March
6,
2013
NEW
THIS
WEEK
• Teachers
Collaborate
Statewide
Via
#NCed
Chat
• Constructed
Response
Items
from
Fall
2012
Common
Exams
Now
Available
• 3‐Part
Webinar
Series
on
Common
Core
State
Standards
IN
CASE
YOU
MISSED
IT
• New
Resources
from
Council
of
the
Great
City
Schools
• Educator
Effectiveness
Division
• DST
Featured
in
National
Education
Leader
Publication
• Latest
Home
Base
Biweekly
Update
• Regional
Convenings
Address
K‐12/College
Connections
around
New
Standards
NEW
THIS
WEEK
Teachers
Collaborate
Statewide
Via
#NCed
Chat
#NCed
Chat
is
a
new
bi‐weekly
Twitter
chat
for
North
Carolina
educators.
#NCed
Chat
will
provide
an
opportunity
for
North
Carolina
educators
to
grow
and
develop
their
personal
learning
network
(PLN)
by
connecting
with
other
NC
educators
throughout
the
state.
The
chat
will
create
a
forum
for
North
Carolina
educators
to
come
together
once
every
other
week
in
a
public
Twitter
conversation
around
topics
that
pertain
to
their
work.
This
is
a
great
opportunity
to
connect
with
other
educators
with
similar
interests.
Both
school‐
and
district‐level
practitioners
will
moderate
the
chats.
The
first
chat
is
Tuesday,
March
26,
from
8
to
9
pm.
The
topic
is
“The
4
Cs
of
21st
Century
Learning.”
Andrew
Thomasson,
High
School
English
teacher
from
Gaston
County,
will
lead
the
discussion,
co‐moderating
with
Region
7
PD
Lead
Heather
Mullins
of
the
Educator
Effectiveness
Division.
Visit
https://smore.com/gg3f
to
learn
more
about
how
to
participate.
MORE
INFO:
Dr.
Lynne
Johnson,
Educator
Effectiveness,
lynne.johnson@dpi.nc.gov.
Constructed
Response
Items
from
Fall
2012
Common
Exams
Now
Available
The
Department
of
Public
Instruction
has
released
the
constructed
response
items
and
scoring
rubrics
that
were
used
on
the
Fall
2012
Common
Exams.
Districts
can
use
these
items
as
practice
for
students,
and
can
also
use
them
to
provide
teachers
with
more
experience
in
using
rubrics
to
assess
the
student
work.
The
released
items
are
available
at
http://www.ncpublicschools.org/effectiveness‐model/measures/released‐items/.
MORE
INFO:
Jennifer
Preston,
Educator
Effectiveness,
jennifer.preston@dpi.nc.gov
3‐Part
Webinar
Series
on
Common
Core
State
Standards
The
link
below
provides
information
regarding
a
three‐part
webinar
series
on
the
Common
Core
State
Standards
hosted
by
the
Center
for
Teaching
Quality.
Tuesday,
March
19,
is
the
first
in
a
series
of
three
teacher‐led
webinars.
“Literacy
Across
the
Content
Areas”
will
focus
on
the
efforts
of
teachers
to
work
collaboratively
to
advance
the
bold
ideas
and
expert
practices
of
teachers.
You
may
access
webinar
information
at
http://ctqcommoncore.eventbrite.com
MORE
INFO:
Dr.
Maria
Pitre‐Martin,
K‐12
Curriculum
and
Instruction,
maria.pitremartin@dpi.nc.gov
IN
CASE
YOU
MISSED
IT
New
Resources
from
Council
of
the
Great
City
Schools
The
Council
of
the
Great
City
Schools
developed
two,
30‐second
Public
Service
Announcements
(PSAs)
to
succinctly
tell
the
story
of
the
Common
Core
State
Standards
to
the
public.
The
PSAs,
available
in
both
English
and
Spanish,
were
recently
released
and
already
have
been
viewed
by
more
than
10
million
people
in
just
two
weeks.
In
addition,
CGCS
also
developed
two,
three‐minute
videos
(one
in
English
and
one
in
Spanish)
that
explain
the
Common
Core
in
a
slightly
longer
form.
These
videos
explain
how
the
Common
Core
will
help
students
achieve
at
high
levels
and
help
them
learn
what
they
need
to
know
to
get
to
graduation
and
beyond.
These
videos
work
particularly
well
for
presentations
to
community
and
parent
groups.
For
more
information,
please
visit
http://www.commoncoreworks.org/Page/378
CGC
Schools
also
has
released
a
45‐minute
professional
development
video,
“From
the
Page
to
the
Classroom:
Implementing
the
Common
Core
State
Standards
in
English
Language
Arts
and
Literacy”
for
central
office
and
school‐based
staff
and
teachers
on
the
shifts
in
the
Common
Core
in
English
language
arts
and
literacy.
The
video
provides
background
on
the
Common
Core
and
the
three
shifts
inherent
in
the
standards.
