NCDPI Office of Charter Schools (OCS) Updates
Follow the Office of Charter Schools on Twitter
The Office of Charter Schools is officially tweeting! Follow us @NCCharterOffice for news, updates, and to see the great things happening at charter schools around the state.
|
|
 |
CHARTER SCHOOLS: DID YOU KNOW?
Did You Know? The NC Standard Course of Study includes requirements to teach both cursive handwriting and multiplication tables. See General Statutes 115C-81.75 and 115C-81.80.
|
|
 |
NC ACCESS Subgrant Request for Application
The NC ACCESS Program, made possible by a $26.6 million federal CSP grant, is designed to increase the number of educationally disadvantaged students attending high-quality charter schools and expand the number of high-quality charter schools available to educationally disadvantaged students.
The NC ACCESS Program will post its subgrant Request for Application (RFA) materials on Tuesday, January 15th. Please visit the NC ACCESS page on the OCS website for more information about the program and how to apply.
|
|
 |
2019 Performance Framework January Submission
OCS collects evidence of operational, financial, and academic compliance through the Charter School Performance Framework (PF). Please find the submission criteria due on Thursday, January 31, 2019.
Deadline- January 31, 2019- All Schools
A01.1 – School Performance Score and Letter Grade
A06.1 – Board Admissions and Enrollment Policy
A06.2 – Lottery Application
A08.1 – Parent Grievance Policy
A08.2 – Employee Grievance Policy
A14 – Certificate of Occupancy
For more information around submission instructions as they appear in Epicenter, general guidelines, and relevant resources please refer to the January Submission Guide linked here. This guide contains Frequently Asked Questions for the performance framework evidence documents due by January 31, 2019. [Note: for optimal use of the links within the document, it is best to download a copy of the PDF]
As a reminder, information is collected through Epicenter, a web-based document management tool. Here is a link to a web-based version of training on how to use Epicenter.
All schools must submit the required documents per the established reporting timelines. While the submissions are divided over the course of several months, schools are invited and able to submit any items ahead of the defined due dates if doing so is more convenient.
Submission tasks have been assigned to all schools, including items that may be deemed Not Applicable. Each submission task in Epicenter contains submission instructions and lists the acceptable file formats. Please read and follow the instructions provided in Epicenter.
Web-based Resources:
2019 Performance Framework Resources
January Submission Resources
For questions regarding the 2019 Charter School Performance Framework, please contact Stephenie Clark at (919) 807-3492 or stephenie.clark@dpi.nc.gov .
For technical support, please contact the Epicenter Support Center at (855) 899-1624 or support@epicenternow.org .
|
|
 |
NCCAT Conference: Advocacy & Best Practices - The Charter School Connection
Contact: Karen Sumner (Karen.Sumner@nccat.org) or Jay Whalen (Jay.Whalen@dpi.nc.gov)
Join us in Cullowhee, NC on January 28-31, 2019 for the annual NCCAT Charter Conference. This program, designed specifically for charter school teachers, will focus on teacher leadership through advocacy, best practices, and school growth. We will explore how teachers can better advocate for their specific school and charters in general, and how to utilize your own leadership style to help support school initiatives. Teachers will learn best practices in STEM, literacy development, and digital learning and discuss ways to model these practices in your schools.
Interested participants must apply online and a select number of attendees will be selected. One teacher per charter school may apply and spots are limited. Apply Here!
|
|
 |
CSI/TSI and NCStar Training
The divisions of Accountability Services and Federal Programs Monitoring and Support will be conducting training on NCStar and the requirements of charter schools identified as Comprehensive Support & Improvement (CSI) and Targeted Support & Improvement (TSI) schools. All charter schools are welcome and encouraged to attend, but any charter school identified as a CSI or TSI school is required to attend.
Register here by Friday, February 1, 2019.
|
|
 |
Board members from charter schools that are opening in 2019 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 remainder of the schedule below:
|
Date
|
Time
|
Location
|
Topic
|
| |
|
|
|
|
January 30,
2019
|
8:00 -
4:15
|
DPI: Room 150
|
Our School Opens in 7 Months! Now
What?
|
|
June 11 - 12,
2019
|
8:00 -
5:00
|
DPI: Rooms 150, 224,
564
|
New Charter School Leaders Institute
|
Registration is now open for the January session. Registration ends on Sunday, January 20th. Please use this link to register: https://goo.gl/forms/iyzXBEF9lEwdU86n1
For questions, please contact Dr. Kebbler Williams at kebbler.williams@dpi.nc.gov or 919-807-3598.
2019 PF Submission: A01.1 School Performance Score and Letter Grade
Here is specific information around the Epicenter task A01.1 School Performance Score and Letter Grade. Many schools have reached out for guidance on how to submit appropriate information for this task, given that the School Report Card has not been officially released. Please note, the information presented below also appears in the January Submission Guide linked here.
Description: The overall School Performance Score and Letter Grade must be prominently displayed on the school’s website in accordance with G.S. 115C-218.65.
Submission Instructions:
- Please provide a screenshot of the overall School Performance Score and Letter Grade for the current and previous four school years displayed on the school's website.
- In the narrative box below, please copy and paste the URL for the page on the school's website that contains the school performance score and letter grade display.
Schools operating in year 1 will not have accountability data for the previous school year. If your school is operating in year 1, please state that in the Narrative box below and submit.
