February 27, 2013 NEW THIS WEEK • 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 IN CASE YOU MISSED IT • EVAAS Updates • Resources: Encyclopedia of North Carolina • Follow READY Progress on Facebook/Twitter/Website NEW THIS WEEK 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. IN CASE YOU MISSED IT EVAAS Updates On February 1, teachers across North Carolina received access to a teacher evaluation dashboard housed in the EVAAS web platform. This report integrates a teacher's ratings on Standards 1 through 5 with the baseline data for Standard 6. Over time, the dashboard will hold the three years of data that will be used with data from Standards 1 through 5 to determine a teacher's overall effectiveness status of in need of improvement, effective, or highly effective. As a reminder, the sixth standard rating for the 2011‐12 school year will NOT be counted toward the overall status. For more information on how to access and interpret the report, please visit http://www.ncpublicschools.org/docs/educatoreffect/resources/2013/01‐ teacher‐evaluation.pdf. The NC Department of Public Instruction and SAS Institute are also pleased to announce the launch of new learning modules on EVAAS. These eight‐to‐10 minute videos are available 24/7, and provide a narrated explanation of how to access and interpret different reports. The modules currently available are: ‐ Teacher Value‐Added and Diagnostic Reports for Grades 4 – 8 ELA and Math Teachers ‐ Teacher Value‐Added and Diagnostic Reports for Grades 4 and 8 Science, High School, and Career and Technical Education Teachers ‐ Teacher Evaluation Dashboard The modules can be accessed through the Help menu when logged into EVAAS. MORE INFO: Jennifer Preston, Educator Effectiveness, jennifer.preston@dpi.nc.gov Resources: Encyclopedia of North Carolina The Digital Information Management Program at the State Library of North Carolina has integrated the 1900‐plus entries from the University of North Carolina Press’s Encyclopedia of North Carolina into NCpedia. They are now available and searchable at http://ncpedia.org. Its purpose is to highlight North Carolina's unique resources, people and culture to enrich, educate and inform. This expansion has been made possible through a Library Services and Technology Act grant from the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services. MORE INFO: Michelle Underhill, Director of the Digital Information Management Program (DIMP), State Library of NC, michelle.underhill@ncdcr.gov. Follow READY Progress on Facebook/Twitter/Website There are three easy ways to obtain the latest information on North Carolina’s READY initiative: Facebook, Twitter and the NCDPI website! READY is taking public education to a whole new level with a new Standard Course of Study, new student assessments, a new accountability model and a new Educator Evaluation system. Home Base will provide a suite of technology tools for teachers, parents and students, all in one place. All these changes will result in more students graduating and well prepared for college and careers. So… like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/NCReadyInitiative; follow us on Twitter at @ncpublicschools; or visit our website at www.ncpublicschools.org/ready for more information about what our state is doing to support teachers and improve education for all students. MORE INFO: Michael Yarbrough, Communication and Information Services, michael.yarbrough@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. ***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/