21 School Districts Receive $1.3 Million in Grant Funding to Advance Digital-Age Teaching and Learning

At the June meeting, the State Board of Education approved 18 proposals through a competitive grant-program under the state’s Digital Learning Initiative. The state-funded grants support the development and dissemination of local innovative digital learning models. The goal of the grant program is to have effective digital learning practices spread across all North Carolina K-12 public schools. 

Read the full press release here.

Standards Review Updates under the Student Learning & Achievement Committee

At the monthly June meeting, members of the State Board of Education (SBE) heard two sets of standards, as presented by Dr. Kristi Day, Director of Academic Standards, and members of the Data Review Committee (DRC) and Standards Writing Team (SWT). The presentation recapped the process involved in creating the first draft of the Health and Physical Education standards, as well as draft 3 of the proposed K-12 Science Standards, with a detailed description of next steps that would follow.

As specified by the NC State Board of Education, the NC Department of Public Instruction (NCDPI) formally collects feedback from educators, administrators, parents, students, institutions of higher education, business/industry representatives, national organizations, and other education agencies on each draft of both the K-12 Health and Physical Education Standards and the K-12 Science Standards.

Specific to the K-12 Health and Physical Education Standards, the review process began with a review phase, conducted through the Spring, Summer, and Fall of 2022. The review phase included gathering relevant research and analyzing data obtained through surveys, interviews, and focus groups. The data obtained was analyzed by the NCDPI Office of Learning Recovery and provided to the Health and Physical Education Standards Data Review Committees (DRCs) for further review.

The DRCs completed a formal report summarizing the data and trends within the feedback and any resulting recommendations. As reiterated during the board presentation, the DRC uses the data to develop overall conclusions for each grade level or course. The data trends and themes prevalent in both surveys – including the Public School Unit (PSU) survey and the All Stakeholder Survey— showed a majority preference for keeping the content of the current 2010 standards. An analysis of the focus groups and interviews indicated a desire to clarify the language in the standards/objectives and to make objectives clearer for instruction. 

This information was captured in the DRC’s Report which was then provided to the Health and Physical Education Standards Writing Teams (SWTs) as the basis to start the revision process. The SWT began working in early February and used the conclusions and recommendations of the DRC Report to revise the 2010 K-12 Health Education Standards.

A presentation was also shared for the K-12 Science Standards, as the third draft was presented before the State Board where members of the NCDPI Office of Academic Standards, as well as representatives from the Data Review Committee and Standards Writing Team, explained the process that science has undergone since receiving approval to move forward with revisions in May 2022.

Presenters shared details on what actions occurred between draft 2 and draft 3 of the proposed K-12 Science standards.  The presentation also included a look at a crosswalk between the 2009 and the proposed 2023 standards.  Overall, the number of K-12 Science Standards increased by two, but the number of objectives dropped by 20.  Embedded within draft 3 of the proposed standards are the Scientific and Engineering Practices.  Members of the Data Review Committee and Standards Writing Team explained to the State Board what these are and how they support the application of science.  They then highlighted how these practices connect to and support the durable skills within the NC Portrait of a Graduate.

After the presentation concluded, 2021 NC Burroughs Wellcome Fund Teacher of the Year Eugenia Floyd inquired about the unpacking documents – noting how helpful these support documents are for educators when implementing standards in the classroom. Presenters shared that the support documents will be disseminated throughout the next school year, once the standards are approved.

Since the standards were shared before the SBE, a survey has been released to acquire input from stakeholders regarding the proposed K-12 Health and Physical Education Standards. The survey will be used to inform any additional revisions, which may include changes, clarifications, additions, deletions, or replacements to the draft standards. The surveys will close on September 18th, 2023.

2023 Stakeholder K-5 Health Education Draft 1 Standard by Standard Survey

2023 Stakeholder 6-9 Health Education Draft 1 Standard by Standard Survey

2023 Stakeholder K-9 Physical Education Draft 1 Standard by Standard Survey

2023 Ready to Open Preliminary Charter School Recommendations

The State Board of Education heard from the Office of Charter Schools Director Ashley Baquero on the Ready to Open preliminary recommendations for the 2023-24 school year. This is the first round of evaluating whether these schools are progressing in their goal to open August 2023. Final recommendations will be presented to the State Board of Education in July. The State Board of Education previously approved these schools through the charter application process.

The Ready to Open Program is a statutory requirement for a planning year of a new charter school. The program typically lasts 1-2 years but may be prolonged which is the case for three of the seven recommended schools. An additional seven schools are in a current delay and will continue in the Ready to Open process for the next year with an anticipated opening of fall 2024.  

