Home Base Symposium - Registration is Now Open!

Connect with us as we host our 31st Annual Home Base Symposium that will be held February 22 - 24, 2017 at the Sheraton Four Seasons Hotel in Greensboro, NC.  You don’t want to miss this information packed conference that will provide in-depth training on the functionality of PowerSchool, Schoolnet, TNL and other Home Base applications.

We hope to see you there!

• HBS2017_Memo.pdf
• HBS2017_Registration.pdf

Digital Learning Competencies

The NC Department of Public Instruction, in partnership with the Friday Institute at NC State University and area RESAs, are pleased to offer educators in North Carolina a comprehensive and layered professional learning approach to support digital teaching and learning in NC classrooms.

This summer, we launched the Digital Learning Competencies for Teachers through our professional learning events across the state. The North Carolina Department of Public Instruction’s Digital Teaching and Learning Division is collaborating with area RESAs to provide additional professional learning opportunities. These sessions will support school districts with the planning and implementation of the Digital Learning Competencies. For this school year, sessions will be held in November, January, and April/May. Team Leaders from the summer sessions will be notified with specific dates, locations, and to verify team members.

Focus of Winter sessions:

• Teacher DLC Pilot Discussion
• Results from Fall Pilot
• Resources for Teacher Competencies

The competencies, as well as information about upcoming professional development are available on our wiki page.  If you have specific questions about these competencies, please reach out to your area consultant for guidance and support.

State Superintendent Bids Farewell

State Superintendent June Atkinson used her final meeting with the State Board of Education last week to reflect on her 12 years leading the state’s public schools.  She said she was grateful for the countless students she met, all the educators she worked with, and her many opportunities to promote the state’s great public schools and students while serving as the state’s elected education leader.

A video of her farewell remarks in their entirety (courtesy of WRAL-TV) are available online.

Congratulations to State Superintendent June Atkinson

Congratulations to State Superintendent June Atkinson who was presented with the Order of the Long Leaf Pine by the State Board of Education. Board members also approved and read a resolution (scroll to Chairman’s Comments to access the resolution) honoring her outstanding service as North Carolina State Superintendent of Public Instruction.

Register Now for CCSA

Registration for the 2016 Collaborative Conference for Student Success, “Champions for Student Success,” is now open. The conference will offer a variety of sessions of interest to educators, administrators, parents, school board members, university and college faculty/staff/administrators, and community and business representatives.

Registration is $175 if received before Feb. 1 and $200 if received after Feb. 1. For more information, please email staff or call 919.835.6133.

State Board of Education, December Meeting

Board members approved 19 restart applications, North Carolina Math 1 Extended Content Standards, a K-12 Cybersecurity study, and value ranking for industry credentials earned in Career and Technical Education. Members also approved a number of reports to the General Assembly, including one on broadening successful participation in advanced courses and another on state agency collaboration on early childhood education/transition from preschool to kindergarten.

Among the board’s items for discussion were the Virtual Charter School Pilot Report to the Joint Legislative Education Oversight Committee and recommendations for approvals under the Cooperative Innovative High School Program.

The board also recognized the state’s 2016 finalists for the Presidential Awards for Excellence in Math and Science, the state’s 2015 recipients for the Presidential Awards for Excellence in Math and Science, and outgoing board member and State Treasurer Janet Cowell and local board advisor Dr. Christine Fitch (Wilson County Board of Education).

The complete list of this month’s Board actions is available on the Board’s website. The Board’s December agenda as well as supporting executive summaries are available online by clicking on the SBE Meetings tab.

Education Department Releases Final Regulations to Promote a High-Quality, Well-Rounded Education and Support All Students

After considering and incorporating extensive feedback from stakeholders across the education system and the public, the U.S. Department of Education today announced final regulations to implement the accountability, data reporting, and state plan provisions of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), with a focus on supporting states in using their flexibility to provide a high-quality, well-rounded education, and ensure equity remains at the core of implementation.  The regulations will help states, districts and educators seize the opportunity ESSA provides to ensure a high-quality, well-rounded education that sets every student in America up for success in college and career.

The final regulations will replace the rigid and prescriptive systems that defined No Child Left Behind with new flexibility for states and districts; a more holistic approach to measuring a quality education that will help prepare all students for success in college and careers; and strong protections to ensure that academic progress and equity for all students matters. They also reinforce ESSA’s strong commitment to transparency and emphasize meaningful engagement and an active role for parents, educators, students, civil rights and community groups, and other stakeholders in implementing the new law. 

ArcGIS Online U.S. School Competition 2017

Across the U.S., high school and middle school students are exploring their world and creating interesting map products with ArcGIS Online. Esri now challenges students to create and share maps about something in their home states, working to be among the best in the school, state, and nation. The ArcGIS Online US School Competition 2017 is open to high school (gr.9-12) and middle school (gr.4-8) students in the U.S who can analyze, interpret, and present data via an ArcGIS Online presentation, web app, or story map.  Contest details

NextGeneration Leaders Program Seeks Nominations

The NextGeneration Leaders Program is now accepting nominations to recognize up and coming education technology leaders in the K-12 space. In partnership with EdScoop.com, we are seeking candidates with no more than five years experience as an ed tech professional in a school setting. We encourage educators to nominate district coworkers or professional colleagues who are passionate about ed tech and its future. Self-nominations are also accepted.

Nominations are open from December 9, 2016 through January 13, 2017

Successful candidates will be featured for national review and voting on EdScoop.com from January 23 through February 10, 2017. They will be officially recognized at the CoSN Annual Conference in Chicago on April 4, 2017.

Submit a Nomination    Submit a Self-Nomination

#GoOpen Pushes State Leadership for Instructional Materials

In October 2015, the U.S. Department of Education’s, Office of Education Technology (OET) launched the #GoOpen Initiative via a White House briefing. Since that time, 19 states and 100 districts have signed on to #GoOpen. What does this mean? #GoOpen states and districts commit to supporting the transition to the use of high-quality, openly-licensed educational resources. More importantly, this initiative has impacted states beyond the consideration for Open Educational Resources (OER).

As reported in SETDA’s 2015 Navigating the Digital Shift: Mapping the Acquisition of Digital Instructional Materials, seven states (Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, North Carolina, West Virginia, and Wisconsin) have statutes requiring the implementation of digital instructional materials in the next five years. As instructional materials transition to digital, states need to grow their leadership by providing guidance for districts on how to most effectively and efficiently make the transition to digital, by providing flexibility in their funding and procurement policies, including the implementation of OER.  Read this story