The NC
General Assembly will return for its short session on April 25 to make budget adjustments for the state. In March, the
State Board of Education will hone its legislative budget and policy agenda.
One area
for which DPI needs additional staff is in licensing. With the new system, it
takes about six months to get a new staff member to be skilled in handling
licensure complexities. We continue our efforts in reducing the backlog
associated with the transition from the manual to the electronic licensing
system.
We
also are aware of your ongoing frustrations about unprocessed teacher licenses.
To that end, we want to make sure you receive ongoing updates to how licensure
is processing your requests.
Since
the online licensure application system went live on Aug. 1, 2015, we have
approved 26,291 applications in the new systems. On Dec. 2, 2015, we had 9,838
applications pending. By Feb. 19, that had been cut to 7,847 pending. We
continue to focus attention on this area, recognizing that licensure processing
requires a specialized skill set. We will continue to look for ways to
better communicate the progress we are making. We do recognize that we need to
continue to work on strategies to expedite the elimination of the unprocessed
applications.
We
know these issues are extremely important to you and to the operation of your
schools. If you have input you would like to share regarding the top priorities
that you identify for public school funding adjustments and policy issues,
please share those through the Let’s Talk software available on DPI’s home page.
Please select Education Policy Feedback as your dialog topic.
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Minimum Professional Standards
Set for
School Nutrition Professionals
The
United States Department of Agriculture has established minimum professional
standards requirements for school nutrition professionals who oversee, manage
and operate the National School Lunch and School Breakfast programs.
The
standards, another key provision of the Healthy,
Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, aim to institute minimum education standards for new
state and local school nutrition directors as well as annual professional
development standards for all school nutrition personnel. These new standards
will ensure school nutrition personnel have the knowledge, skills and abilities
needed to administer the federally-assisted nutrition programs in compliance
with federal and state regulations and in accordance with nationally-recognized
best practices.
The
final rule:
•
created minimum hiring standards for new
school food authority directors/administrators based on the school district’s
size;
•
established minimum hiring standards for new state directors of school
nutrition programs and state directors of distributing agencies; and
•
required minimum annual professional development standards for all new and
current school nutrition personnel.
Under
the new rule, the state education agency has the authority to waive certain
hiring requirements under unique employment market conditions. Should your
district have a viable candidate for the position of school nutrition director/administrator who does not meet the minimum employment standards, and
the district wishes to consider available waiver options, please contact School
Nutrition Services Section Chief Lynn
Harvey or 919/807-3506.
NCDPI's School Nutrition Section is committed to providing a variety of professional
development opportunities for school nutrition administrators/directors,
supervisors and other central office staff through the department's School Nutrition Leadership Academy, which is a
partnership between the department and the North Carolina State University’s
Center for Continuing and Professional Development.
The
section also routinely identifies web-based professional development
opportunities for school nutrition personnel at the school/site
level. These continuing education/professional development opportunities,
along with opportunities provided by the national School Nutrition Association
and the School Nutrition Association of North Carolina, provide quality
educational opportunities for little or no cost to the district or the
employees.
If you
have questions about the new professional development standards established by
the USDA, please
contact Lynn Harvey at the contact information shown above.
Multi-Tiered System of Support:
Problem Solving Within an MTSS Framework
There are six critical components that may be
continually examined to determine success in building a Multi-Tiered System of
Support (MTSS). Problem solving is the foundational component of this school
improvement framework. District and school teams working toward implementation
fidelity will:
- identify
gaps between where they are and where they want to be with students’ academics,
behaviors, and social-emotional goals;
- use a
consistent problem-solving process across the district, school, grade level,
content area and tiers;
- use data
to determine why student groups, subgroups, and individuals are not meeting
expectations; and
- develop
and implement detailed plans to address instructional and intervention needs.
NCDPI staff are providing professional
development, technical assistance and coaching to strengthen implementation of
MTSS in every district, charter school and state-operated program. Your
district has an opportunity to submit a Readiness
Instrument, which will be used to customize this support.
Click here to register a district or a school
team for Problem
Solving in an MTSS Framework. If you have questions, please contact Amy
Jablonski.
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Implementation Science:
The Five Active Implementation Frameworks
Students
cannot benefit from services they do not receive. Active
Implementation Frameworks promote the full and effective use of evidence-based
programs and evidence-informed innovations so that student outcomes are
improved.
