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.
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Did you Know???
Performance Framework A17 requires charter schools to be in compliance with all student health and safety requirements as defined in General Statute, SBE policy, and Charter Agreement. Reporting for compliance with immunizations (GS 130A-155(c)) and health assessment (GS 130A-441) takes place November 1st each year. The Annual Charter Schools Health Services Report opens each year on May 1st and closes at midnight June 1st each year. A worksheet is distributed in April to help schools gather information for the annual report. Communication regarding these requirements take place via the Office of Charter Schools newsletter.
The actual documentation is collected by the Department of Health & Human Services, so be sure you understand the expectations at the start of the new school year! If you have questions about these expectations please reach out to the Charter School Nurse Consultant, Annette Richardson annette.richardson@dhhs.nc.gov. If you have general questions about Performance Framework, please contact performanceframework@dpi.nc.gov.
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SAVE the DATE!
What: Leading & Learning Days (formerly LP/CLP bootcamps)
Where: Healthy Start Academy, Durham
When: September 26th 2019
Invitations and agendas will be sent to schools
For more information, contact Claire Porter @ Claire.Porter@dpi.nc.gov
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CSLI - Charter School Leadership Institute (2019)
SAVE THE DATE!
What: Charter School Leadership Institute 2019
When: October 17 and 18, 2019
Where: Envision Science Academy
Registration is open! Click link below.
2019 Charter Leadership Institute registration
Please send your checks for $55.00 per person. Your receipt will be sent to confirm your registration. Parking at Envision will be limited so please plan on carpooling with others from your school.
For more information, contact Claire Porter @ Claire.Porter@dpi.nc.gov
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Charter School Teacher of the Year (TOY)
Dear Charter School Teacher of the Year Coordinator:
NCDPI is pleased to coordinate the 2020 Burroughs Wellcome Fund North Carolina Teacher of the Year (TOY) Program. The program provides an opportunity to honor and recognize exemplary teachers in North Carolina and to call attention to the importance of the teaching profession.
As the TOY Coordinator, you are responsible for your local Teacher of the Year selection process. This process is at the discretion of your Board/Director. You are asked to submit one teacher from your charter school to proceed in the regional process. As a reminder, your nominee must hold a Continuing License, be employed full time, and spend at least 70% of his or her time in direct instruction of North Carolina public school students.
f you are interested in participating or have questions about the process, please contact Sonya Rinehart srinehart@ecps.k12.nc.us As the TOY Lead Regional Education Facilitator, she will communicate with you the next steps. She will also support you entering into this process and making sure we receive your TOY nominee portfolio (due September 13, 2019).
Click the link below for the TOY Schedule:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/185z0zY3126KoMF8nxukRNfnafe9w68fN-6RMzaATWqQ/edit?usp=sharing
The North Carolina Virtual Public School invites you to its 2019 Virtual Open House
When: Tuesday, August 20, 11 AM - 12 PM or Thursday, August 22, 7 PM to 8 PM
This year we are offering two opportunities to attend the Annual Virtual Open House. Please choose the date that works best for your schedule
Where: The event will be hosted in an NCVPS online classroom. Details will be sent following registration.
Presenters: NCVPS staff, teachers, and students.
Topics: The presentation will include Who is NCVPS?, Teaching and Learning with NCVPS, Meet the Teacher, See the Classroom, Support All Around, and Q & As.
Audience: The NCVPS Open House is open to the public. While our presentations are geared toward parents and students in public schools, private schools, and home-schools, we have something for everyone. Educators will learn about the NCVPS teaching and learning process. The general public will discover what online learning is.
Register: August 20, 11 AM
Register: August 22, 7 PM
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Upcoming Charter School Advisory Board Meetings - CSAB
September 9, 2019
October 7 - 8, 2019
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Upcoming State Board of Education Meetings - SBE
September 4 - 5, 2019
October 2 - 3, 2019
NC Department of Public Instruction (NCDPI) Updates
Web Link:
Curriculum Leaders' Update
ECATS
The Department of Public Instruction (DPI) has been made aware of access issues within the ECATS system.
Currently, the DPI is working with our vendor to determine root cause and to find and implement a solution in a timely manner.
We will provide additional information as soon as it becomes available.