Preliminary recommendations are heard by the State Board of Education in June as one of the several steps that take place throughout the year. In July, the final recommendation of Ready to Open schools from the Charter School Advisory Board will be presented to the State Board of Education.

There are four internal guidelines that the Office of Charter Schools uses to evaluate new charter schools: enrollment, facility, budget and the Ready to Open progress report.  

The seven schools designated as preliminary Ready to Open Schools are:

• 11C Mountain City Public Montessori School
• 62N Aspire Trade High School
• 96G Wayne STEM Academy
• 62R Movement School Northwest
• 62M Bonnie Cone Leadership Academy
• 79C Legacy Classical Academy
• 19F School of the Arts for Boys

Learn more about the seven charter schools with preliminary Ready to Open status here.

Federal Provision: Veterans Auto and Education Improvement Act of 2022

In an effort to support the teacher pipeline and military-connected educators, the State Board of Education discussed the federal provision, HR 7939, Veterans Auto and Education Improvement Act of 2022.

This federal provision will allow for the service member or spouse of a service member – who is under military orders and possesses a valid educator’s license from another jurisdiction– to be considered to hold a valid North Carolina educator’s license for the duration of the military orders.

To qualify, a valid out-of-state educator’s license must be current and in good standing. The license must have been actively used for employment as an educator during the two years immediately preceding the relocation. The license from the other jurisdiction must be appropriate for the position in which the service member or spouse will be employed. Valid marital documentation and military orders must be provided.

The military-connected applicant is not issued a North Carolina educator’s license under this provision, but the valid out-of-state license allows the educator to be paid on the teacher salary schedule. A military-connected applicant who wishes to obtain a North Carolina educator’s license must meet all State Board of Education licensure requirements at the time of application.

Superintendent Truitt and the General Assembly had been working on a similar provision this legislative session. The federal government passed this provision in January that meets the requirements the state had been looking to implement.

Board members asked clarifying questions and discussed license reciprocity. This provision applies nationally and is not specific to education. It governs all educational licensing boards. The military service member must be on active duty orders in North Carolina to be eligible for this provision.

Learn more about the federal provision for educational licensure here.

Report: Teacher Bonus Program 2021-22 Fiscal Year

The State Board of Education heard a report on the effect of the teacher bonus program on teacher performance and retention based on SL 2022-74 Section 7A.2(g). A report was sent to the Joint Legislative Education Oversight Committee (JLEOC) to meet the March 15, 2023 deadline; however, this report stated that the data was unavailable to provide all requested information. A request was made for an extension to allow NCDPI time to collect the data and create the report as requested by the JLEOC.

In January, the state issued Education Value-Added Assessment System (EVAAS) teacher bonuses relating to student EVAAS scores. These bonus programs cover third grade reading, fourth and fifth grade reading, and fourth through eighth grade mathematics. Through this program a bonus is awarded to teachers who score in the top 25 percent of EVAAS ratings across the state and local districts.

This year’s report to the General Assembly was very specific with key findings outlined below:

• Relating to the number of teachers eligible and qualifying for the bonus at both the local and state level, there are about $45,000 of bonus funds undistributed.
• Relating to the relationship between current and prior performance, bonus eligibility only moderately related to the retention of teachers in a grade or subject.

“When I say moderately, I’m going to be very clear that the relationship is slightly negative,” Tom Tomberlin, Senior Director of Educator Preparation, Licensure, and Performance, said. “We know that teachers on average move districts at about a 12 percent rate across the state. We’ve got about a 15 percent rate for those who are eligible for bonuses. So in terms of retention, this might not be strategy that is yielding the impact that we want.”

• Relating to the statistical relationship between current and prior performance, teachers of mathematics, who have qualified for one of two bonuses in the past, have a higher probability of qualifying for the bonus than reading teachers do.

Analyses suggest that EVAAS measures the differences in instructional quality of teachers, rather than EVAAS growth being a function of the type of students that teachers instruct in a given year. The data is suggestive, not causal, and would need to be studied further.

“The data suggests … it is picking up an inherent quality in the teacher or a learned experience of the teacher rather than a reaction to the certain type of students that the teacher has been assigned in a given year,” Tomberlin said.

Both teacher advisors, Leah Carper and Eugenia Floyd, underscored the pressure these teachers face for these high-stakes, one-day tests.

“These bonuses are wonderful to offer to anyone who grows a kid, but everyone grows a kid,” Carper said.

“It’s a lot of emphasis on one test, on one day,” Floyd said. “As a fourth grade teacher, I have benefited from this bonus. … We’re doing a whole lot more than preparing for this one test, one day.”

The dashboard detailing the distribution of bonuses across LEAs and charter schools can be found here.

The full report to the General Assembly can be found here.