Resources: The items listed below are hyperlinks to documents that can serve as viable resources.
FAQ:
- What should our school do to satisfy A01.1 if we do not have a released version of our school report card for the 2017-18 academic year?
- Excellent question! Per G.S. 115C-218.65, “a charter school shall ensure that the overall school performance score and grade earned by the charter school for the current and previous four school years is prominently displayed on the school Web site.” The delay in the release of the finalized School Report Card should not prevent a school from posting the overall school performance score and grade earned, which are both currently available on Accountability’s Website.
While the Office of Charter Schools understands that many schools may want to post the school report card to satisfy the above requirement, there is nothing written statutorily requiring the school to present the information as such. A school may update their website to post the Report Card once published. Many schools utilize a table to display this data and three example displays have been provided in the Resources section above.
- Which year(s) of data should be displayed?
- General statute requires a school to display the current year and previous four years. OCS consultants will check for accountability data from 2017-18 (current year), 2016-17 (prior year 1), 2015-16 (prior year 2), 2014-15 (prior year 3) and 2013-14 (prior year 4). If your school has less than 5 years of accountability data, display the data for the applicable years.
|
|
 |
Hi families,
We hope you had an AMAZING winter break!
In December, we shared that we had learned of some great news, and that we couldn't share it yet. Now we can!!!
We are excited to share that Peak Charter Academy has been named 2019's BEST PUBLIC SCHOOL by Cary Magazine, and that Steve Pond has been named BEST ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPAL! It is truly an honor to serve you and your children, and we thank you for all of your support and for being part of our family for many years to come!
The digital magazine can be viewed at https://issuu.com/carymagazine/docs/cm_janfeb_2019 and the print editions will be available at Peak, and other community retailers soon!
Happy New Year!
SECU Foundation ----- People Helping People
You are cordially invited to the
2019 “People Helping People” Scholarship
Webinar Training for spring scholarship submissions $$$$!
When: Tuesday, January 22, 2019
Register at the link below
https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/6974698530617328898
Each year the State Employees' Credit Union Foundation awards three $10,000 scholarships to graduating seniors attending North Carolina Charter Schools. These scholarships will be awarded to students attending one of the 16 constituent campuses of the University of North Carolina.
Contact Ms. Shaunda Cooper at 919-807-3490 or through email at Shaunda.Cooper@dpi.nc.gov
2019 North Carolina Charter School Teacher of the Year
The Office of Charter Schools is excited to announce that Doug Price has been named the 2019 NC Charter School Teacher of the Year! Doug is the sixth grade Core Connections teacher at Voyager Academy Middle School in Durham. Please join us in congratulating Doug!
NC Department of Public Instruction (NCDPI) Updates
Coming Tuesday: CSADM Phase I - Open January 15 – 25, 2019
Due from Charter and Regional Schools with Current Enrollment Only
Phase I: Average Daily Membership (ADM) Projection - Initial Submission for School Year 2019-20
EVERY charter school and regional school Executive Director (Head of School, Board Chair, etc.) is required to submit to the Charter School ADM Projection System (CSADM), Phase I - ADM Projection Initial Submission for School Year 2019-20. The CSADM will accept these Phase I submissions between January 15 – 25, 2019.
Phase I requires the following field to be completed: Requested 2019-20 ADM. This represents a projection of the number of students who will be in membership for the fiscal school year 2019-20.
This submission is required even if your school has requested State Board approval for growth higher than 20%; you must submit your response for CSADM Phase I.
As this impacts your school's funding, we will only accept information submitted by the Executive Director.
For more information about CSADM and NCID, see the January 4th newsletter posted at www.ncpublicschools.org/fbs/resources/newsletters/.
If you have questions concerning CSADM, please contact Angela Harrison in the Division of School Business at 919-807-3734 or angela.harrison@dpi.nc.gov.
MTSS Resources Available to Support School Improvement
The work of school improvement can begin with designing a Multi-Tiered System of Support to meet the needs of all students. To meet the needs of students, a system must also be designed that works for school staff.
Your school MTSS Team supports the implementation of the Core instruction and curriculum and then examines the effectiveness of these practices. Within an MTSS, when we think about curriculum, we think about standards and materials. The materials support our students to meet those standards.
When we think about Core behavioral standards, we start with school-wide expectations. Selecting practices that have the most impact on student learning and then ensuring these adopted practices can happen for all students is part of building an MTSS framework.
Charter Schools engaged in an MTSS Cohort are accessing resources like this document in order to design systems that create strong outcomes for each of your students.
If your team would like additional support or if you have feedback on MTSS resources, please contact your IABS Consultant .
|
|
 |
Other News
School Health Consultant Announcement
New Charter School Health Nurse Consultant
Annette Richardson will be the new Charter School Health Nurse Consultant. Ms. Richardson is a Nationally Certified School Nurse with experience working in both charter schools and the public school system. She currently serves as the Regional School Health Nurse Consultant in the Northeast providing technical assistance and guidance to school nurses and other school health professionals. Ms. Richardson will be the contact person for school health and her information is provided below.
Annette Darden Richardson, MSN, RN, NCSN
Charter School Health Nurse Consultant
Division of Public Health - Children and Youth Branch
NC Department of Health and Human Services
Office: 252-339-3009
annette.richardson@dhhs.nc.gov
|
|