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On behalf of Exceptional Children Director Sherry H. Thomas:
The ECATS journey began in late fall of 2013, with a vision of creating an integrated, functional system with special education, service documentation and MTSS modules. To say this has been an extensive and laborious journey is an understatement. However, the time, effort, and energy put into this project have resulted in what I believe to be an excellent product that will support work in North Carolina to ensure and document the delivery of optimum services for all students.
I am beyond excited to announce that the ECATS final migration of data loading is complete and we are on track for go-live on July 17, 2019, at 1:00 p.m. Thank you for your patience, support and understanding as we have worked to finalize this project.
Sherry H. Thomas
Director, Exceptional Children Division
NC Department of Public Instruction
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2018-19 Graduation Data Verification Final Window
The final window for the 2018–19 Graduation Data Verification Report began on Tuesday, July 16 and is set to end Friday, July 26. This report is purposed for facilitating corrections to data and adding students that graduated after June 28, 2019 and on or before July 15, 2019. LEAs/schools may make adjustments and corrections up until 5:00 p.m., July 26. This correction window is the only opportunity to make adjustments. Please click here for more information: http://www.nc-sis.org/Documents/recent_emails/GDV-FinalWindow-07122019.pdf
Register Now for the Beginning of School Year Home Base Meet-Ups!
The first round of Home Base Meet-Ups for the 2019-20 school year is scheduled for Monday, August 5 through Thursday, August 8. These collaborative sessions are great opportunities for networking and sharing ideas. Note: Canvas will be offered on Wednesday, August 7 only. There will be a streaming option available for those who want to join virtually. For complete registration details, please link to the August 2019-20 HBMU Invite. Click on the following bi.tly to register: http://bit.ly/HBMU_Aug2019REG.
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Greetings HR Directors (**New Instructions**) Human Capital/Licensure Webinars
n an effort to keep you all better informed about changes to state policy, NCDPI will begin offering monthly webinars closely following State Board of Education meetings. The purpose of the webinars is to provide you with the opportunity to hear about proposed and approved changes to state policy that have an impact on Human Resources departments.
Because we anticipate many participants, the webinar will not offer a "Q & A" session. We will, however, have a chat feature enabled and will try to answer the most common questions raised from the field. Additionally, we will record these webinars and place those recordings online so you will be able to hear the information even if you are unable to attend. Attendance is, of course, optional, but we hope you all will join us for the webinars.
Charter School directors can designate a staff member to attend these webinars. To do so, the Charter School director/head of school should email Kimberly Evans <Kimberly.Evans@dpi.nc.gov> and request access to the webinar. Please include the designee’s name, position, and email address
Here is a list of the dates we are planning to schedule the webinars:
August 12
September 6
October 4
November 8
December 6
Specific times and the login for the webinar will be provided in the invitation. Please let me know if you have any questions or comments.
Thomas Tomberlin
Director, Educator Recruitment and Support
Office of the Deputy State Superintendent of District Support
North Carolina Department of Public Instruction
(O) 919-807-3440
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Begin Setting Teacher and PDP Plan Types
District Admins, Principals and designated leads with staff access rights may begin setting Teacher Plan Types and PDP Types. Navigate to "My Staff" page to set staff plan types. District Admins may also navigate to "Staff Evaluations" to set the evaluators of head Principals. Help Guides are posted in NCEES for both processes. Reminder that NCEES is not authoritative for which plan type to set. Follow state and local policy, guidelines and practices for creating a list of which plan types to set.
For staff "Teacher Plan Types" and "PDP Types" once set, they must process overnight to connect correct rubrics in both PDP assessment and Evaluation Observations. The next day the owner of the plan may view their plan(s) in "My Evaluations". It is important for Principals to communicate to staff when to start those plans and complete the orientation (evaluation plan) and self-assessment (PDP).
Do not set PDP plans for any principal. If a PDP type is mistakenly set for a principal, the system is set to not enable a PDP on a principal's "My Evaluation" page.
There will be staff that are provisioned into the system due to their salary code that will not be evaluated in NCEES. Please set those "Teacher Plan Types" to "No Evaluation", this will help with local and state reporting as opposed to leaving the setting on "Not Selected". Leave the "PDP Type" on "Not Selected" if staff does not get a PDP.
IMPORTANT! Principals will NOT BE ABLE TO VIEW STAFF IN "STAFF EVALUATIONS" if the staff have not started their plans. Advise staff to start their plans if you want to see them in "Staff Evaluations".
