May 14, 2014 NEW THIS WEEK ● Teacher Working Conditions Survey Results ● Doin’ PD Right in Buncombe County! ● Race to the Top No-­‐Cost Extension Info Online ● Home Base Opt-­‐In Form -­‐ The Process Is Simple ● NCEdCloud IAM Service Is Fully Deployed IN CASE YOU MISSED IT ● Parent Overview of New Standards Now Online ● Summer Institutes 2014: Sustaining Success! ● Local Guidance for Standard 6 ● Birdhouses and Higher Standards: Students Learning How to Learn ● BB&T Principal Leadership Institute ● Teacher Working Conditions Survey Update ● Professional Development System Launches in Home Base ● #NCed Chat End-­‐of-­‐Year Topics NEW THIS WEEK Teacher Working Conditions Survey Results The 2014 North Carolina Teacher Working Conditions Survey results will be available at www.ncteachingconditions.org beginning Thursday, May 15. This year's NC TWC Survey tied our all-­‐time state participation record of 89 percent. The number of respondents totaled 93,179 teachers and administrators. A total of 2,548 schools (98 percent) met or exceeded the minimum 40 percent threshold required for access to their own results for use in school improvement planning. As in previous years, each school that met or exceeded the minimum 40 percent threshold and all districts will be able to view the results on the website in "Detailed" or "Summary" views, which may be downloaded from the website in Excel. The New Teacher Center will present the statewide Preliminary Findings at the June State Board of Education meeting. If you have any questions, please use the Question or Comments icon on the www.ncteachingconditions.org website. Thank you for helping to make this year's NC TWC Survey such a success! Doin’ PD Right in Buncombe County! Race to the Top made meaningful and sustained professional development a firm reality for more than 1,800 teachers in Buncombe County. “The Race to the Top initiative allowed us the opportunity to put together lead teams of lead teachers … who had sustained professional development,” said PD Lead Marta Garcia. “So they became very familiar with the standards and they also gave us an opportunity to see the new unfolding of the standards through the eyes of the teachers who would be implementing them.” Garcia and colleague Millie Stubbs share how their experiences at the Summer Institutes, which began in 2011, helped them to replicate great PD among their colleagues throughout Buncombe County over the last three years. Garcia and Stubbs will be featured beginning this summer in a series of videos being produced by the NCDPI. These informative vignettes will outline the progress of the Race to the Top initiative, including the components of Home Base. We’ll let you know when they are available! Race to the Top No-­‐Cost Extension Info Online The US Department of Education has awarded a no-­‐cost extension for North Carolina's Race to the Top grant. The Race to the Top team has developed a quick "Points of Note" sheet that features fingertip information about what this means for the state, along with local districts and charter schools. The document can be accessed by visiting the RttT Frequently Asked Questions page, http://www.ncpublicschools.org/rttt/faq/, and clicking on the pdf link under Race to the Top
Year 5 No Cost Extension Points of Note. For those of you seeking greater detail around the no-­‐cost extension, your questions may be addressed by listening to a webinar recorded last month. It can be found at http://www.ncpublicschools.org/rttt/webinars/ MORE INFO: Michael Yarbrough, Communication and Information Services, michael.yarbrough@dpi.nc.gov Home Base Opt-­‐In Form -­‐ The Process Is Simple Beginning next school year, some components of Home Base will continue to be available to all districts and charter schools at no additional cost. These include PowerSchool, TestNav, Educator Evaluation and state-­‐level professional development. If your district or school wishes to continue to have access to the remaining components of Home Base, you will need to opt in at a cost. An information sheet on how to opt in to certain Home Base features has been shared with each school district and charter via email from State Superintendent June Atkinson. So what all do you get when you opt in? 1. The Instructional Improvement System (Schoolnet): With Schoolnet, you will have access to curriculum and instructional tools, assessment tools, and reporting tools. You can find or create resources, group students for differentiated instruction, and schedule lessons, units and materials. You can find or create assessment items and create assessments that are aligned to the NC Standard Course of Study, run reports to create views of data that suit your specific needs, and view Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to see data about your students, schools and district. 2. Instructional Resources: Currently, there are more than 16,300 state-­‐vetted instructional resources, 1,100+ SAS Curriculum Pathways instructional resources, 8,600+ Online Learning Exchange (OLE) science and social studies instructional resources and 2,000+ instructional resources from the NC Department of Cultural Resources. There are also more than 25,400 state-­‐created assessment items and 9,100+ state-­‐purchased assessment items available in Home Base. The work to enhance the content continues so the number of items will continue to grow in each grade level and content area and items will be kept up to date. In addition to these state-­‐provided resources, districts, schools and teachers can upload or create their own. 3. OpenClass: You will also be able to utilize the OpenClass platform, Home Base’s collaboration and course management system. OpenClass is a place for teachers to manage and deliver instruction and for students to engage collaboratively with each other and their teachers, to get homework assignments and submit their work and to have threaded discussions. Students, teachers and classes will be set up in OpenClass through an automated interface with PowerSchool. 