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Weekly Newsletter- February 19, 2021

Please be sure to keep EDDIE up to date!

• OCS Guidance on Title IX-New Compliance Requirements
• OCS Guidance SB199 Sex Trafficking Prevention Training and SB476 Mental Health Plans
• OCS Guidance for Charter Schools SB681/Session Law 2020-78 Enrollment Priorities, Assessments Memo, and CARES Act additional funds available 7/17/2020 
• OCS Guidance for Charter Schools House Bill 1043 / Session Law 2020-4 Summer Learning Program and Supplemental Grants 6/2 revised 6/8/2020

Upcoming Events and Reminders!

Save the Date!

NCDPI LEGISLATIVE SURVEY:  STUDENTS AT-RISK FOR ACADEMIC FAILURE Due by February 22, THIS MONDAY!!   NCDPI has been asked by legislative staff to share how many students in your district/charter school are at-risk of academic failure.  We know that each of you is addressing this issue locally.  Since NCDPI does not collect this data statewide, we are administering a survey. The purpose of the survey is to collect information at the district or charter school level of the number students who have been identified as at risk for academic failure and who are not successfully progressing toward grade promotion and graduation, beginning in kindergarten, pursuant to § 115C-105.41.  Legislative staff have also asked if you think this number of students will change significantly (more than 10%) and by what percent by the end of the year.   NCDPI is sending this request to Superintendents and their CAO/Academic Lead, and Charter School Principals.  Please see the survey and worksheet below.  In order to meet our deadline and respond to the legislative staff, please submit responses no later than Monday, February 22.    Survey and Worksheet: Survey to submit the data Worksheet to gather local data. Helpful to use for preparation of the survey itself.   Grateful. If you have any questions, please contact:          Sneha Shah-Coltrane at sneha.shahcoltrane@dpi.nc.gov Dr. Vanessa Wrenn at vanessa.wrenn@dpi.nc.gov See additional info below

OCS Office Hours Resumes Monday, February 22nd with an important McKinney-Vento discussion. 

Here is the NEW OCS Office Hours LINK: https://ncgov.webex.com/webappng/sites/ncgov/meeting/download/184509c605b64005a0671c573f999fe7?siteurl=ncgov&MTID=m63130db7d3357c89a7332d38b6921c79

For library media coordinators, 2/25/21 4pm:

NCSLMA is hosting another opportunity for SLMCs who want to come together in a virtual space to support each other and discuss topics of interest. The intent is for the conversation to be driven by participants learning from each other. NCSLMA will be using Google Meet for SLMCs to connect and the registration information is linked below. This will not be recorded as the purpose is to have a "safe" space for SLMCs to talk openly with each other. It is just an informal chat between SLMCs scheduled on February 25, 4-5pm. SLMCs should consider joining the gathering and supporting other SLMCs in our state w/their ideas, experience, empathy, etc. It's also a great way to celebrate #NCDLDay!  

https://ncslma.wildapricot.org/event-4148368

Spring 2021 Course Code Webinar Series

Please join the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (NCDPI) for a Spring 2021 course code webinar series. PowerSchool Data Managers, PowerSchool Coordinators, School Counselors, Career and Technical Education Directors, Career Development Coordinators, CCP Coordinators, and Curriculum and Instruction/Academic Leaders are encouraged to join the conversations. Please see details below and we look forward to seeing you (virtually) soon! 

Note: Due to technical issues we have updated the webinar links below.

SAVE THE DATES! 

Time:  2 - 3 pm EST

Platform:  Webex

Dates and Registration Information:

• February 12th:  Course Codes General Overview - Part A (Join the Webinar Here)
• February 19th:  Course Codes General Overview - Part B (Join the Webinar Here)
• March 5th:  CAA vs. Non-CAA Courses (Join the Webinar Here)
• March 19th:  Graduation Plans, Transcripts, and Endorsements (Join the Webinar Here)
• April 16th:  Generic CTE Course Code Implementation (Join the Webinar Here)
• April 30th:  Generic Course Code Scheduling (Join the Webinar Here) 
•  

Questions? Please enter your questions in the Question Collection Form.

