State Superintendent Discusses Increasing Teacher Pay in Her Latest Blog Post

In her latest blog post, State Superintendent June Atkinson highlights the history to create a merit pay system for educators and her proposed plan to increase teacher pay. You can read her current blog post, as well as previous posts, on the State Superintendent’s website.

Report on Education Legislation from 2015 Session on the Web

The "Report on Education Legislation from the 2015 Session of the North Carolina General Assembly” is now available on the Legislative Updates website. The report includes summaries of all legislation affecting public education: individual bills, special provisions of the budget and the “money report.” It also includes copies of individually passed bills and relevant portions of the budget. This report does not replace the "Public School Laws of North Carolina" publication.

Every Student Succeeds Act Reauthorizes Elementary and Secondary Education Act

The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) reauthorizes the 50-year old Elementary and Secondary Education Act, the national education law that promotes equal educational opportunities for all students. To learn more about the ESSA and its programs, please visit the Federal Program Monitoring and Support website.

EC Website Updates

The Exceptional Children website was recently updated with material from the EC Directors webinar, a new section devoted to recruiting and retaining EC educators and information about the division’s upcoming institute.

• A question and answer document as well as handouts for the Feb. 2 EC Directors webinar are now available on the under Conferences, PD & Webinars. You also can find a schedule of upcoming webinars and material for past online meetings.
• The Exceptional Children March Institute is scheduled for March 7-9 at the Koury Convention Center in Greensboro. If you would like to attend the institute, or any of the pre-sessions, visit Conferences, PD & Webinar. There will be no onsite registration. You must pre-register to attend any part of the institute.
• If you are an educator looking for information about working as an Exceptional Children teacher in North Carolina, or an administrator looking for ways to attract and retain your Exceptional Children staff, check out the new Recruitment and Retention section on the Exceptional Children website. Here you will find strategies for recruiting and retaining staff as well as results from research about why educators leave EC teaching. In addition, Exceptional Children licensure information also is available.

NC Governor’s School Accepting Applications for Staff on East and West Campuses The North Carolina Governor's School is accepting applications for staff for Governor's School East, at Meredith College in Raleigh, and Governor's School West, at Salem College in Winston-Salem. Most positions run from early June through late July. Available jobs and the employment application are available on the Governor’s School website.

Spring Workshops Information Added to NC Council on Holocaust Website

The NC Council on the Holocaust has added several educator/administrator workshops for spring 2016. The workshops are offered across the state at no charge, and are open to all North Carolina middle and high school teachers and administrators. In addition, the Council provides participants selections from “The Holocaust: A North Carolina Teacher's Resource Guide,” a collection of other Holocaust teaching materials and a certificate of attendance for renewal credit. The workshops, and contact and registration information for each workshop, are available on the NC Council on the Holocaust website.

Celebrate NC Schools Highlights Stories from the “READY” Initiative From 2010 through 2015, state and local school leaders used $400 million in federal Race to the Top grant funds to strengthen teaching and learning in North Carolina. A new section on Celebrate NC Schools features a series of short stories highlighting how these grant funds were used in a multi-strategy approach, branded the "READY" initiative, to transform education in the classroom, district and state.