NCDPI Office of Charter Schools (OCS) Updates

NC Department of Transportation (NCDOT) Charter School Questionnaire

NC Department of Transportation is in the process of gathering time sensitive information regarding all road improvements and associated expenditures located adjacent to school campuses. 

Please complete the attached questionnaire on or before December 8, 2017and return to OCS at ocs@dpi.nc.gov. 

Attachment:     NCDOT Road Improvement Questionnaire

Training Opportunity   Board members from charter schools that are opening in 2018 are required to attend 5 face-to-face Planning Year Sessions from September to January.  The school leader and some of the board members are also required to attend the New Charter School Leaders Institute in June.     As a customer service, the Office of Charter Schools continues to open up these sessions to all charter schools.  If you have a new school leader and/or a new board member interested in attending any of the sessions, he or she must register to attend.  Please note the schedule below:   Planning Year Training Schedule   Registration is now open for the December session.  Registration ends on Sunday, December 3rd.  Please use this link to register.    For questions, please contact Dr. Kebbler Williams at kebbler.williams@dpi.nc.gov.

Charter Schools Transportation Grant Opportunity - Reminder

2.5 million dollars was provided to the NC Department of Public Instruction to establish a Charter School Transportation Grant Program for the 2017-18 school year.

The purpose of the Charter School Transportation Grant pilot program is to reimburse a charter school that has a student enrollment of at least fifty percent (50%) of its students residing in households with an income level not in excess of the amount required for a student to qualify for the federal free or reduced price lunch program. 

The Letter of Intent was the first step in the established process and was due September 1, 2017. Attached is the Letter of Intent for any school who did not complete initially and the Grant Application which is due December 31, 2017.  

Contact ocs@dpi.nc.gov with questions or concerns. 

Attachments:    

2017-18 Transportation Grant Letter of Intent

Charter Schools Transportation Grant Application

NC Charter Schools Advisory Board to Meet    The North Carolina Charter Schools Advisory Board will meet Dec. 11-12 in the 7th Floor Board Room, Education Building, 301 N. Wilmington Street, Raleigh.      The agendas are available on the State Board of Education’s website under the Meetings tab. The meeting will be audio streamed for those who cannot attend.     Questions regarding this meeting should be directed to NCDPI Communications at 919.807.3450.

Title I School Update - NC Aquariums Opportunity

Teachers in North Carolina’s Title I schools have an opportunity to engage their students in ocean science programming, thanks to a new program offering privately-funded mini-grants. 

The Aquarium Scholars program will provide underserved students in Title I schools across the state access to ocean science and science, technology, engineering and math aquarium education opportunities. Teachers from Title I schools can apply for mini-grants to fund a variety of the Aquarium Scholars programs. Teachers may select outreach programs in the classroom featuring live animals, distance learning programs delivering real-time experiences or class trips to the Carolina coast for visits and programs at one of the aquariums or Jennette’s Pier. Each opportunity offers a chance to meet fascinating aquatic animals, learn about important conservation topics and get involved with other unique educational opportunities.

Teachers may submit applications now through Dec. 17, 2017 for programs offered in the current school year. For the following school year, applications may be submitted from July 1 through Sept. 15, 2018 for 2018-2019 funding.

List of Required Reports and Submission Dates   Each year charter school directors request a list detailing annual required reports. While not all reports are required for your charter school, please review the document to determine which reports will need to be submitted.    Please call the contacts within the attached document or contact OCS directly with questions or concerns at ocs@dpi.nc.gov.   Attachment:    http://www.ncpublicschools.org/data/calendar/

Community School of Davidson to Host its Fresh Take Conference

January 25, 2018 is this year’s Fresh Take: Strategies for Student Success conference in Davidson, NC. We are excited to present our 6th conference for teacher by teachers.  Each session, as you will see on the list below, honors and encourages those in the honored profession of education.

The keynote address will be presented by Dr. Lacretia Berry will address the fact that if we want multi-ethnic communities where bias is not attached to skin tone and race does not matter, we must get good at educating and engaging our children and students. She will also speak about educator’s responsibly to normalize conscious conversations about skin tone and race, and how to empower students to be competent, comfortable, and courageous as they navigate our hyper-racialized society and seek ways to bring healing and change.

Information about Fresh Take and a link to register to attend the conference can be found on the Fresh Take website.

Early bird rate is still available until December 15: individual registration is $75 or $325 for a group of five attendees ($65pp). Registration includes breakfast, lunch, a swag bag, t-shirt, and snack. CPU certificates will be available at the end of the conference.

Join us to celebrate the profession of education and learn from one another.

Fresh Take website:  http://thefront5.wixsite.com/freshtake.

