Interesting Website: Emerging Issues - Gen Z

Just came across this website that keeps you up-to-date on emerging issues.  I wanted to pass the link along in case anyone was interested in checking it out.  Emerging Issues - Gen Z

Food for Thought: Early Childhood Education

It was just announced that North Carolina is one of the states to recieve RttT - Early Learning Challenge. (http://www.wwaytv3.com/2011/12/16/north-carolina-wins-race-to-the-top%E2%80%94early-learning-challenge-grant)

Conversations that need to be happening around the state and at our dinner tables.  How important is early childhood education?  Is this what is needed to help level the playing field for students of poverty?  Should we have universal preschool?  Should the funding be the responsiblity of local, state or federal government?

Update From State Board of Education

This week's Friday Update includes:

1. February 2012 Planning Session
2. PD Annual Evaluation Report
3. Federal Update
4. NCVPS Spring Enrollment
5. ACT, PLAN, and WorkKeys
6. Online Evaluation System
7. Implementing Common Core Mathematics Standards
8. North Carolina Public Charter School Advisory Council
9. Race to the Top Early Learning Challenge

1. February 2012 Planning Session – The State Board of Education agreed during the August 2011 planning session to convene a mid-year planning session within six months.  (The final report from the fall planning session is attached.)  We are planning a session around the February SBE meeting with three purposes:  (1) An update on the progress made on activities since the fall session; (2) an update from Ann McColl on the dialogue about public education with stakeholders across the state and discussion of next steps; and (3) a series of roundtable discussions with teams from local school districts from around the state.  The planning session will convene for one day on Tuesday, January 31, 2012 from 9 am to 4 pm.  Dr. Harrison has extended an invitation to SBE advisors to participate in the planning session.  After the planning session, SBE members will meet for dinner.  Leaders from several local school districts have asked for an opportunity to interact with SBE members.  We will ask for a team from one school district in each of the eight state board of education districts.  The local school district teams will be comprised of the superintendent, a board member, a principal, and teacher.  By next Friday, December 23, please send me the names of two superintendents from your education district whose team may be invited to participate in the roundtable discussion.  Keep in mind geographic and demographic representation.        

2. Professional Development Annual Evaluation Report - The Race to the Top evaluation report entitled, Building LEA and Regional Professional Development Capacity: First Annual Evaluation Report will be presented at the January SBE meeting by Dr. Jeni Corn, Director of Evaluation Programs, Friday Institute for Educational Innovation, College of Education, North Carolina State University.  The RttT professional development activities are key since the success of other efforts will be dependent on a highly trained, skilled, and knowledgeable professional staff in the public schools.  The report is attached for your review.

3. Federal Update – The SBE Office maintains a contract with Brustein and Manasevit, PLLC to provide legal, legislative, and consulting services which includes providing a federal policy update.  The update provides an overview of federal activities related to education and workforce development policies and politics.  The December 16, 2011 update is attached.      

4. NCVPS Spring Enrollment - NCVPS allocated reserve funding to 75 LEAs and charter schools, effectively re-opening registration for schools that had used 100% of their projected enrollments.  Of the additional needs identified to NCVPS by the December 13 deadline, reserve funding was able to cover 80% of each LEA or charter school's request.  Ten LEAs and charter schools have already committed local funds to cover enrollments that reserve funding could not cover; LEAs and charter schools have until January 26 to determine whether they would like to use local funds to cover enrollments that could not be covered by the $2 million reserve fund.

5. ACT, PLAN, and WorkKeys - Tenth graders across North Carolina have been taking the PLAN assessment over the last week or so to help them gauge readiness for college-level work and to assist them in identifying areas where they need to focus more attention in preparation for high school graduation and life beyond. In March, 11th graders will take the ACT, and in May, high school seniors who are Career and Technical Education completers will take the WorkKeys assessment. This suite of assessments is developed by ACT to help gauge career and college readiness, and North Carolina public schools are piloting their use for our state in 2011-12. In 2012-13, we anticipate that all three assessments will be given again and the ACT will become a formal part of the state’s new high school accountability model in 2013-14.  Students will have portable college admissions scores that they can use during their college selection and admissions process, and students who are CTE completers taking WorkKeys will have tangible results to demonstrate their career readiness to future employers and to community college admissions staff. 

6.  Webinar Addresses Updates to Online Evaluation System - NCDPI’s Educator Recruitment and Development Division is pleased to announce three webinar opportunities for principals focused on updates to the online evaluation system including the abbreviated version and new writeable sections of the PDP.  Staff also will review the latest information on Educator Effectiveness including the addition of Standard 6 to the Teacher Evaluation and Standard 8 of the Principal/AP Evaluation. The schedule for these webinars is below. All webinars are the same so principals may choose the time that best fits their schedule. 

-  Monday, Dec. 19, 2-3:30 p.m.

   Registration Web Link: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/951002912

 - Friday, Jan. 6, 9-10:30 a.m.

   Registration Web Link: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/620510545

 - Friday, Jan. 6, 3:30-5 p.m.

   Registration Web Link: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/504631457

Questions regarding the webinar may be directed to Eliz Colbert at Eliz.Colbert@dpi.nc.gov . 