EL Summer Conference Survey 

The NCDPI ESL/Title III team would like to invite you to join us for FREE summer training on working with English learners (ELs) in the content areas. 

From June through August 2021, online professional learning will be available. What topics are you interested in learning about? 

Please fill out this survey by February 26 to assist the team with the planning process. 

Planning Year Session Four: Meeting the Needs of All Students, February 24^th, 2021, 8:30am-4pm

This is an online event.

Registration is now open here: Planning Year Session Four

Agenda Planning Year Session Four.pdf

Please direct any questions to claire.porter@dpi.nc.gov

Target audience: Board members and school leaders from charter schools opening in 2021, as well as 2021 acceleration applicants, are required to attend 5 virtual Planning Year Sessions from September through March.

COVID TOP TEN:

To help recap important news of the week, we are pleased to bring you the NCDPI COVID-19 WEEKLY TOP TEN.   The link does not change.  New content is added to the top of the document weekly.  

*Note, due to the holiday, there will not be a Top Ten issued next week.

Here’s a preview:

10. Deadline Monday! NCDPI Legislative Survey: Students At-Risk for Academic Failure
9. Digital Learning Day-February 25, 2021
8. Register Now: Culturally Relevant Teaching (CRT) Intensive
7. How preschool became another grade in Polk County – EducationNC
6. NEW Research Study! How Principals Affect Students & Schools
5. Please Share with Teachers!  New Communication Tool “Educator Edition” 
4.  P-EBT Issuance to Begin Friday, February 19^th
3. Upcoming Dates for Spring Legislative Class Size Report
2. Superintendent Truitt Statement on SB 37
1. The Weekly Top Ten is Transitioning to GovDelivery!
BONUS!  February is CTE appreciation month!

Please note that the state COVID WEEKLY TOP TEN is not compiled with charter schools primarily in mind, or written by OCS. Charter schools retain flexibility by law, including but not limited to the issuance of emergency leave. If you ever have any uncertainty about a requirement, please reach out to the Office of Charter Schools.

Strong Schools Toolkit Updated 2/2/21

Joint Letter from Superintendent Truitt and Chief Deputy Secretary Susan Gale Perry

Please see this letter from Superintendent of Public Instruction Catherine Truitt and North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services Chief Deputy Secretary Susan Gale Perry.

Please note at the bottom of the letter that new guidance on vaccine operations is now available to help support your school personnel in getting vaccinated.

NCDPI CAO/Academic Leaders Policy Update:  February 11, 2021

GRADUATION REQUIREMENTS FOR INCOMING GRADE 9 STUDENTS in 2021-22

NEW SOCIAL STUDIES STANDARD COURSES OF STUDY for 2021-22

On February 4, 2021, the North Carolina State Board of Education approved the adoption of the K-12 Social Studies Standards. The approved standards can be found here. Installation of the standards is currently in progress. Implementation of the standards begins Fall 2021. A timeline for release of supporting documents is forthcoming.  

As a reminder, the following Social Studies high school courses will be required for graduation starting with Grade 9 students entering in 2021-22 (adopted in March 2020):

Four Social Studies credits which shall be:

a.               Founding Principles of the United States of America and North Carolina:  Civic Literacy

b.               Economics and Personal Finance

c.                American History

d.               World History

Note:  NCDPI is still looking at the dual credit allowances course chart for the incoming grade 9 students regarding CCP.  For current students, the dual credit chart will remain in place.

NCDPI LEGISLATIVE SURVEY:  STUDENTS AT-RISK FOR ACADEMIC FAILURE

Due by February 22

FURTHER INFORMATION based on your recent questions:

How will this survey be used?

Legislative staff have asked us to collect this information and send to them.  While we do not know the exact purpose, we anticipate it is to inform legislators with their work and possible support in light of the impacts of COVID-19.  They are hearing that there is an increased number of students at-risk because of COVID-19 and want to better understand the needs to inform their actions.