To verify: Navigate to My Staff > click Evaluations in left rail > if you have access to a staff there will be an arrow beside their name - click the arrow to view the plan types (only viewable after set and processed overnight). The word "Start" means the staff has NOT started their plan. Advise the staff to start their plans. Plans that have been started will have the word "Edit" and admin may click and navigate to the plan from here (see screenshot below).
New in NCEES 2019-2020
- Updated Document Observation Acknowledgment Override - Admins complete this process when teachers refuse to sign the Post-Observation Conference Acknowledgment. This process now takes place fully in the Evaluation’s “Document Observation Acknowledgment Override" activity. The admin signs the override and it processes overnight to populate the Teacher Acknowledgment with the admin's signature. This allows the plan to continue to the next steps. Note: Override Acknowledgment processes are only on Observation Acknowledgments (not on Summary Evaluation Acknowledgments). A Help Guide will be posted next week.
- Activity Status Icon - Easier view of Dependent Activities with "i" icon - hovering over an icon will pop up information regarding which previous activities must be completed to access the next activity. For example, a formal/informal observation must be completed before the evaluator or teacher can complete the post conference acknowledge activity. Note: this only applies to *required activities; optional activities do not have these dependencies.
- Corrected a broken link in Observation and Self-Assessment Teacher Rubric for Element Ie. Teachers demonstrate high ethical standards. The link now goes to "http://teachercodes.iiep.unesco.org/teachercodes/codes/America/USA/USA_North_Carolina.pdf"
- Added link to show "School Assignment(s) at Time of Training & Orientation" - This link is also report-able. It is a shorter navigation to see what location a plan was started in. This is helpful during a school year when staff leave one district to take employment in another district and due to remaining active status in Staff UID the previous plan remains active in the new district. Best practice is when staff leave your district, complete their plan to the best stopping point and archive the plan so that it is not active for the new district. In the event that plans are active until payroll sets the inactive status in Staff UID (which is set to then deactivate the staff plan) the owner of the plan can click this link and view the name of the location the plan was started in. District and Site Admin can view this link in Staff Evaluations > then click on a Plan title. NCDPI will publish an Ad-Hoc report for this. Districts Admins can also use this field to report in System Administration > Ad-Hoc Reporting (Restricted) >
- Optional Peer and Additional Observation to show when completed - Per Vendor, Optional activities (such as a Peer Observation on a Staff with a Standard Plan) will not show complete in the system due to there are no required activities in an optional activity. Thus all steps in the activity would need to be completed for the system to mark it complete. The vendor has worked with NCDPI to try other system settings in the optional Peer Observation (optional in Late Hire, Standards and Abbreviated plans) to now show complete on the Staff Evaluations page when the following activities have a green check:
1. Formal Observation Peer
2. Post-Observation Conference Peer Acknowledgment
3. Post Observation Conference - Teacher Acknowledgment
4. Lock Peer Observation (will be working to update optional Additional Observations to also show
complete)
- Assign View Only Rights to Principal's Archived plans - Staff that had access to view last year's plans will retain those rights and can view those archived plans if in the same district. For districts with new staff such as Superintendents that need View Only rights to archived staff plans follow the guide titled "Assign Access Rights to Teacher/Support Staff Plans 072018" but check the box in step two to show archived plans. Due to the new process for principal plan access rights the drop down for view only was not available for archived principal plans in the My Staff > Administration Staff Management > Admin Rights staff window. The view-only access right has now been enabled for Archived Principal plans.
- Superintendents View Only Access in TEST - NCDPI is working with the vendor to see if the system can set all Superintendent roles to have view-only access to all staff evaluation plans in their location/district. Testing includes system will identify salary codes/roles of Superintendents (111-Superintendent, 112-Associate and Deputy Superintendents, 118-Assistant Superintendent) and those staff will be assigned to a DA Staff Group with View Only Rights. This will be thoroughly reviewed and tested before putting into place. Goal is that these three roles would be District Admins without the full current District Administrator rights to re-open plans etc. It will not affect current District Administrator Assigned rights unless an individual staff has a Superintendent role and is currently managing NCEES as a DA. There is a work-around for those identified staff. Both groups (manually assigned DA with full rights and system assigned DAs with view only rights) would have Assume Identity rights due to how that right is enabled.
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