7. Webinar Focuses on Implementing Common Core Mathematics Standards - Districts around the state are at very different places as they enter the world of Common Core mathematics.  DPI staff members have received a lot of feedback saying people just don’t know how to get started. In this webinar, staff will provide ideas on first steps, pacing, and organization of materials.  The webinar will be held Jan. 10 from 3:30-4:30 p.m. To participate, please register at https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/13746552 . After you register, you will receive an email message with participation instructions. Questions regarding the webinar may be directed to Susan Hart Susan.Hart@dpi.nc.gov or 919/807-3846.

8. North Carolina Public Charter School Advisory Council – The NCPCSAC met on December 13-14 to approve its by-laws, elect a chair and vice-chair, review three schools seeking renewal of their charters which end in June 2012, and review 25 charter applications submitted under the fast-track process.  John Betterton, a former public school principal and current principal of Bethel Hill Public Charter School in Roxboro, NC was elected chair.  Tim Markley, superintendent of New Hanover County Schools, was elected vice chair.  The recommendations to renew the three charters will be discussed at the January SBE meeting.  With regards to the fast-track process, eleven charter applicants were invited to participate in an interview in January, the next phase of the review process.  The charter applicants invited to interview are as follows:  Bear Grass Charter School, Cornerstone Charter Academy, Corvian Community School, High Point College Preparatory Academy, Howard and Lillian Lee Scholars Charter, Mendenhall Country Day School, North East Carolina Prep, Pinnacle Classical Academy, Research Triangle High School, Triangle Math and Science Academy, and Water's Edge Village School.  You can review each applicant's proposed charter at https://mail.abss.k12.nc.us/owa/redir.aspx?C=8c77743714074ded853b895368b218d6&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.ncpublicschools.org%2fcharterschools%2fresources%2fapplication/.  The recommendations to authorize fast-track charters will be presented to the SBE in February for discussion.

9. RttT Early Learning Challenge - The U.S. Department of Education has announced that North Carolina’s grant application has been fully funded. The final amount awarded is $69,991,121, the same amount proposed in the state’s grant application.

https://mail.abss.k12.nc.us/owa/redir.aspx?C=8c77743714074ded853b895368b218d6&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww2.ed.gov%2fprograms%2fracetothetop-earlylearningchallenge%2fawards.html

My Thoughts: The Judge Said I Had To

I spoke with a group of youth offenders that were court ordered to attend the session. Each of the students is at a crossroad in their life and in need of guidance. They spoke candidly about their life struggles, challenges and hopes. The common dominator was the lack of positive relationships, role models and the belief in themselves that they were worth changing.  Another educator and I shared our struggles and challenges in life and the conscious decisions we had to make in order to be successful.  As the “at- risk” (or as I prefer to call them, the “Possibilities”) youth left the session many of them thanked me, cried, or attempted to explain their plight.  On the days in which you as an educator cannot see the end for the piles of paper and testing, remember that the impact you have on students goes beyond just teaching them the subject matter.  You can be the person that enables a student to choose wisely while they are standing at the crossroad.

Food For Thought: Bullying

Just read an interesting article where a school system is having to pay $100,000 in a bullying lawsuit. (http://www.theindychannel.com/news/29927807/detail.html)

In order to learn kids need to have intellectual safety, the abiltiy to explore learning and be wrong.  Yet just as important, they also need personal safety.  You cannot learn in an environment where you are threatened or intimidated.  So as adults on a school campus, what can we ALL do to ensure students intellectual and personal safety?

Does social media play a part?  How can the adults in a student's life model appropriate behavior in the age of  increasing  cyberbullying?  You can post anything in the heat of the moment on Twitter or Facebook without seeing the immediate impact on the receipiant.  How can we help students learn to be accountable for their actions - even if they cannot immediately see the impact?

Teachers and Administrators wanted!!!

Teaching Fellows with NCCU alumnae and NC Teacher of the Year Tyronna Hooker at the successful one stop teacher education workshop

National Opportunity

The Emma Bowen Foundation is a National PAID Internship Program.  This program is celebrating  23 years of  successfully placing minority students in multi-summer internships at media companies throughout the United States.

At the present time, they are recruiting minority high school seniors and incoming college freshmen.   Qualified applicants should have at least a 3.0 GPA, plan to attend a 4-year college and have an interest in  media, communications,business,engineering, or technology.  Selected recipients are PAID and receive a matching funds scholarship to help pay for college expenses.  

Please visit website for a more detailed description of the program and the application:  

www.emmabowenfoundation.com.

Interested students should complete the application and send all requested materials (transcript, resume, photo, etc.) to the New York Office by January 31, 2012.

Should you have any questions or need more information please contact:

Sandra D. Rice

Vice President, Eastern Region

Emma Bowen Foundation

524 West 57th Street

New York, NY  10019

212-975-2545 (MAIN)

212-975-2597 (DIRECT)

212-975-5884 (FAX) 

www.emmabowenfoundation.com 

Education isn't Broken...

Education is not broken but there are areas that need to be transformed. So are we ready to be agents of change? The doors of the school being open are not enough -- transformation must occur during the hours of operation. As we examine ourselves and reflect on the urgency of this matter we cannot allow difficulties to reduce our ability to influence.  What best practices do you use to be agents of change?  How do you deal with the difficulties faced by teachers every day? 

Shout Out: Omega Psi Phi

Special thanks to the Omega Psi Phi for the special recognition on Sunday. I was named the Alamance County Citizen of the Year. I received this award for my leadership and dedication to education. I salute my students and coworkers that force me to do my best.