 Board Approves Grants for Digital Learning Initiative
The State Board
of Education last week approved $1.38 million in awards under a new grant
initiative aimed at supporting local school districts in the development and dissemination
of innovative models for digital learning.
The grant
funding is intended to advance the state’s far-reaching efforts to scale up
digital-age teaching and learning in the state’s public schools. Under the
initial round of grants approved by the board, 30 school districts and one
charter school will develop locally designed approaches to better harness
technology for instruction and student learning.
The Digital
Learning Initiative Grants, most awarded at the maximum of $50,000 each, will
be used by districts this school year for planning or showcasing promising
approaches to digital teaching and learning. Of the 31 grantees, 21 are designated for planning and 10 for showcase
purposes. The grants were selected from a total of 61 applications.
The work of each grantee will focus on supporting the state’s digital
learning competencies for educators and other initiatives such as personalized
learning, micro-credentialing, or digital literacies. Many of the approved grants focus on providing resources for
professional development, seen as a critical foundation supporting the adoption
of effective approaches to digital learning the state’s schools.
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Board Reviews Proposed Policy on Chronic Absenteeism
Board members
this month continued their discussion about chronic absenteeism with a focus on
the specific definition for adoption by the state and application within the
schools.
In recommending
a policy setting an absence rate of 10 percent – excused or unexcused, Amy
Jablonski, director of Integrated Academic and Behavior Systems for DPI, told
the board that such a threshold is consistent with that of other states and is
also supported by research.
The first step
for promoting consistent student school attendance and reducing student chronic
absenteeism is collecting, analyzing and using accurate and consistent data,”
Jablonski said. By doing so, schools are able to identify at-risk students and
trends and to inform when and how to effectively and efficiently target school
and community resources.
Chronic absence
differs from both truancy and average daily attendance. Daily attendance is the
percentage of students present in a school each day. Truancy measures unexcused
absences only. Chronic absence refers to missing so much school, for any reason
– excused, unexcused, suspension – that a student is at risk of falling behind.
A common
definition of chronic absenteeism allows for meaningful comparison of chronic
absenteeism rates within the state and across the country. Many researchers and
the national group Attendance Works recommend using missing 10
percent or more of school as the threshold for chronic absence.
As proposed, the
state’s policy defines chronic absenteeism this way:
"Student
Chronic Absentee” is a student who is enrolled in a North Carolina public
school for at least 10 school days at any time during the school year, and
whose total number of absences is equal to or greater than 10 percent of the
total number of days that such student has been enrolled at such school during
such school year;
This definition
applies to all students enrolled in a school, including those who have not
reached the compulsory attendance age, as well as those who have reached or
exceeded the compulsory attendance age.
The board was
told also that chronic absenteeism is an effective and actionable measure. It
serves as an early warning indicate for principals and other school staff to
identify students who are at risk of adverse outcomes due to absences from
school and intervene to reduce or eliminate absences. In addition, aggregate
reports at school and district level that measure the percentages of students chronically
absent from school can help identify schools and districts that would benefit
most from additional support and
resources.
In his closing
remarks, Board Chairman Bill Cobey called chronic absenteeism “a huge detriment
to students chances in school.” The board is expected to vote on the policy
next month.
 AP Partnership Boosting Participation and Performance, Report Shows
A report to the
legislature approved by the board last week shows that a partnership between
the College Board and DPI is helping to increase the numbers of students taking
Advanced Placement courses and exams and also helping raise performance.
Last school year, 21 school districts participated in the partnership
as “targeted districts” with focused support and technical assistance. For this
2017-18 academic year, College Board and NCDPI looked at effective participation
and success with the initial cohort of districts and began a new cohort of
targeted districts.
Currently, 19 low-performing districts are participating in
the partnership. With a new cohort, the AP partnership is gaining further statewide
impact. The initiative also provides statewide support through professional
development opportunities open to all public school districts across the state,
through both face-to-face and online opportunities.
