State Board of Education Vision:Every public school student in North Carolina will be empowered to accept academic challenges, prepared to pursue their chosen path after graduating high school, and encouraged to become lifelong learners with the capacity to engage in a globally-collaborative society.
State Board of Education Mission:The mission of the North Carolina State Board of Education is to use its constitutional authority to guard and maintain the right of a sound, basic education for every child in North Carolina Public Schools.
Wednesday, October 19, 2022
North Carolina Portrait of a Graduate Revealed
NC DPI Press Release | October 18, 2022
Grassroots Developed, the Portrait provides a more balanced measure to determine what student success should look like
An initiative led by the N.C Department of Public Instruction (DPI) to define the skills and mindsets students need for success after high school has been unfolding since March. Now, with the help of 1,200 North Carolinians across the state, this grassroots-informed Portrait of a Graduate has been finalized.
Revealed today, the result of that effort – known as the Portrait of a Graduate – aims to ensure that North Carolina students are well equipped for the broadest range of postsecondary opportunities. Aligning with State Superintendent of Public Instruction’s Catherine Truitt’s 2022 focus on the “Year of the Workforce,” the Portrait can be adopted by schools and districts to better prepare the state’s 1.5 million students for civic life, career or college.
As determined by the design teams that were part of the initiative, the statewide Portrait identifies seven competencies that students should possess upon graduation from high school to help them thrive in the 21st century. To learn more about the Portrait and competencies, click here.
Long term, the Portrait of a Graduate provides a potential framework for designing a multi-measured system of accountability that not only emphasizes strong academic outcomes but also highlights the durable skills and mindsets students need to thrive. An effort now underway to revise the state’s accountability system provides an opportunity to create a system that is a more balanced measure for student success and school quality. The Portrait helps inform the work around these discussions and allows for consideration of other indicators that support the well-being and readiness for civic life, career and college for all students.
National Association of State Boards of Education Valerie Norville | October 2022: States Sketch ‘Portraits of a Graduate’ - Several state boards of education have adopted graduate profiles to better define the skills and knowledge students should master before they graduate high school.
EdNC conducted a statewide survey about school performance grades from Sept. 22 to Oct. 10, 2022, in partnership with the N.C. Department of Public Instruction. EdNC retains editorial control over all surveys, and this survey included questions that EdNC first used in a survey in 2019 for comparability.
The survey was available on EdNC.org. It was intended for all education stakeholders in North Carolina, and 26,262 individuals participated. The survey was distributed via EdNC’s website, DPI’s website, social media, and a variety of other stakeholders and platforms.
Of those 26,262 total participants, the number of individuals who responded to each question varied as no question was required. When asked to select what role or industry is most relevant to their responses, 21,168 respondents answered, and here is how their roles broke down:
42% K-12 teacher
32% Parent/guardian/grandparent
8% K-12 School leader/principal
6% Student
4% K-12 District Leader
4% Other
1% University/college faculty/staff
1% Business/industry
1% State/local government
1% Nonprofit
72 of 115 Superintendents
What did they say?
First, respondents answered a series of statements that were also included in our 2019 People’s Session survey (which had a much smaller sample size of less than 1,000 respondents). There were nine statements provided in the 2022 survey, 18,626 total respondents, and response options included agree, disagree, and unsure. The breakdown of responses closely mirrors the results from 2019.
Participants most agree that school performance grades should include measures beyond test scores and student growth (90%), which was the same in 2019. However, participants were more divided when asked if schools should be publicly graded on their performance so that parents, community members, and policy makers can compare them (52% agree), which was the same in 2019. You can see the full breakdown of responses below.
The survey ended with a final question asking for additional ideas about what should be considered when redesigning school performance grades, and participants left 5,172 comments.The survey encouraged but did not require a 20-word limit, and the only comments excluded from public view used profanity.
These results offer a brief, informal snapshot on opinions related to school performance grades and comments may include unverified, self-reported information.
Call for Change ~ The opinion survey was conducted as the Department of Public Instruction begins a process to overhaul the state’s school performance grading system. The A-F performance grades were developed so communities could better understand the quality of North Carolina’s public schools, but a growing consensus has led many to believe that the current model does not accurately reflect all aspects of school quality because it puts too much weight on student achievement as determined by high-stakes testing. Since the 2013-14 school year, North Carolina public schools, including charters, have received an A-F letter grade that reflects school performance measured primarily by student performance on the state’s End of Grade (EOG) and End of Course (EOC) exams. Under state law, grades are based on each school’s achievement score (weight of 80%) and each school’s students’ academic growth (weight of 20%). The total school performance score is then converted to a 100-point scale and then used to determine a school performance grade of A, B, C, D or F. See the survey responses here.
The N.C. Department of Public Instruction (DPI) has convened an advisory group to redesign school performance grades ahead of the next legislative session, and the meeting held yesterday focused on data quality in accountability models, an early analysis of EdNC’s survey results, and small group discussions about the public’s input.
“If we make these priorities, schools will make these priorities, and that’s exciting,” said Leah Carper, the 2022 Burroughs Wellcome Fund North Carolina Teacher of the Year.
Here is DPI’s landing page for the working group including the members, and here is the timeline:
An early analysis of the data from EdNC’s survey
Dr. Jeni Corn, DPI’s director of research and evaluation, presented her analysis of the data from EdNC’s survey on school performance grades to the working group. Of 26,262 survey participants, her team focused on the 19,160 who answered at least one question other than sharing their role and zip code as well as 4,884 of the 5,980 comments.
Across roles, Corn found the highest agreement with these survey items:
The North Carolina legislature needs to reform school performance grades.
K-12 schools should have different measures of success for elementary, middle, and high schools.