A
corresponding
45‐minute
professional
development
video
on
the
shifts
in
the
Common
Core
for
mathematics,
“From
the
Page
to
the
Classroom:
Implementing
the
Common
Core
State
Standards
in
Mathematics,”
also
is
available.
This
video
emphasizes
the
three
shifts
inherent
in
the
standards
for
mathematics
education
and
features
Jason
Zimba.
For
more
information,
please
visit
http://www.commoncoreworks.org/Page/345
CGCS
also
has
developed
content
and
grade‐specific
parent
roadmaps
that
provide
detailed
information
for
parents
about
the
expectations
of
the
Common
Core
in
English
Language
Arts
and
Literacy
and
Mathematics.
These
roadmaps
include
examples
of
grade‐level
focus
in
the
content
area
using
parent‐friendly
language,
sample
progressions
of
learning
across
three
grade
levels
in
the
Common
Core,
and
tips
to
parents
on
communicating
with
teachers
about
their
child’s
work
and
how
to
support
student
learning
at
home.
CGCS
completed
the
high
school‐level
guides
in
February
2013,
completing
the
set
of
guides
from
K‐12
in
English
language
arts
and
mathematics.
More
translations
will
follow
throughout
the
school
year.
K‐12
Parent
Guides
for
the
Common
Core
State
Standards
in
English
Language
Arts/Literacy:
English
Spanish
K‐12
Parent
Guides
for
the
Common
Core
State
Standards
in
Mathematics:
English
Spanish
Please
visit
http://www.commoncoreworks.org/site/Default.aspx?PageID=330
for
more
information.
MORE
INFO:
Dr.
Maria
Pitre‐Martin,
K‐12
Curriculum
and
Instruction,
maria.pitremartin@dpi.nc.gov
Educator
Effectiveness
Division
The
Educator
Recruitment
and
Development
Division
has
undergone
a
name
change
to
more
accurately
reflect
the
division’s
scope
of
work.
It
will
now
be
known
as
the
Educator
Effectiveness
Division.
The
URL
for
the
newly
recast
division’s
website
is
http://www.ncpublicschools.org/educatoreffectiveness.
This
site
will
continue
to
feature
content
around
professional
development
issues
and
initiatives.
Please
update
your
bookmarks.
(You
will
be
redirected
to
this
site
if
you
visit
the
former
one.)
The
former
Educator
Effectiveness
website,
which
deals
specifically
with
content
around
the
new
educator
evaluation
system,
has
been
renamed
Educator
Effectiveness
Model,
and
the
new
site
is
http://www.ncpublicschools.org/effectiveness‐model.
Again,
you
will
be
redirected
automatically,
so
please
update
your
bookmarks.
MORE
INFO:
Dr.
Lynne
Johnson,
Educator
Effectiveness,
lynne.johnson@dpi.nc.gov
DST
Featured
in
National
Education
Leader
Publication
The
work
of
the
NCDPI’s
District
and
School
Transformation
(DST)
division
was
recently
featured
in
the
Chief
Council
of
State
School
Officer
newsletter,
Chiefline.
The
CCSSO
article
highlights
the
division’s
Professional
Development
for
School
Leaders
program.
Principals
and
teaching
teams
from
schools
that
have
successfully
turned
around
their
formerly
low‐achievement
status
host
leaders
from
schools
who
are
in
the
process
of
doing
so
to
share
best
practices,
lessons
learned
and
develop
new
ideas
specific
to
the
needs
of
the
school
in
transition.
Click
here
for
the
newsletter
and
scroll
down
to
the
article,
titled
“NC
Principals
Share
Best
Practices…”
Latest
Home
Base
Biweekly
Update
Many
of
you
have
heard
about
Home
Base,
an
exciting
statewide
project
that
supports
our
overall
READY
initiative.
To
ensure
all
NC
educators
and
the
community
at
large
know
about
Home
Base
and
are
kept
up‐to‐date
on
ongoing
developments,
the
NCDPI
has
begun
a
new
electronic
publication
called
Home
Base
Biweekly
Update.
You
can
view
the
latest
issue
online:
www.ncpublicschools.org/homebase/updates
Regional
Convenings
Address
K‐12/College
Connections
around
New
Standards
North
Carolina’s
Core
to
College
grant
is
hosting
a
series
of
regional
convenings
to
bring
together
educators
from
across
all
of
North
Carolina’s
local
districts,
community
colleges,
the
UNC
system,
and
private
colleges
and
universities.
Upcoming
events
will
be
held
on
March
11
at
AB
Tech
Community
College
and
March
28
at
Appalachian
State
University.
For
more
info
(including
a
schedule
of
meetings
beyond
March)
and
to
register,
please
visit
http://go.ncsu.edu/imagining.
MORE
INFO:
John
D.
Denning,
State
Director,
K‐12
and
Postsecondary
Alignment
Initiatives,
jdenning@ncreadyforsuccess.com.
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/