How are these questions to be interpreted?

Question 1:  We advise that LEAs tally the number of actual students that are at-risk of academic failure currently in order for legislators to better understand the current situation.  This may be larger than students who you may actually end up retaining.

Question 2:  Determine if you anticipate a 10% or more change in the numbers of students you reported in Question 1. 

Question 3:  We advise that LEAs tally the number of students that will most likely actually be retained to find the anticipated % change from the Question 1 response.  Several LEAs have contacted me to say that they will see a significant change because LEAs plan on offering lots of opportunities for students to support continued advancement, like summer school and other supports.

Is NCDPI planning on giving any requirements or guidance for retention?

No, promotion and retention remains a local decision.  We encourage all LEAs to work with their schools/teacher and parents/families to determine what is the best for each individual student. 

ORIGINAL INFORMATION

NCDPI has been asked by legislative staff to share how many students in your district/charter school are at-risk of academic failure.  We know that each of you is addressing this issue locally.  Since NCDPI does not collect this data statewide, we are administering a survey.

The purpose of the survey is to collect information at the district or charter school level of the number students who have been identified as at risk for academic failure and who are not successfully progressing toward grade promotion and graduation, beginning in kindergarten, pursuant to § 115C-105.41.  Legislative staff have also asked if you think this number of students will change significantly (more than 10%) and by what percent by the end of the year.

NCDPI is sending this request to Superintendents and their CAO/Academic Lead, and Charter School Principals.  Please see the survey and worksheet below.  In order to meet our deadline and respond to the legislative staff, please submit responses no later than Monday, February 22.  NCDPI needs one response per LEA.

Survey and Worksheet:

• Survey to submit the data
• Worksheet to gather local data. Helpful to use for preparation of the survey itself.

GRAD-004 Possible Changes – High School Graduation Requirements

Based on input from the field, NCDPI has recommended that the SBE continue the CPR waiver for students graduating in May/June 2021 and change in OCS work hours requirement to 157 hours.  This was presented to the SBE in February and will be voted on in March.

Course Code Webinars

Begin this Friday.  This series is intended for both data managers and student support staff to better understand how course codes, transcripts and all sorts of other related issues work together.  Please contact your NC-SIS manager for details.

AP Testing Information

This information was released last week.  Paper/pencil and virtual opportunities will be available for most courses over three testing windows.  Please see your AP Contact for more information.

WEEKLY TOP TEN

Please always check this link for NCDPI’s Weekly Top Ten.  This is a great way to stay in touch with new happenings and important reminders.

As always – we remain grateful for all that you do on a daily basis to support NC’s public schools.

Dr. Stegall and Sneha.

Follow-Up for Bi-Weekly Comms Call

IABS

Hello Charter School Directors, 

For the upcoming months, we are using #FamilyFridays on the @ncmtss Twitter Account. We want to stimulate thinking about your family engagement work that positively supports all students. Join us in lifting the by sharing a resource, shout out, or question that will ensure we keep this stakeholder group at the forefront of our work. This graphic was shared on Twitter in one of the first #FamilyFridays tweets. We are deeply grateful to collaborate with such a dedicated group of educators!

High school principals, please read:

NCDPI is considering presenting to the State Board of Education some temporary relief for the following policies, based on LEA/Charter requests due to COVID-19:

1. CPR Graduation Requirement, even though this is typically taught in Grade 8, there are some seniors who still may not have been able to participate in these requirements due to COVID-19.  This would apply only to graduating seniors in Spring 2021.  (GRAD-004)
2. Occupational Course of Study Work Hours.  Lessen those hours for this year’s graduating class like last year.  This would apply only to graduating seniors in Spring 2021. (GRAD-004)
3. Driver’s Education Eligibility:  Eliminate the need for passing of at least 70% of possible courses to be eligible for driver’s education but keep “making progress towards graduation…which means… meet promotion standards established by the LEA.”  (DRIV-004)

Please use the google form below for feedback.  If we do not hear from you, we will take that as you support these changes. 

