When
will I use this? Why am I learning this? I’m sure that many middle and high
school teachers have heard this question from their students. This week, middle
school students had a chance to learn more about how their academic learning
will connect with careers in North Carolina by participating in Students@Work℠ Week.
This
year, 23,000 students and more than 100 businesses participated in this joint
initiative of the North Carolina Business Committee for Education and the North
Carolina Department of Public Instruction. I participated in one event today at
Lenovo with students from Wake Young Men's
Leadership Academy in Wake County and Gravelly Hill Middle School, A.L.
Stanback Middle School, C.W. Stanford Middle School in Orange County. This was
an outstanding time for the middle school students to see first-hand what work
looks like in the 21st century and how their academic skills could be put to
use in the future.
I appreciate
Biogen and GSK for the grants that made this year’s Students@Work℠ event
possible, and I encourage middle school principals to consider future
participation. Helping students connect the dots between their schoolwork and
their future work is very motivating for young people. For more
information about Students@Work℠ Week,
visit the North Carolina Business Committee for Education website.
|
Multi-Tiered System of Support:
Problem-Solving
Over the past four weeks, over 150 educators
attended one of the Problem-Solving Within an MTSS Framework sessions. A “problem”
is not attached to a negative connotation – it is defined as a difference
between what we want and what is happening. MTSS teams problem solving around
district, school, grade level, group, classroom or student data will consider
questions such as
- Is there
a problem?
- Is this
the right problem to solve?
- What is
the magnitude of the problem?
Big ideas to consider before beginning problem
solving include:
- the
systematic problem-solving process that will be utilized;
- the
implementation and student data that will be utilized; and
- the
connection between this data and the health of our Core (at various level).
To further assist in
developing critical components around MTSS, please review the MTSS
Principal’s Quarterly. If you have additional questions, please contact Amy Jablonski.
|
Implementation Science:
MTSS to Present at National Conference
NCDPI’s MTSS team is presenting at the
Association for Positive Behavior Support’s 13th Annual Conference
in San Francisco, Calif. on March 24. The team’s session, Using Implementation Science to Integrate Academic and Behavior Systems
Across North Carolina, aligns with the theme of the conference.
The MTSS team will share the story of how NCDPI
used Implementation Science to develop supports for all districts, charter
schools and state-operated programs to implement Multi-Tiered Systems of
Support. Participants also will understand how the department utilized research
around concepts of readiness, capacity, and sustainability to develop a
statewide strategic plan, as well as how the state team calibrated evaluation
and implementation tools from exemplar states and agencies to support the work
of the state team, districts and charter schools.
|
 Pitre-Martin
Named Chief Academic and Digital Learning Officer
The
State Board of Education this month approved the hiring of Thomasville City
Schools’ Superintendent Dr. Maria Pitre-Martin as the new Chief Academic and
Digital Learning Officer for the NC Department of Public Instruction.
Pitre-Martin
brings a great deal of expertise to this role from her current position and
from her prior role at NCDPI as the director of K-12 Curriculum and
Instruction. Past experience also includes chief academic
officer for the Philadelphia School District, an assistant superintendent for
the East Baton Rouge Parish School System in Louisiana, director of research
and staff development for the Fort Bend Independent School District in Sugar
Land, Texas, and principal of Oakwood Intermediate School in College Station,
Texas.
She
begins her new role at NCDPI in May.
|
NC Advanced
Manufacturing and STEM Careers Awareness Week is April 3-9
April 3-9 is NC
Advanced Manufacturing and STEM Careers Awareness Week in North Carolina.
Advanced
Manufacturing and STEM careers are modern, sophisticated and use cutting-edge
technology to create products and services in fields such as aviation,
communication, biotechnology and healthcare. Students are encouraged to visit
their local community college or meet with business and industry
representatives to learn more about education opportunities in this career field.
NC Requesting Waiver from Assessing Speaking and Listening in
Reading/English Language Arts Assessments
The U.S. Department of Education (USED) is allowing states to request a
waiver from assessing speaking and listening as part of its Reading/English
language arts assessments. In June 2010, the North Carolina State Board of
Education adopted Reading/English language arts content standards, which
include standards for speaking and listening. Federal law requires assessments
include all adopted content standards; however, measuring speaking and
listening skills in a large-scale summative assessment is not practical at this
time.
As a result, North Carolina is seeking a waiver from this requirement
pursuant to section 8401(b) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965,
as amended by the Every Student Succeeds
Act. Specifically, North Carolina is requesting a limited waiver of section
1111(b)(3)(C)(ii) of the ESEA, as amended by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, so that the state’s assessment
system need not measure speaking and listening standards at this time.
The requested waiver would be effective through the 2016-17 school year.
North Carolina will continue to develop best practices with respect to
assessing speaking and listening on large-scale assessments, though it may
request an
extension of the waiver for subsequent
years.