NC Department of Public Instruction (NCDPI) Updates

ESSA/Early Learning Regional Meetings- Save the Date!

The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) provides new opportunities for school districts to strengthen the birth-through-third grade continuum - a critical strategy to improve third grade reading proficiency.

As Local Education Agencies (LEAs) develop their district ESSA plans for the 2018-19 academic year, they will be required to engage early learning stakeholders.

The Department of Public Instruction is partnering with the North Carolina Early Childhood Foundation to support LEAs and early childhood community leaders in collaborating to develop the early learning components of their plans.

Four regional meetings will be hosted for district teams to learn more and begin the planning process.

Greenville – January 22, 2018

Fayetteville – January 23, 2018

Asheville – January 25, 2018

Winston-Salem – January 26, 2018

Registration information and meeting details will be forthcoming.

ACTIONS NEEDED

1) Determine which date and location is most convenient and save the date on your calendar.

2) Build your team. Teams must include:

• Head Start Director
• Title 1 Director or Representative
• Smart Start Local Partnership Representative
• Superintendent or a Representative from the Superintendent’s Office

Teams are encouraged to include the following members. A maximum of two may attend the regional meeting.

• Elementary Schools: Principal and/or Teacher
• Child Care: Administrator and/or Teacher
• Exceptional Children
• McKinney Vento
• NC Pre-K Committee
• Family Engagement
• Community College System
• Community Organization Supporting Dual Language Learners
• Health System
• Existing Early Childhood Collaboratives (e.g., Campaign for Grade-Level Reading)
• Higher Education- University/College

Following these meetings, we will be providing intensive support to a small number of local teams, including coaching, materials, a shared learning community and plan review. There will be a short application process and those selected will receive a small stipend. Materials and lessons learned will be shared across the state.

For more information, contact:

Carla Garrett, Title I Preschool Consultant

Office of Early Learning, NC Department of Public Instruction

Carla.Garrett@dpi.nc.gov

Karen McKnight, M.Ed., Director

NC Head Start State Collaboration Office

Karen.McKnight@dpi.nc.gov

Tracy Zimmerman, Executive Director

North Carolina Early Childhood Foundation

tzimmerman@buildthefoundation.org

State Board of Education Meets Next Week The State Board of Education will meet next week, Dec. 6-7, in the 7th floor Board Room, Education Building, 301 N. Wilmington Street, Raleigh.    The agendas and executive summaries for this meeting are available online (under Meetings tab).   Please note that Board members will discuss all agenda items (unless otherwise noted) in their committee meetings on Wednesday, Dec. 6. Board members will summarize their Committee discussions and take action on agenda items as appropriate during their full Board meeting on Thursday, Dec. 7.   The State Board’s committee meetings and full Board meeting will be audio streamed for those who can’t attend. To provide comments or feedback regarding specific agenda items, please email State Board members individually or email general comments/feedback.

Social Studies Professional Development Opportunity

Through a partnership with The Ashbrook Center at Ashland University, the NCDPI K-12 Social Studies section is excited to announce a professional development seminar in Winterville, NC on Saturday March 3, 2018 from 8:30 AM – 3:00 PM. The topic is Civil Rights. Through this intensive, one-day seminar, teachers will gain a greater understanding of the ideas surrounding the founding of the American Republic. They will receive a certificate for 8 contact hours from the Ashbrook Center for their attendance. Lunch and a light breakfast will also be provided. 

To be selected, teachers will need to meet the following requirements:

• Teaching one of the following courses during the 2017-18 school year:
• 8th Grade Social Studies
• American History: The Founding Principles, Civics and Economics
• American History II

•  Prior to the seminar, completion of the first three modules of the Canvas course Introduction to Inquiry Design 

• After the seminar, completion of the Canvas course – the remaining two modules of Introduction to Inquiry Design

• Within 30 days after the seminar, working with their course-level team, completion of an Inquiry based on the primary sources studied during the seminar to be uploaded into Schoolnet

Upon completion of the Canvas course and submission of their Inquiry, teachers will receive 1.2 CEUs from DPI.

At the completion of the seminar and the Canvas course, teachers will have an increased knowledge of content for their courses. They will also have some training and experience in use of and creation of Inquiries for use in their instruction. Districts can use these teacher-leaders to help others within the district gain some of these same skills and content.

If you think you can meet these requirements: be willing and able to commit to attend the seminar, complete the Canvas course, and create an Inquiry, please sign up at this link. 

This training will be offered at no cost to those teachers selected, but they are responsible for all travel costs to and from the seminar in Winterville.