Some level of standardized testing is necessary to understand how students are doing.
School performance grades should include measures beyond test scores and student growth.
For indicators of school quality beyond test scores, Corn found the highest agreement with these items across roles:
Courses offered outside of core academics (i.e., arts, world languages, career and technical education)
Health of students (physical fitness, mental health, social-emotional health)
Per pupil expenditures
In an early look at the first 2,000 comments, Corn’s qualitative analysis found these words mentioned most often by participants:
Growth. Some suggested 100% growth or flipping the formula to be 20% achievement and 80% growth.
Equity
Students demographics
Teacher effectiveness/retention/job satisfaction
The working group participated in small group breakouts to review the survey responses, grouped by academic indicators, non-traditional academic indicators, and school quality indicators.
Corn’s next steps include an analysis by region and finishing the qualitative review of all of the comments.
LB/LOB = Legislative Building/Legislative Office Building
SBE = North Carolina State Board of Education
HB/SB = House Bill/Senate Bill
JR = Joint Resolution
SL = Session Law
GS = General Statute
PCS = Proposed Committee Substitute
The North Carolina Department of Public Instruction is hosting the second annual A.I.M. Conference at the Raleigh Convention Center October 26 - 29, 2022. The Conference theme is "Accelerate, Invigorate, and Motivate."
Learn more about this year's sessions here. This agenda is subject to change.
It is National School Bus Safety Week. This week we raise awareness and educate the public on the importance of school bus safety. For more information, visit www.ncbussafety.org.
It is National School Bus Safety Week. This week we raise awareness and educate the public on the importance of school bus safety. For more information, visit www.ncbussafety.org.
Press Release - Office of Governor Cooper | October 17, 2022
More than $30.1 million from the N.C. Volkswagen Settlement Program will be distributed by the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality to fund 161 new school buses across the state, with the majority of the funding going toward new all-electric school buses.
The new zero-emission and low-emission school buses are replacing some of the dirtiest diesel buses in the state, including some older than 30 years that emit more than 20 times the nitrogen oxides (NOx) and particulate matter of today’s clean buses.
The grant recipients include public schools, charter schools and a tribal school in 84 counties. Most of the buses, 130, will be placed in rural counties. Of those, 80 school buses were awarded to schools in the 37 historically under-resourced counties that DEQ targeted for additional outreach and support during the application process. The goal of that program was to support the equitable distribution of Volkswagen Settlement funding across the state. The full list of awarded projects is on DEQ’s website.
As the clean school buses are ordered and delivered, the old school buses will be destroyed, ensuring they no longer pollute the air in communities near schools.
The School Bus Program is the largest grant program in Phase 2 of the N.C. Volkswagen Settlement Program, which covers the remaining $68 million of the state’s share of a national settlement with the automaker. The state is awarding the funds through grants and rebates to support the replacement of old diesel vehicles with clean alternatives and the installation of electric vehicle charging infrastructure across the state.
DAQ will continue to accept rebate applications to install Level 2 charging infrastructure at workplaces, multi-unit dwellings and publicly accessible locations on a first-come, first-served basis until allocated funds are exhausted. The amount of remaining funds available and information on how to apply are online.
Lynn Harvey, Senior Director, Office of School Nutrition and Office of District Operations, NC Department of Public Instruction
Mary Oxendine, Food Security Coordinator, Durham County will provide her perspective as a NC in-person attendee of the White House Conference
Carolina Hunger Initiative team
Video highlights from the White House Conference event
Join this webinar for a recap of the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health, (held on September 28, 2022,) an overview of the work already being done to meet these goals in North Carolina, and how federal and state priorities might further impact NC. Don’t forget to include your questions and goals when registering.
White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health home page
Across the state, kids and adults will be crunching into locally grown apples on October 19 for Farm to School Month. The NC Crunch, from the Farm to School Coalition of NC, is designed to celebrate agriculture, nutrition and farm to school.
Message from Superintendent Truitt about farm to school and school meals. HERE
NC Crunch Message from NC State Board of Education Chair, Eric Davis. HERE
“Digging for Sweetpotatoes” read by Superintendent Truitt to celebrate Farm to School and Early Care and Education Month and learn about North Carolina-grown produce.
Help us reach all 100 counties and at least 500,000 participants for the 2022 #NCCrunch!
Beginning in 2019-20, the federal Every Student Succeeds Act(ESSA) requires all states to report school-level per pupil expenditures, by funding source. The availability of school-level data provides a new level of transparency for the public, educators, and policymakers and has the potential to uncover spending trends that have been masked by district-level data. BEST NC has created an interactive tool to help facilitate learning and exploration around these new per pupil expenditure data from 2018-19 through 2020-21.
This data explorer allows users to identify relationships between per pupil expenditures and other school-level data. More information on how to use the data explorer can be found at this LINK.
FutureEd Phyllis W. Jordan & Bella DiMarco | Oct. 11, 2022: Educators and ESSER: How Pandemic Spending is Reshaping the Teaching Profession - To understand state and local policymakers’ strategies for bolstering teaching resources in the wake of the pandemic, FutureEd analyzed the Covid-relief spending plans of 5,000 school districts and charter organizations representing 74 percent of the nation’s public-school students. And we examined additional documents and conducted a range of interviews to gauge how the nation’s 100 largest school districts plan to reinforce their teaching ranks with the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER III) aid.
The resultis a comprehensive picture of state and local spending of recovery resources on the nation’s teaching force. And it’s clear that momentum is building behind several spending strategies with important policy implications, including an emerging commitment to extra pay for longer hours, and bonuses that break with traditional pay schedules to combat widespread teacher shortages.