In addition, the General Assembly continues to appropriate
funds to pay for all Advanced Placement (AP) and International Baccalaureate
Diploma Programme (IB) exams for public school and charter school students who
were enrolled in the corresponding AP/IB courses; this began in 2014-15.
Beginning this year, legislation included Cambridge International Exams (CIE) in
this effort.
The state’s most
recent data from NCDPI and College Board show continued gains in areas of course
enrollment, exam participation and exam performance. The College Board reported
these results for the 21 targeted districts:
• The number of students taking AP exams in the
targeted districts has increased 16.6 percent over the past three years, from
3,439 students in 2014 to 4,010 students in 2017.
• The number of AP exams taken by students in the
targeted districts increased 19.1 percent over the past three years, from 5,409
exams in 2014 to 6,445 exams in 2017.
• The number of
AP exams receiving a score of 3, 4, or 5
taken by students in the targeted
districts increased 18 percent over the past three years, from 1,730 exams in
2014 to 2,042 exams in 2017.
Four North
Carolina districts were recognized by the State Board for being named to
College Board’s eighth Annual AP Honor Roll for increasing the number of
students participating in AP while also increasing or maintaining the percentage
of students earning AP Exam scores of 3 or higher in a three-year period. Those
districts are:
·
Clinton
City Schools (second consecutive year)
·
Montgomery
County Schools
·
Nash-Rocky
Mount Public Schools
·
Yancey
County Schools
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Board Revokes Charter
Board members
voted unanimously to revoke the charter of Heritage Collegiate Leadership Academy
in Bertie County after the school failed to satisfy a number of stipulations
set by the Charter School Advisory Board earlier this year.
The vote
followed an appeal-panel hearing by three members of the State Board the day before to
discuss the nonrenewal decision for the school. Information was presented during
the meeting both from staff of DPI and representatives from the charter school.
The school
previously appeared before the Charter School Advisory Board at its October
meeting. The advisory board voted by an overwhelming majority at that time to
recommend that the State Board of Education immediately revoke the charter for the
school. The State Board of Education (SBE) unanimously voted during its
November 2017 meeting to accept the recommendation of the CSAB and voted to revoke the school’s charter immediately. The school had appealed that decision.
Heritage opened
in 2014 and was labeled as low performing by the state in 2015 and 2016. At its
June meeting, the charter advisory board discussed problems with the school,
including missing reporting deadlines, nearing a financial deficit and having a
ratio of teachers to other personnel that was disproportionate compared to
similar schools.
 Board Approves Proposals for Five Cooperative Innovative High Schools
Proposals for
five new cooperative innovative high schools won approval from the State Board,
helping them advance to the NC Community College System or the UNC Board of
Governors to the next step before final endorsement by the General Assembly,
with or without supplemental state funding.
The schools
recommended for approval:
- Marine Sciences & Technologies
Early College High School (MaST) - Carteret County Public Schools
with Carteret Community College
- Center for Industry, Technology and
Innovation (CITI) - Nash Rocky Mount Public Schools with Nash
Community College
- Innovation Early College High
School - Pitt County Schools with East Carolina University
- Roanoke Rapids Early College High
School - Roanoke Rapids Graded School District with Halifax Community
College
- Southeast Area Technical High School
(SEA-Tech) - New Hanover County Schools with Cape Fear Community
College (Note: This high school is currently in operation
and is applying to transition to a CIHS.)
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Two Groups Apply to Manage First School
in Innovative School District
Innovative School District Superintendent Eric Hall told board members that two education organizations have applied to operate Southside Ashpole Elementary School in
Robeson County as the first school in the new statewide district.
Meeting the Dec. 1 application deadline were Achievement for All Children, a Charlotte-based non-profit group, and the Romaine Group, a for-profit company that operates charter schools in Michigan and one in North Carolina.
Hall said that he’s contracted with education consultants SchoolWorks to review the applications prior to returning to the board with a recommendation in January.
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