If you have any questions, please direct them to Tom Daugherty – Thomas.Daugherty@dpi.nc.gov or (919) 807-3862

NC K-3 Formative Assessment Process (FAP) Webinar Opportunity: Just Did It and Continue to Just Do It! Join us for a 30-minute webinar on how to continue supporting your kindergarten students' growth and development after the KEA! Just Did It and Continue to Just Do It! Audience:  Teachers   Date:  December 7, 2017   Time:  3:30 - 4:00   Description:  You just Did It! You completed the KEA Status Summary determination for each child in your kindergarten classroom.  "Are you done?"  When you review the determinations, has each child reached his/her full potential? Find out how continuing the process can benefit every child, fully develop the WHOLE CHILD, and why you should continue to Just Do It!    Register HERE.

North Carolina Public Schools Office of Early Learning/PreK-Grade 3 Update

Join us on December 15 for a webinar designed for Head Start Directors, Smart Start partnerships, Title I early learning leaders, and early learning professionals to learn about new early learning opportunities in your community.

The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) offers unprecedented opportunity to expand birth-to-eight alignment. As Local Education Agencies (LEAs) develop their district ESSA plans for the 2018-19 academic year, they will be required to engage early learning stakeholders.

The North Carolina Early Childhood Foundation is partnering with the NC Head Start State Collaboration Office and the Department of Public Instruction to support LEAs and early childhood community leaders in collaborating to develop the early learning components of their plans. This webinar will provide an overview of the early learning opportunities in ESSA and information on upcoming regional meetings for district teams to begin planning.

Webinar

Strengthening the Birth-through-Eight Continuum through the Every Student Succeeds Act: Opportunities for Local Early Learning Leaders

December 15, 2017 - 11 AM - Noon

Register Now!

Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS) Updates This month we celebrate the 100 Charter Schools who have enthusiastically committed to join Cohort 5. As these schools plan for access to school-based modules, administrators will have a key role by creating time, space and an environment which allows staff to fully engage in the learning, discussion and application of the module content within each unique charter setting. While the school administration is vital to planning for sustainable implementation of the MTSS professional development, they also will want to have a clear understanding of what an MTSS is. Understanding the crucial role the school administer with implementation of a Multi-Tiered System of Support, we are pleased to  share a video from East Wake Academy. In the video, Virginia Jacobs, Principal at East Wake clearly articulates how MTSS is about effective instruction and efficient systems including: Attendance Academics Behavior Social-Emotional Learning   If your school has not joined a Cohort, please view the webinar and notes on the MTSS wiki or contact Amy Jablonski, Director, Integrated Academic and Behavior Systems(IABS).

Schedule for December 2017 Child Count

Please see the attached schedule for submission of the December 2017 Child Count.

If you have any questions, please contact your regional CECAS trainer or email cecas.incidents@its.nc.gov.

Attached:     Memo-Child+Count+1217.pdf

NC SIP Grant Awards to Local Education Agencies (LEAs) and Institutions of Higher Education (IHEs) Please see the attached announcement of LEAs and IHEs selected to participate in the 2017-18 NC SIP grant partnership. If you have any questions, please contact Dr. Paula Crawford at paula.crawford@dpi.nc.gov or 919 807-3298.   Attached:     Memo-NC+SIP+2017-18+Site+Selection.pdf

Other News

Grow Your Career Skills with the Kenan Fellows Program

The 2018-19 Fellowship application period opens today, December 1, 2017. The Fellowship begins with a summer internship in a higher education lab or industry setting and is supported by 80 hours of professional development that focuses on building leadership capacity and proven instructional strategies.

Each Fellow is awarded at least a $5,000 stipend, and must develop and implement relevant educational materials and/or programs based on their internship experience. To apply click here.

Biogen Foundation Spark Video Contest

The Biogen Foundation is inviting middle and high school students in Massachusetts and North Carolina to create 30-second to 3-minute videos on the topic of genetic mutations. Please make sure the video is accurate and creative. Work with a teacher at your school to submit your video soon, because the first 200 eligible videos submitted will win $500 for your school (up to two submissions per school)! Grand Prize winners will receive $10,000 for their schools and three GoPro video cameras for the students who created and starred in the winning videos!

Submissions are open until December 8th. ALL NC schools are eligible to enter. Teachers MUST be the ones to submit the videos; students and parents are not allowed to submit videos. See spark.biogenfoundation.com for more information about the contest and to submit your video today!

Questions? Contact the Biogen Foundation here.

IMPORTANT REMINDER – EDDIE is the authoritative source for NC public school numbers and demographic information, is used by multiple NCDPI technology systems including; Accountability, PowerSchool, NC School Report Cards, and is used to meet federal reporting requirements.  LEAs and charter schools are responsible for ensuring their data in EDDIE are complete, accurate, and current.  EDDIE is located at: http://apps.schools.nc.gov/eddiedie