4. Local Professional Development: You will be able to create and administer local professional development courses as well as track and report Continuing Education credits at a local level in the same system your educators will be using for the state-­‐level professional development offerings. MORE INFO: Here is the direct link to the quick-­‐and-­‐easy opt-­‐in form: http://forms.ncpublicschools.gov/home-­‐base/home-­‐base-­‐opt-­‐in. NCEdCloud IAM Service Is Fully Deployed The NCEdCloud Identity and Access Management (IAM) Service has been fully deployed in production and is now open for general availability to all LEAs and charters statewide. The NCEdCloud team notes that the IAM Service has been its focus for more than three years and that during the past year, many teams have worked diligently to set up, configure and test the new service. We have run pilots for the new service with early adopters and continuously updated our internal processes to ensure a success deployment. What is the NCEdCloud IAM Service? The Identity and Access Management (IAM) Service is one of the NCEdCloud initiatives for the K-­‐12 community of North Carolina, funded by Race to the Top (RttT) and led by the Friday Institute. It is based on the principle that strong identity management is a foundational component for the ongoing shift toward Internet-­‐based (cloud) technologies in today’s schools. As more services move to the cloud, a centralized and standardized way to manage user accounts, roles, and permissions for these technologies is required for success. The IAM Service is an enabler to help LEAs and charter schools manage the full identity life cycle with current and future cloud applications. What does it do for me? The service will provide LEAs and charters a tool to manage the authentication and authorization needs for their students, employees, parents, and guests accessing "cloud" or hosted services. It provides self-­‐service capabilities to all end-­‐users and delegates administrative capabilities to LEA and charter school technology leaders. As users move around among different schools and districts, changes to their student or employee source system records are automatically reflected in the IAM Service and access is updated accordingly for target applications. The Central Directory Local Replica (CDLR), a local Active Directory option, allows services/applications inside LEAs and charters to receive these automatic data flows and utilize the centralized self-­‐service capabilities. What does general availability mean? General availability means that any LEA or charter school can submit a request to have any of the currently integrated applications below integrated for its district and be managed by the new automated processes of the IAM Service. The IAM Service is fully available for all users in a district to claim their accounts. Where can I learn more? Please visit our website to learn how to get your district started and to claim your account today: http://iam.ncedcloud.org. Applications now available for integration include: ● MCNC Zscaler ● Central Directory Local Replica (CDLR) ● Follett Destiny ● Discovery Education ● Google Apps for Education Upcoming Target Applications available for integration (over the next year) are: ● Home Base Applications Integration: -­‐ Student Information System (based on Pearson PowerSchool) -­‐ Instructional Improvement System (based on Pearson Schoolnet) -­‐ The Educator Effectiveness System (based on Truenorthlogic software) -­‐ Educator Evaluation System module -­‐ Professional Development System module -­‐ Classroom Collaboration tools (based on Pearson OpenClass) ● NCEdCloud LMS RFP Winner ● SAS EVAAS for K-­‐12 ● Edmodo ● MS Student Advantage ● mClass ● Microsoft Office 365 IN CASE YOU MISSED IT Parent Overview of New Standards Now Online The NCDPI has published "English Language Arts and Mathematics in North Carolina Public Schools: An Overview for Parents." This publication outlines the new standards in the state’s public schools. It delineates for parents what their children should know and be able to do at various grade levels. The overview provides examples of standards at every grade level, K-­‐12. Visit ncpublicschools.org and click on the appropriate link under Highlights to view this helpful guide. Summer Institutes 2014: Sustaining Success! Summer is only two months away! And after four years, we all know what that means: Summer Institutes 2014 once again will be held in all eight regions across the state of North Carolina. Regions 1, 2, 5 and 7 will experience this myriad of professional development experiences simultaneously on July 7-­‐8, while Regions 3, 4, 6 and 8 will participate simultaneously during July 9-­‐10. This year’s theme is “Sustaining Success: Building on Achievement,” and we aim to do just that for educators from across the state. The overarching goal of the 2014 Summer Institutes is to provide participants with meaningful professional development that will take them to the next level in READY implementation (Common Core, New Assessments, Educator Effectiveness, Home Base and more). We will accomplish this by: ● Strengthening relationships among local school districts as they continue to plan and execute specific activities and initiatives around Race to the Top work; ● Assisting local school districts in assessing progress with their PD plans; pinpointing challenges that remain; and refining goals that will keep them moving forward in this effort; ● Identifying how the NCDPI can provide resources to address the needs of local school districts in taking the lead and crafting their plans for sustainability as Year 5 of RttT approaches; and, ● Effectively capturing and sharing new knowledge derived from best practices among colleagues statewide. April 15-­‐May 15: Participant Registration (registration is occurring through your district/charter's Home Base PD tool.) Visit http://si2014.ncdpi.wikispaces.net/ and click on the Registration link at the bottom of the page. May 1-­‐May 15: Presenter and Volunteer Registration (this link will soon be posted on the Summer Institutes web page, http://www.ncpublicschools.org/profdev/summerinstitutes/2014/ MORE INFO: Cynthia Martin, Educator Effectiveness, cynthia.martin@dpi.nc.gov