first administration. Read Dr. Atkinson’s blog entry at http://www.ncpublicschools.org/statesuperintendent/blog/ RttT Funds Cleared for Use in Home Base Expenditures LEAs and charter schools have been given the green light to use 2013-­‐14 Race to the Top funds to apply toward the $4 per student expenditure required to opt-­‐in to Home Base optional resources for the following (2014-­‐15) school year. Here’s why: NCDPI must remit the Home Base fees for 2014-­‐15 to Pearson, one of the project vendors, in advance – that is, by June 30, 2014. As such, the agency will be gathering funds from any LEAs opting in for 2014-­‐15 before the end of the 2013-­‐14 fiscal year. If an LEA or charter school, therefore, chooses to use their RttT funds in FY 2013-­‐14 to pay the 2014-­‐15 Home Base $4/student opt-­‐in fee, they simply need to document that expenditure in their approved RttT Detailed Scope of Work (DSW). If LEAs or charters would like to reprogram funds currently slated in their DSW for other purposes to use for this purpose, they simply need to amend their DSW through the standard process. MORE INFO: Eric Thanos, Policy and Planning, eric.thanos@dpi.nc.gov Transition to Principals’ Online Evaluation As we move to launch the online teacher evaluation on July 1, please note that the online evaluation for principals will open on Oct. 1. We are meeting with the vendor daily, holding “User Acceptance Testing Sessions,” and moving ahead with summer training schedules for the teacher evaluation. We plan to hold similar sessions for the principal evaluation and will update you as we move forward. The Oct. 1 launch will provide plenty of time prior to the mid-­‐term inputs. If you want to begin earlier with a principal using some of the optional planning forms please feel free to do so. These are provided for you online at http://www.ncpublicschools.org/effectiveness-­‐model/ncees/principals/. 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. ***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 online at: http://www.ncpublicschools.org/rttt/updates/