Math, English Standards Being Revised
Public Input Sought
Setting standards – what North Carolina students should know
and be able to do – is a key element of the State Board of Education’s work in
ensuring that students receive what they need in the classroom. Local educators
use the state-adopted standards to create a curriculum to help their students
meet each standard. Curriculum materials – textbooks, digital content,
activities and lessons – are locally developed or selected. In January, the
State Board heard updates on standards revisions for mathematics and English
language arts, a process that occurs approximately every five years.
Revised standards for High School Math 1, 2 and 3 were
adopted in June 2016, and implementation is in full swing in school districts.
To support this work, NCDPI provided 2016 summer information sessions,
in-person regional math professional development, virtual teacher support to
provide “just in time” help, and curriculum leader implementation support to
build a digital tool for math teachers that is dynamic and sustainable for
years 2 and 3.
Work is underway now to review and revise the K-8
mathematics standards and also standards for the “fourth math” in high school.
These “fourth math” courses can include Advanced Functions and Modeling,
Essentials of College Math, Discrete Math and Pre-Calculus. (Advanced Placement and
International Baccalaureate math standards are established by The College Board
and International Baccalaureate.) This work includes surveying college and
university mathematics professors, school district math leaders and mathematics
teachers statewide. NCDPI mathematics staff expect that major revisions will be
needed for some of the fourth math courses. New standards will be presented to
the State Board of Education for action.
The K-12 English language arts revision process began in
2016, and a draft of these revisions is expected to be presented to the Board
in spring 2017. Public input is invited through an online survey. Nearly 300
educators have provided feedback at eight regional meetings; approximately
5,000 responses were received to the educator English language arts survey. In
considering the English language arts standards, 17 of 481 standards received
an approval rating below 80 percent.
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Every Student Succeeds Act Update
With the new state submission deadlines in place for the
federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), North Carolina has revised its
development timeline and is on track to submit the North Carolina plan to the
US Department of Education in September 2017. Over the next six months, NC
Department of Public Instruction staff are conducting simulations of different
accountability models to help finalize the North Carolina’s draft
accountability model; continuing to receive feedback and input on the draft
plan; presenting the plan to General Assembly Education Committees and meeting
with lawmakers and staff; providing monthly updates to the SBE and submitting
the plan to the Governor for his review. The plan will be finalized in July to
be on track for State Board approval in September. Considerations still in play
include what additional (non-test dependent) accountability measure to include
and how to measure English learners’ progress on the English Proficiency
Assessment.
Public Schools’ Connectivity on Track for June 2018
“Completion”
North Carolina public schools are rapidly connecting to the
Internet to provide access to digital tools for teachers and students, thanks
to North Carolina’s school connectivity model that links MCNC’s client network
engineering and NCDPI’s support for accessing federal E-rate funding. This
information was provided in a School Connectivity Update to the January State
Board of Education meeting.
Peak public school Internet usage is double the combined
internet usage of community colleges, the University of North Carolina system
and North Carolina private and independent colleges. The school connectivity
program is currently a $125 million program per year with $32 million in state
funds and $93 million in federal funds. This initiative is on track to provide complete
Wifi connectivity in classrooms by June 2018. Key 2016 accomplishments include
• upgrading Internet
access to 46 school districts and 100 charter schools;
• providing firewall
services to 75 districts and 95 charters;
• providing web
security (Internet filtering) services to 79 districts and 92 charters;
• supporting 51
districts and 40 charter schools with client network engineering support
services; and
• managing a wireless
infrastructure and services procurement supporting more than $55 million in
purchases for 72 districts and 25 charters.
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Digital Learning Initiative Moves Forward
North Carolina’s Digital Learning Initiative (DLI) is
focused on improving processes, providing digital learning content and setting
priorities for future versions of Home Base, the suite of digital tools
provided to local schools and districts. Activities of this joint project
between NCDPI and the NCSU’s Friday Institute include: facilitating cooperative
purchasing and ensuring that digital content aligns to North Carolina content
standards; exploring open education resources as a content resource;
highlighting the needs for digital content specific to elementary school
science (earth systems), middle school social studies (informational text) and
high school mathematics. Future activities of the DLI include constructing a
Home Base Portal to provide one sign-in access to the digital tools in Home
Base; updating state policies to modernize and align textbook and digital
course review processes; deploying a new Home Base informational website; and
updating the NC Digital Learning Data Dashboard.
Board Welcomes New State Superintendent, Treasurer
The State Board welcomed two new faces at the Board table,
the recently elected State Superintendent Mark Johnson and recently elected Treasurer
Dale Folwell. Johnson outlined his core principles that will guide his work and
leadership of the Department of Public Instruction: urgency to address
shortcomings of schools and needs of students, ownership of the Department’s
work and impact on local student opportunity, and innovation to better meet the
needs of today’s students. Johnson indicated that he would initiate a listening
tour to visit districts and communities across North Carolina.
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