NCDPI plans on taking these possible policy changes to the State Board of Education in February, depending on your feedback.

Jan2021 Policy feedback

The recording link from the January 21, 2021 leadership call is embedded in the following document:

FOLLOW-UP Charter-Lab-ISD Leaders Check-In

IMPORTANT: Please see the attached memo regarding changes with automation of GPA and Grade-Scale beginning with the 2021-22 school year.

Please send the attached memo, Summer Programs 2020–21, from Dr. David Stegall and Dr. Tammy Howard to all Charter School Directors.

Superintendents and Charter School Directors,

Please see attached memo regarding Beginning Teacher Support Programs.

Thank you.

Dr. Beverly R. Emory, Executive Director of Leandro Support

Dr. Thomas R. Tomberlin, Director, Educator Recruitment and Support

Dr. Cynthia M. Martin, Director, District and Regional Support

• BTSP_Memo_121720.pdf

Update English Learners Contacts

The NC DPI ESL/Title III team is conducting its annual stakeholders EL Contact Survey.

To ensure you receive the most up-to-date information on Title III compliance and EL program quality, please share this survey with your English learner stakeholders (Please do not be concerned about duplicate entries as we will filter the responses).

Thank you for your participation.

• Weekly_Updates.02.17.21.pdf
• Memo DB Census 2.8.21.pdf
• Memo HB 317 Data Collection 20-21.pdf
• 02.03.21 Summer Camps.pdf
• 02.03.21 Campamento de Verano.pdf
• 02.03.21 CARE Project Virtual Show Tell.pdf
• 02.03.21 CARE Project Experiencia Virtual de Mostrar y Contar.pdf
• Monday Message 2.1.21.pdf

Statewide Corrective Action MEMO LINKED – Technical Assistance Package #2

The North Carolina Homeless Education Program (NCHEP)  Registration is now open for the 2020-2021SY Regional Compliance Forums.   Registration is now open for all upcoming regional compliance forums for both LEAs and charter schools. Forums will be held virtually in late February and early March. Liaisons should plan to attend the session designed for your region. Please contact your Program Specialist for an alternative attendance option if an LEA-schedule conflict arises.    Visit the RCF web page for more information and registration links for your region.

TUESDAY TALKS WITH NEELY   Homeless liaisons in LEAs are invited to join your NCHEP Program Specialist, Neely Laurens, for a virtual office hour from 9:00 AM to 10:00 AM on Tuesday mornings. This time will allow for scenario processing, collaboration with other liaisons, discussion about needs to help support you in your role, or a time to just pop in for a quick hello. You will have the opportunity to build a relationship with your program specialist and other district liaisons from across the state. There is no required registration and attendance is optional. Join with the same reoccurring Zoom link.

Resources Galore

February 2021 From the Board Room

School Business – February 19, 2021

New Social Studies Course Codes 2/19/21

NC SIS Weekly Email Bulletin 2/19/21

DTL Insider - February 19, 2021

Feb. 18, 2021 - Home Base Bulletin

Character Education News & Updates: February 2021

K-12 Education Office of Government and Community Affairs Update - Monday, February 8, 2021

Guidance Extract from NC Homeless Education Program

AP/IB/CIE February 2021 Update

Global Education Newsletter--February 2021

Math Options Charts Update 2/18/21

NCDPI Arts Education Newsletter - February 15, 2021

February 2021: Social Studies Update

STEMtastic News - February 2021

Healthful Living Update February 2021

NC SEL Newsletter

*Updated* NCDPI Arts Education Newsletter - February 5, 2021

World Language Education News - February 2021

Digital Learning Standards Course for 2021

Advancing Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) as a Lever for Equity and Excellence - Equity Insights Report

DL/I Discourse: IHE- Strategies for Online Academic Language Learning for DL/I

Summer Nutrition Programs Offer Meals for Children at No Cost While School Is Out

February Professional Learning Opportunities - ELA