NCDPI Office of Charter Schools (OCS) Updates
NC ACCESS Program Request for Application and Training
Subgrant application materials are now available for the NC ACCESS Program. The 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 team will be hosting two in-person trainings in January to support schools interested in applying for the NC ACCESS Subgrant Program. Additional training dates and locations will be offered in February and March.
- Thursday, January 24th from 10am – 12pm (NCDPI, Room 227, 301 N. Wilmington St., Raleigh, NC 27601)
- Wednesday, January 30th from 10am – 12pm (NCCAT Room 113, 276 NCCAT Dr., Cullowhee, NC 28723)
Please visit the OCS website for application materials and training information.
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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 .
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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:
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Time
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Location
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Topic
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January 30, 2019
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8:00 - 4:15
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DPI: Room 150
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Our School Opens in 7 Months! Now What?
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June 11 - 12, 2019
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8:00 - 5:00
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DPI: Rooms 150, 224, 564
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New Charter School Leaders Institute
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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 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.
Henderson Collegiate
Congratulations to Victor Clifton! Victor is a senior at Henderson Collegiate who was awarded a full scholarship to Duke University through the Questbridge program.
Victor spoke to the NC Charter Schools Advisory Board meeting at its January meeting. Board members praised Victor for his grit and determination in achieving his dream to attend Duke University.
Pictured here with the CSAB members is Victor, his mother, and his high school principal Jackson Olsen.
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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
Save the Date! Exceptional Children Division March Institute, March 4-7, 2019
Exceptional Children Division March Institute, March 4-7, 2019
The 2019 March Institute is scheduled for Monday, March 4 through Wednesday, March 6, at the Koury Convention Center in Greensboro. The Institute will offer three days of sessions and conclude with Post-Institutes on Thursday March 7, 2019.
Look for a memo by the end of January for Institute and hotel registration, along with agenda information.
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Professional Development for School Improvement
Your teams' involvement in the MTSS Modules and complementary technical assistance is a cornerstone to the MTSS school improvement framework and our division is working to wrap support around your charter school to ensure your team is getting the most out of this professional development plan. For example, in December, MTSS Coordinators and teams were invited to join a Twitter Chat on “Professional Development that Sticks”. During the chat, one of the topics discussed was how to stay engaged in online learning. The following tips and tricks were shared:
- Log out of email while working through the content
- Go through all the content to see the big picture, and then go back, processing the information a little bit at a time
- Work for about 10 minutes, then review the material and make sure that you have a clear understanding before advancing
- Take advantage of periodic check-ins or requested responses to help with time management and staying on track
- Scheduled virtual discussions or chats are great to facilitate collaboration and learn from others in the course
- Take what you've learned and then teach it to others
The entire transcript for the December @ncmtsschat is here. We invite you to join us on February 7th for the next @ncmtsschat. Spending a relaxed hour with other implementers is a guarantee for not only learning more but also a chance to contribute to the statewide implementation of an MTSS. If you would like additional support or if you have questions about the MTSS plan for technical assistance, please contact your IABS Consultant.
CCES Conference Overview Posted
CONFERENCE OVERVIEW
The conference overview has been posted to the CCES website. Review to learn dates and times for the Keynote Address, Champion Awards, and Equity Panel. Click here to download your copy
CLICK HERE TO SAVE MONEY WITH EARLY-BIRD REGISTRATION!!
2018-19 Data Submission for Table 2 - Federal Personnel Collection
Please see the attached memorandum regarding the Table 2 Federal Personnel Report for the 2018-19 school year. If you have any questions regarding this data request, please contact Kelley Blas at kelley.blas@dpi.nc.gov.
Memo-2018-19 Federal Personnel Collection Report.pdf
Memo-2018-19 Federal Personnel Collection.doc
EC Directors' Webinar and Q and A
We look forward to continued collaboration by hosting ECD webinars beginning Tuesday, February 5, 2019. Please submit any question(s) you want the Division to address during the Webinar to Shelby Snead; shelby.snead@dpi.nc.gov no later than January 28, 2019. The registration URL is: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/rt/4303774780137835522
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the Webinar.
Supporting Students with Learning Disabilities in the General Education Classroom
Please see the attached memorandum regarding a series of webinars on supporting students with learning disabilities (LD) in the general education setting.
For further information, contact Lynne Loeser, Statewide Consultant for SLD and ADHD, at lynne.loeser@dpi.nc.gov or (919) 807-3980.
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The Regional Education Facilitators (REF) Wikispace has Moved
As of Jan. 1, questions about Beginning Teachers Support Programs, Teacher/Principal of the Year Recognition Programs, Teacher Working Conditions Survey, or upcoming training activities, and all related materials pertaining to these programs and activites, can be found at http://bit.ly/NCDPIREF.
Simply click the link above, find your region, and stay informed. Please bookmark our new URL today!
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