The public may submit input/feedback on this potential waiver online by
clicking on the Let’s Talk icon on
the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction website then selecting the
USED Waiver as the dialogue topic to provide feedback. The feedback window is
open until 5 p.m., Monday, April 4.
Submit Comments on Annual State
Application for Grant Award Under Part B of IDEA
NCDPI is making available its
annual State Application for receiving grant award under Part B of the
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) as amended in 2004 for
Federal Fiscal Year 2016.
A copy of the State Application is available for
public review on the NCDPI Exceptional Children website under Hot Topics. Also, each local school
district’s central office will receive a copy for public review. Comments will
be accepted through April 22. The
review period ends May 6.
Interested citizens may submit comments via email or
by U.S. mail to: North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, Exceptional
Children Division, ATTN: Tracy Riddle/Carol Ann Hudgens, 6356 Mail Service
Center, Raleigh, NC 27699-6356.
2016 Teacher of the Year Summit
NCDPI is currently planning to host its fourth annual Teacher
of the Year Summit, Managing Change, Social Media, and Developing Leadership, at the Durham Hilton Hotel in Durham on Friday, April
29. In order for this to be a reality, DPI staff have asked districts to support their Teachers of the Year for 2014-15 and 2015-16 by
paying their travel costs (mileage and hotel) and substitute pay.
The
current year’s North Carolina Teacher of the Year Keana Triplett and this past
year’s recipient James Ford have agreed to co-chair this summit. IBM has provided a grant and will be
facilitating the day’s training.
Principals are being informed of this so that if your school
has a district-wide Teacher of the Year for the current year or last year, your teacher will
be receiving an email invitation to attend the Teacher of the Year Summit.
Virtual
Academies
A
growing number of districts are creating virtual academies to not only manage
their online student populations, but also to bring back students into the system
who have dropped out or are home schooling.
NCVPS is excited to be a key part of the virtual academies. Read more
about the virtual academies online, and contact NCVPS staff if you would like help
setting up your virtual academy.
|
 #TaketheSurvey2016 … Before It’s Too Late
We
have reached the mid-point in the North Carolina Teacher Working Conditions (NC
TWC) Survey window. As of today, a little over 53.32 percent of our education workforce has
participated. We need your help to ensure that the remaining 46.68 percent gets
their results in as soon as possible.
The NC
TWC Survey, which remains open through March 25, gathers feedback from
teachers, counselors, principals and other administrators about every aspect of
the school. The web-based survey is voluntary, anonymous and confidential.
If you have any concerns or questions about the survey, please consult
your designated school-based representative. If you need additional assistance
or technical support, please contact Amy Laughter,
western regional education facilitator and lead NC TWC contact.
|
 Registration Opens March 21 for Free Online Courses
The NCDPI Educator
Effectiveness Division will open registration
for the following nine instructor-led courses on Monday, March 21:
- Building and Sustaining Professional
Development: 6 weeks, 1 CEU
- Connecting with our 21st Century Learners: 5
weeks, 1 CEU
- Digital Literacies in the K-12 Classroom: 7
weeks, 1.5 CEUs
- Introduction to Data Literacy: 5 weeks, 1 CEU
- Universal Design for Learning 1: UDL in the
Everyday Classroom: 5 weeks, 1 CEU
- North Carolina Teacher Standards and
Evaluation Process: 6 weeks, 2 CEUs
- Responsibilities of the 21st-Century
Educator: 7 weeks, 1 CEU
- Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science
and Technical Subjects, Part 1: 5 weeks, 0.5 CEU
- Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science
and Technical Subjects, Part 2: 7 weeks, 1.5 CEUs
Registration for these
free online courses is limited to 35 participants per section. For a full
description of courses or information about the Home Base Professional
Development System, please visit the online
PD catalog. Classes start April 4.
Questions may be
directed to Geetanjali
Soni.
|
Spring Holocaust Teacher Workshops
Principals,
please share this information with appropriate teachers.
These
one-day, multi-county workshops are for middle and high school social studies
and English/language arts teachers. Workshop presenter Dr. Peter Stein (UNC-CH,
emeritus, Holocaust scholar and child survivor) will be joined by either Esther
Lederman, a Holocaust survivor who will recount her experiences in hiding for
22 months, or Abe Piasek, who will recount his Holocaust experiences surviving
the Aushwitz concentration camp.
Participants
will receive a copy of The Holocaust: a North Carolina Teacher’s Resource,
a guide for teaching about the Holocaust at middle and high school levels.
There is no cost to attend the workshop, and substitute pay is provided.
Teachers also will receive .6 CEUs. Space is limited so prompt registration is
encouraged.
The
workshop will be held from 8:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. Dates and locations are as
follows:
- April
5, Cullowhee (Jackson County)
- April
12, Chapel Hill-Carrboro (Orange County)
- April
19, Rocky Mount (Nash County).
Registration
details are available online.
For more information, please email Director of Teacher Workshops Audrey Krakovitz.
|