Five frameworks guide Active Implementation:
* Usable
Interventions;
*
Implementation Stages;
*
Implementation Drivers;
*
Implementation Teams; and
*
Improvement Cycles.
Opportunities to deepen your understanding about
Implementation Stages and the Active Implementation Frameworks may be found in
this video
module and a handout
with definitions and visuals.
Happening
Now …
The Chatham County District Implementation Team
(DIT), a K-3 Formative Assessment Usability Partner, has moved from the
exploration stage to the installation stage of implementation.
During the installation stage, staff revisited
their DIT membership according to selection criteria and added new members to
strengthen the infrastructure in support of improved student outcomes. The
Chatham DIT recognizes the value of having voices from a variety of
perspectives and has representatives from PreK, Elementary, Title I, MTSS, K-3
teachers and principals.
If you have questions, please contact Laura Winter.
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 NCDPI Global Educator Digital Badge Guidance Webinar
Join NCDPI
staff for an overview of the Global Educator Digital Badge process and
available resources inclusive of the expanded educator categories (other
teachers, principals and central office administrators) eligible for the
Digital Badge.
The same webinar will be offered at two times on Tuesday, March
15: 10 – 11
a.m. or 4 – 5 p.m.
(click on the time to register for the session you want to attend).
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 ACT Testing Preparation Links
The
March 1 ACT test date is right around the corner for high school
students. The following information will be shared with high school
principals and teachers so that they may emphasize the importance of
this test with teachers and students respectively. Teachers also can
help students do a final review before this important examination.
Below
are links to math practice questions that are interactive, two full
sample tests that include all content areas, and a practice website that
includes a breakdown of math topics with review videos. These resources
may be used in classrooms or provided to students for at-home
preparation. With your help, our students can reach the college and career readiness benchmarks!
Sample mathematics questions from College Board:
Set 1
Set 2
Set 3
Set 4
Set 5
Free practice tests for all content areas (includes answer keys):
2015-16
2014-15
There also is a website with free tutorials, questions and videos to help students review in class or on their own, and one for general ACT information.
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Title III Joins the NCCCIP
Title III staff with the NC Comprehensive Continuous Improvement Plan
(CCIP) are excited to announce that beginning in the 2016-17 school year, the
Title III application will be part of the consolidated application in the
web-based grants management system, the CCIP.
This move allows staff to streamline the application
process and to build capacity to serve English learners through collaboration.
Please see the FAQ available online for more information.
 Summer Leadership Conference 2016
Summer Leadership Conference 2016 will be held June 19-22 at the Omni Grove Park Inn, Asheville.
The NCSSA Superintendents' Retreat also will be a part of the conference and will begin on Sunday, June 19. In addition, we will be hosting a New Administrators' Institute this year, which also begins on Sunday, June 19. Keynote speakers are Robert Putnam (author of Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis), Steve Dembo (Building Bolder Schools: It Doesn’t Hurt to be First, Discovery Education), and Donna Beegle (author of See Poverty, Be the Difference).
Conference information, including hotels, online registration, tentative agenda, and speaker bios are available online. Questions may be directed to Jan Webster (828.774.5681 ext, 21) or Vicki Wilson (828.774.5681 ext. 22).
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 Two Schools Nominated
for “Green Ribbon Schools” Award
Congratulations to
Sandy Grove Middle (Hoke County Schools) and Wiley International Studies Magnet
Elementary (Wake County Schools) for recently being selected to represent North
Carolina in the U.S. Department of Education’s Green Ribbon Schools Award
program.
These schools were selected
because of their exemplary efforts in providing healthy learning facilities and
a strong education program. The Green Ribbon Schools Award is the first
comprehensive federal policy for schools related to environment, health and
education. Since 2012, four North Carolina public schools and two school districts
have received the national award.
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2015 Public School Law
Book
The 2015 edition of Public School Laws of North Carolina is now available to purchase
through NCDPI Publications Sales. Public School Laws of North Carolina
contains statutes, case notes and opinions of the Attorney General through
the 2015 session. It also includes statutes other than 115C (LexisNexis
Edition).
The book costs $37 and may be
ordered by calling 919/807-3470, or visiting the Publications Sales website.
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