Local Guidance for Standard 6 The Department of Public Instruction has worked to ensure every educator has the opportunity to receive an individual Standard 6 rating based on the growth of that educator’s students. In 2014-­‐2015, the Department will have covered approximately 90 percent of educators through one of the following statewide Standard 6 measures: ● Analysis of Student Work ● CTE Pre-­‐ and Post-­‐Assessments ● End of Grade/End of Course Assessments ● K-­‐3 Checkpoints ● NC Final Exams The Department will work closely with districts to identify the number of educators who do not utilize any of the above measures of student growth and to continue development of local guidance and best practices on measuring student growth for the following educators: ● Teachers who only provide instruction on local elective courses, ● English as a Second Language (ESL) teachers who do not participate in roster verification, ● Academically and/or Intellectually Gifted (AIG) teachers who do not participate in roster verification, ● Exceptional Children (EC) teachers who do not participate in Analysis of Student Work or participate in roster verification, ● Teachers at the residential schools for deaf and blind students, ● Teachers at alternative schools who do not participate in roster verification, and ● Teachers who do not participate in Analysis of Student Work due to limited instructional time. The three-­‐year rolling average needed to calculate Standard 6 for these educators will not begin until the 2015-­‐2016 school year. MORE INFO: If you have questions regarding local guidance for Standard 6, please email educatoreffectiveness@dpi.nc.gov or contact Jennifer DeNeal,Educator Effectiveness, jennifer.deneal@dpi.nc.gov Birdhouses and Higher Standards: Students Learning How to Learn Kindergarten teacher Stephanie Boehmer’s eyes brighten with excitement as she talks about her students’ learning. “I have seen my kindergarten students take ownership of their learning… my kids are able to tell me what they are learning,” said the Southport Elementary School (Brunswick County) teacher. “They can explain things to each other, to me and to other people in their community. ” All this from building birdhouses? You bet. Boehmer incorporates the new learning standards into the fun class activity. Evidence in text, procedural steps, it’s all there when students are asked to read directions, view photos and apply what they are reading and seeing to the construction of a birdhouse. Boehmer and her students will be featured beginning this summer in a series of videos being produced by the NCDPI. These informative vignettes will outline the progress of the Race to the Top initiative, including the features of Home Base. We’ll let you know when they are available! BB&T Principal Leadership Institute We encourage principals to consider attending the Mastering Leadership Dynamics for Educational Leaders seminar sponsored by BB&T. Principals will participate in a three-­‐
day, transformational leadership development experience with a peer group of educational leaders. This free opportunity (a $6,950.00 value) is an exceptional experience located at the BB&T Leadership Institute in High Point. Superintendent endorsement is recommended, as principals will need to “power down” for the three face-­‐to-­‐face sessions. There are two separate pilot sessions held July 16-­‐18 or August 6-­‐8 this summer. Once the pilot is complete, there are ongoing follow-­‐up opportunities throughout the 2014-­‐15 school year. The year-­‐long schedule is in development and will be communicated within the next few weeks. MORE INFO: If you are interested in this opportunity, please contact Dr. Lynne Johnson, Educator Effectiveness, lynne.johnson@dpi.nc.gov, or Dr. Pat Ashley,District and School Transformation, pat.ashley@dpi.nc.gov. Teacher Working Conditions Survey Update Nearly nine in 10 (89 percent) of North Carolina’s public school teachers participated in the 2014 Teacher Working Conditions survey. Thanks to all for great participation! The 2014 NC Teacher Working Conditions (NC TWCS) Survey website features school improvement tools, historical data and research briefs that are helpful for leaders and educators. Check out the resources for ongoing school and district planning for collaborative school improvement planning at www.ncteachingconditions.org. Data from the 2014 survey will be available on the website mid-­‐May and a full report will be shared with the State Board in June. MORE INFO: Dr. Yvette Stewart, Educator Effectiveness, yvette.stewart@dpi.nc.gov. Professional Development System Launches in Home Base The professional development tab inside the Educator Effectiveness online tool is now active. The professional development catalog is now live, enabling educators to sign up for available professional development modules. The catalog will continue to grow as new learning opportunities are added. New modules will be loaded by July 1. Additional information about navigating the professional development system will be available on the regional wikis managed by the professional development leads. These wikis may be accessed at http://wikicentral.ncdpi.wikispaces.net. Regional wikis are located on the bottom right portion of the menu page. You also may listen to a recording from the Professional Development System Overview webinar at https://vimeo.com/87813848. Questions about the professional development system may be directed to your regional Professional Development Leads. #NCed Chat End-­‐of-­‐Year Topics May is the last month of the NCed Chat series before summer break. Engage with state, national and international educators on the following #NCED Chat May topics: Best Practices for Grading, Mentoring, Instructional Design and Professional Learning. Check out the blog and archived conversations online at http://ncedchat.blogspot.com. You also can download the app by visiting myapp.is/NCed on your mobile device. Join this Professional Learning Network (PLN) today and share resources with colleagues across the state and nation. 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