The first round of regional public comment sessions regarding the Every Student Succeeds Act and North Carolina’s plan that is under development will begin on April 13 in Wilmington right after your quarterly meeting.

That first session will be at Ashley High School, 555 Halyburton Memorial Parkway from 4-6 p.m. People who wish to speak during the session are asked to sign in by 4:15 p.m. Each speaker will have up to three minutes to provide comments, and written copies of comments also are welcomed. Other dates and locations are April 21, Green Hope High School/Wake; April 26, Mallard Creek High School/Charlotte-Mecklenburg; April 27, North Pitt High School/Pitt; May 17, East Forsyth High School/Winston-Salem/Forsyth; and May 18, Charles D. Owen High School/ Buncombe.

Individuals interested in speaking may want to consider the following questions when formulating their comments:

-  What do you expect from our schools?

-  What school characteristics are most important?

-  How should we measure school success?

-  How do we ensure that all schools are successful?

-  How should we celebrate school success?

As we develop our state’s plan, it is important to hear from educators, parents, business people, students and other community members. Please feel free to distribute the news release with more information in your community. I want to say a special thank you to the high schools and school districts that are hosting these for us.

State Board of Education to Hold Planning and Work Session/Monthly Meeting
this Week

The State Board of Education will hold its planning and work session and April monthly meeting this week, April 5-7, at the Watson College of Education, UNC-Wilmington.

On Tuesday, Board members will discuss their strategic plan implementation progress and challenges, the Every Student Succeeds Act, and standards review and revisions.

Wednesday’s planning and work session includes a presentation on the state assessment system, a panel discussion with UNC Wilmington College of Education faculty members and Southeast Education District superintendents, criminal background checks and the Board’s legislative agenda for the General Assembly’s short session.

In addition to a number of consent agenda items, action items on Thursday’s April Board meeting agenda include policies on general licensure requirements, beginning teacher support program, standards and criteria for evaluation of professional school employees and the teacher performance appraisal process; applications from reform models; technical changes to the recurring low-performing schools’ policy; and an equipment assistance grant for school nutrition.

Board discussion items include recommendations on charter application process, timeline and content; recommended amendments to charter agreement; Joint Legislative Education Oversight Committee Dropout Prevention Pilot Report; Annual Measurable Objectives/Annual Measurable Achievement Objectives policy revisions; middle school athletics manual updates; and an update on the teacher licensure system.

The complete agenda as well as supporting executive summaries are available online by clicking on the Meetings tab. Thursday’s meeting is audio streamed for those who cannot attend. To listen, please visit the above link and click on the live audio stream link to the right.

Home Base Usage for 2016-17

NCDPI staff announced last week the opening of the period for school districts and charter schools to indicate its planned usage of the full suite of Home Base tools for the 2016-17 school year at a rate of $1/ADM.

DPI staff became aware of an issue with the web tool that collects responses for Home Base usage for the 2016-17 school year. The vendor resolved the issue on March 28. If you started to use the tool between March 24 – 28, your response may not have been received by DPI. However, if you received a confirmation email from DPI, you do not need to resubmit a response.

To access the web tool and indicate planned usage of the full suite of Home Base for next school year, please visit http://bit.ly/1LaDy2b. As a reminder, responses must be submitted by June 15.

Digital Learning & Media Inventory

The new NC Digital Learning & Media Inventory (NC DLMI) goes live on April 11. The NC DLMI collects data for state and national reporting, to inform state and local budgets, and to assist in planning state and local digital learning efforts. Inventory questions are streamlined and align to the NC Digital Learning Progress Rubric. This inventory replaces the Annual Media & Technology Report. Modernizing this tool is a critical component of moving NC’s Digital Learning Plan forward. To read more, please visit the NC DLMI website.

Multi-Tiered System of Support:
MTSS Readiness Instrument 2.0

Thank you to the 94 district and charter school teams that completed and submitted the MTSS Readiness Instrument 2.0 since the release date in January. Any district or charter not currently assigned to a cohort was invited to submit this tool. Completion of the instrument allowed team members to identify what structures are in place to support the implementation of an MTSS.

Results will be returned to those districts and charter schools that submitted this instrument, and will include recommended next steps for teams to address to best prepare for installation of MTSS. Additionally, DPI staff will use the results to develop customized technical assistance, as well as determine upcoming professional development cohort selection and groupings. Once the data is analyzed, Cohorts 3 and 4 will be invited to participate in an MTSS Cohort. Click here for an infographic on the professional development configuration.

If you have additional questions, please contact Amy Jablonski.


Professional Development Series for School Leaders Continues

As a reminder, on April 20, NCDPI District and School Transformation in partnership with NCSU Northeast Leadership Academy (NELA) continues the Professional Development for School Leaders Series: The Connected Educator. The featured speaker, Principal Baruti Kafele, will guide participants through best practices for engaging the community and building meaningful partnerships to improve student learning. Kafele is the author of The Principal 50: Critical Leadership Questions for Inspiring Schoolwide Excellence, Closing the Attitude Gap: How to Fire Up Your Students to Strive for Success and Motivating Black Males to Achieve in School & in Life.

Please join us for this exciting opportunity to connect with practitioners from across the state. Registration is open and can be accessed here. The April event will be held at the Hilton North Raleigh from 9 a.m. - 4 p.m. (on-site registration begins at 8:30 a.m.).

There is a 200 participant limit so register early. There is no registration fee for this event. A block of rooms has been reserved at a discounted rate at the Hilton North Raleigh. For more information, please contact Amelia McLeod.