This week's Friday Update includes:
- February 2012 Planning Session
- PD Annual Evaluation Report
- Federal Update
- NCVPS Spring Enrollment
- ACT, PLAN, and WorkKeys
- Online Evaluation System
- Implementing Common Core Mathematics Standards
- North Carolina Public Charter School Advisory Council
- 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 .
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.
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