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.
Friday, December 16, 2022
Highlights
WRAL•NEWS Travis Fain | Dec. 10, 2022: On the Record: Education reform in North Carolina - North Carolina is at a crossroads on education. A long-running fight over teacher pay has come to a head, the state is preparing a pilot program that may overhaul how we pay, license and evaluate teachers. We're shifting how we teach reading in elementary schools, and all of our schools will be dealing, for years, with fallout from the pandemic. A Blueprint for Action
WRAL•NEWS Laura Leslie | Dec. 12, 2022: Depression, violence, access to guns rising among NC students, data show - A child welfare panel in North Carolina got its first look Monday at the state's latest student risk behavior survey. The data paints a bleak picture of student mental health, access to guns, and violence. The 2021 Youth Risk Behavior Survey, a biennial poll that originates with the national Centers for Disease Control, was voluntary but taken last fall by a statistically significant sampling of middle- and high-school students across the state. Child Fatality Task Force Slides
When Jessica Barnette gathered her kindergarten and first-grade students this morning to walk to Rocky Point Elementary’s multi-purpose room, she thought they were attending a preview of the school’s winter concert. She must have been a bit puzzled by the presence of the district superintendent and several unfamiliar adults. After all, the big event was the following evening.
But the big event, Barnette quickly learned, was right then, and it was for her – and not because today also happened to be her birthday. She was in the limelight herself and being handed an early Christmas gift – a $25,000 check that comes with being named a national Milken Educator Award winner. She is among up to 40 elementary educators across the nation who will receive the Milken award during the 2022-23 school year.
Now in her seventh year of teaching, all at Pender County’s Rocky Point Elementary School, Barnette has established herself at the school as a leader both inside the classroom and out for the strength of her instruction, the relationships she forges with her students and their families and her collaborative support for her fellow educators.
Finding 1: All students should receive a high-quality standard education.
The Committee strongly recommends that the General Assembly continue to study the most essential content necessary for students to become successful citizens and be career and college ready.
Finding 2: North Carolina should continue to increase educator pay, allow educators to focus on instructional duties, and provide educators with opportunities for growth and advancement.
The Committee recommends that the General Assembly continue to review the current salary schedules for educators and look for opportunities to adjust job duties to increase the high-quality educator workforce in the State.
Finding 3: All children deserve a safe place to learn free from distraction.
The Committee recommends that the General Assembly continue to study ways to create safe learning environments for all students.
Finding 4: The North Carolina student assessment system should be designed to generate useful data to help ensure students' post-secondary success.
The Committee recommends that the General Assembly continue to study the student assessment system and make the adjustments necessary to create the most useful system.
Finding 5: The mandatory school calendar law should be adjusted to better fit the needs of students and educators.
The Committee recommends that the General Assembly take action and change the school calendar law.
Finding 6: The division of authority between the appointed State Board of Education and the elected Superintendent of Public Instruction should be changed to grant greater authority to the Superintendent.
The Committee recommends that the General Assembly pass a constitutional amendment to allow the voters to determine the division of authority between the State Board of Education and the Superintendent of Public Instruction.
The Carolina Journal David Bass | Dec. 12, 2022: NC House Committee passes recommendations to improve K-12 education - Increase teacher pay. Change the school calendar. Give the state superintendent of public instruction more power. Invest in character education. Improve discipline in the classroom. Expand partnerships between high schools and community colleges.
The Committee finds that in order to reach the State's educational attainment goal of having 66% of North Carolinians with a high-quality credential or postsecondary degree by 2030, emphasis will need to be placed on adult learners.
The Committee finds that competency-based education is an important piece of personalized learning from which all North Carolina students can benefit as it provides a flexible learning environment where progression is based on mastery of skills and learning objectives. The Committee strongly encourages the General Assembly to direct the Department of Public Instruction to conduct a detailed statewide survey as to what public school units and individual public schools are implementing in regard to competency-based education.
Special Education Funding Formula
The Committee finds that the special education funding formula is of great interest to various stakeholders including families with children with special needs who are attending public school units and public school units, particularly as the costs increase in providing a free appropriate public education as required by the federal Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act.
The Committee finds that pre-apprenticeships and apprenticeships are important components in both the education and workforce development sectors and play critical roles in expanding the State's economic prospects.
The Committee finds that early literacy proficiency is vital for students to achieve success in secondary and post-secondary education and their future careers. The Committee finds that theLETRS professional development provided to all prekindergarten through fifth grade teachers will result in an increased use of evidence-based practices grounded in the Science of Reading in classrooms across the State.
The Committee finds that Schools That Lead(STL) provides professional development for school administrators and teachers through systemic and evidence-based examinations of three key questions: (i) what can we improve; (ii) where can we improve it; and (iii) how can it be done.
Organizational Assessment and Work Climate at the North Carolina Community College System
The Committee finds that the North Carolina Community College System (System) has taken important steps this year to evaluate its organization to build a robust System office with strong and focused leadership for the entire System and commends the System for taking these initial steps.
This week on FRONT ROW with Marc Rotterman: Donna King guest hosts a one-on-one interview with State NC Superintendent of Public Instruction Catherine Truitt.
Topics:
Standard Course of Study - The NC State Board of Education policy, SCOS-012, requires that each content area’s standards be reviewed every five-to-seven years to ensure the North Carolina Standard Course of Study (NCSCOS) consists of clear, relevant standards and objectives.
Science of Reading - Evidence-based reading instruction practices that address the acquisition of language, phonological and phonemic awareness, phonics and spelling, fluency, vocabulary, oral language, and comprehension that can be differentiated to meet the needs of individual students.
School Performance Grade Redesign - The Office of Innovation is leading the work to redesign school performance grades and has embarked on a process to discover how the current school performance formula could be changed to include a comprehensive list of indicators that can help paint a more complete picture of school quality.
Parent Advisory Commission - This group will share aspirations for public education in North Carolina, provide feedback on policy or pertinent matters affecting K-12 education, and share recommendations, insight and perspectives.
Future Focused, Career Ready - Prepare our future workforce with the skills and experiences required to be successful, productive citizens, providing a robust talent pipeline that powers the State’s economic development efforts. WORKFORCE GOALS
Portrait of a Graduate - Ensures that North Carolina students are well equipped for the broadest range of postsecondary opportunities, be it college, career, or military.
