Number 10

Innovative N.C. K-12 Culinary Institute Increases School Meal Appeal

"School Nutrition managers from across North Carolina have the opportunity this summer to participate in regional N.C. K-12 Culinary Institute workshops beginning this week through August. The institute was developed by the N.C. Department of Public Instruction, Office of School Nutrition, in cooperation with a team of registered dietitians and chefs to increase the availability of fresh, appealing and nutritious meals at school.

'Appealing meals that are filling and nutritious help students focus,' said Dr. Lynn Harvey, senior director of NCDPI’s Office of School Nutrition. 'The North Carolina K-12 Culinary Institute provides School Nutrition managers with tools and information they can take back and implement in their School Nutrition Programs to ensure students receive the meals they need to succeed in and out of the classroom.'"

Read the full press release here.

Number 9

An Inside Look at What Being North Carolina’s Teacher of the Year is Like

"Leah Carper, an English teacher at Northern Guilford High School, has spent the past year advocating for free school lunch, school safety, and support for beginning teachers as the 2022 North Carolina Teacher of the Year.

Carper started teaching in 2006, when she won Guilford County Schools’ Rookie Teacher of the Year Award. As an English teacher, she focused on teaching through nontraditional methods, like dancing or painting. She wanted her students to learn empathy and resilience in addition to technical lessons.

But as the N.C. Burroughs Wellcome Fund Teacher of the Year, Carper has been out of the classroom for the past school year. Instead, she’s spent the year traveling across North Carolina, visiting classrooms, speaking at conferences, and going to State Board of Education meetings. She has documented the last year on her TikTok account."

Read the full story here. 

Number 8

Literacy at Home - Reading Resource for Summer Break

Summer break is the perfect time to instill a joy of reading in children and help them maintain the reading skills they've built all school year. This digital resource provides literacy activities at each grade level pre-kindergarten through fifth grade. Families and communities may access this resource for activities that specifically target the literacy skills of phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, reading comprehension, and oral language. When children grow in each of these foundational areas they are well on their way to becoming proficient readers.

The Literacy at Home webpage and resources can be found here.

Number 7

Register for RISE 2023

RISE 2023 – the Center for Safer Schools’ signature event – will be held July 31-August 2 at the Gastonia Conference Center. Registration is free.

RISE training focuses on the resiliency, information, support and empowerment needed when supporting children and adolescents in schools and communities.

Learn more about the conference and register here.

Number 6

Share Your Summer Program Using #NCSummer2Excel

If your district or charter school is holding a summer program between June and August, we want to hear from you! 

We would love for you to share your photos, videos and stories with us using #NCSummer2Excel and tagging @OLR_NCDPI and @ncpublicschools!

Number 5

NCCAT Virtual Math Collaborative

Join NCCAT for a two-day virtual collaborative event to learn new math instructional strategies from July 25-26. An array of one hour sessions will be available that are focused on identified needs for math instruction. Strengthen your math practices toolbox and leave ready to kick off the 2023-24 school year with fresh ideas for your math classroom! 

Learn more and register here. The conference is free to all NC educators. 

Number 4

Healthful Living Draft 1 Surveys Now Open

NCDPI seeks public input on K-12 Healthful Living standards. Participate in surveys by selecting the links below.

• K-5 Health Education
• 6-9 Health Education
• K-9 Physical Education

Surveys will close September 18.

Number 3

Action Requested: Voluntary Reversal Process for ESSER II PRCs

Last week, local superintendents and CAOs received a note from the Office of Learning Recovery and Acceleration in regard to unused ESSER II summer programs funding. In an effort to support PSUs who are still facing challenges with spending these funds, NCDPI has created a process to allow for PSUs to voluntarily revert their funds to NCDPI if they do not think they will be able to effectively spend the remaining funds before the September 30, 2023 ESSER II deadline.

Read the full letter and find the ESSER II Voluntary Reversion Process form here.

Number 2

Building a Wider, More Diverse Pipeline of Advanced Learners

The North Carolina Department of Public Instruction’s Office of Advanced Learning and Gifted Education is pleased to share the following press release from The Thomas B. Fordham Institute, a national leader in efforts to advance educational excellence for every child through quality research, analysis, and commentary. The newest publication, Building a Wider, More Diverse Pipeline of Advanced Learners: Final Report of the National Working Group on Advanced Education, is the culminating work of a national working group on advanced education which included the Office of Advanced Learning and Gifted Education's Director Sneha Shah Coltrane.

Read the full press release here.

Number 1

State Effort Helps Teachers with Licensing Costs

"Financial assistance is now available to new and pre-service teachers in North Carolina facing the cost of taking state-required license exams.

Under a new initiative, TeachNC, a teacher recruitment resource within the Department of Public Instruction, is providing reimbursements for licensing exam costs or study materials for licensing exams, which can average at or above $450. The effort is being funded with $3 million from the federal Governor’s Emergency Education Relief Fund (GEER) controlled by Gov. Roy Cooper.

To be fully licensed in North Carolina public schools, most teachers must pass standardized exams specific to their grade span or subject area. Many elementary school teachers, in particular, have been challenged in recent years to pass a required math exam, and some have had to take and pay for it multiple times."

Read the full press release here.