Number 10

Applications Open for 2024-25 Digital Teaching and Learning Grant - Deadline March 4

Attention school districts, charter schools, lab schools and regional schools! There's still time to apply for a Digital Teaching and Learning Grant for the 2024-25 school year.

Up to $1.25 million in grants, funded by the General Assembly through the state’s Digital Learning Initiative, are available to support North Carolina districts and schools as they address challenges and leverage resources for digital personalized teaching and learning.

Request for proposal materials, submission guidelines, and dates for office hours to support schools and districts with grant applications, are available on the Digital Teaching and Learning website. The deadline to apply is March 4.

Number 9

Registration Open for North Carolina Alliance of Black School Educators First Annual Statewide Conference

The North Carolina Alliance of Black School Educators (NCABSE) will host its first annual statewide conference March 8-9, 2024 in Charlotte. The theme of the conference is "Leading Change and Embracing Innovation: Focusing on Accountability, Evidence of New Mindsets,
Positive Results and Improved Student Achievement."

The conference is open to superintendents, principals, school board members, teachers, instructional coaches, curriculum staff, students, parents and community members.

Learn more about the conference and register here. 

Number 8

2024 NC Teacher Working Conditions (TWC)

Throughout the month of January NCDPI hosted a series of NC TWC webinars. The links to those webinars can be found here.

NCDPI will continue to host NC TWC office hours every Thursday from 4-5 p.m. through March 29. Join office hours here.

Number 7

NCDPI Accepting Summer 2024 Internship Applications - Deadline Feb. 26

NCDPI is excited to offer an internship program designed to invite both undergraduate and graduate-level students pursuing degrees in public policy, public administration, education, communication, business management and related fields into the heart of a state government agency. All internships are paid internships. Interns can expect one-on-one guidance from agency staff, opportunities to meet with agency leaders, and the ability to contribute to the work of advocating for and supporting educators and students across North Carolina.
Internship applicants should specify their personal and professional goals in their application documents in order to best pair successful candidates with relevant projects and teams within the Department. Opportunities exist for internships in various fields and with a number of different work units, including opportunities in research, communication, data analytics, legislative affairs, and program management.

Interested candidates are encouraged to review the list of available 2024 summer internship opportunities prior to submitting an application. Learn more about internships at NCDPI and find the online application here. The deadline to apply is February 26.

Number 6

Superintendent Truitt's Parent Newsletter

The February edition of Superintendent Truitt's parent newsletter, Coffee with Catherine, went out last week. 

Check out the most recent newsletter here. To sign up for the newsletter, click here and enter your email address. When prompted, select "Superintendent Truitt's Parent Newsletter."

Number 5

2024 Call to Effective Action (CEA) Grant Program Accepting Applications

Accelerate is launching this Call to Effective Action (CEA) to support models of tutoring and individualized instruction that demonstrate the potential to deliver cost-effective services on a large scale that improves outcomes for students, particularly students in historically underserved communities.

Grant funding is available to support organizations that will provide personalized instruction in reading and/or math to students during the school day in the 2024-2025 school year and commit to rigorous research and evaluation of their program impact.

Learn more and apply for the grant here by March 15.

Number 4

NC Governor's School Seeking Teachers for Summer 2024

The Governor’s School of North Carolina is seeking creative, engaging teachers to serve as instructors for the 2024 summer session. Teachers are needed for both Governor’s School East and West campuses, hosted by Greensboro College and Meredith College.

Learn more and apply here. 

Number 3

DPI Seeking Best Practices for Using Teacher Working Conditions (TWC) Data

DPI is looking for NC's best practices for using NC TWC data by school or district leadership as part of school improvement planning, district strategic planning or data-driven conversations. Please send any great examples of presentations, data walls/walks, reflection protocols, school improvement plans/district strategic plans, board materials, principal eval protocols, etc. to nctwc@dpi.nc.gov.

Number 2

NC Teaching Fellows Program Announces Two New Partner Institutions

"The North Carolina Teaching Fellows Commission has unanimously selected Appalachian State University and East Carolina University as new partner institutions for the program beginning in 2024-25.

These two institutions will join the existing eight partner colleges and universities in offering initial teacher licensure programs in STEM education, Exceptional Children education and elementary education.

Last year, the General Assembly passed a law expanding the North Carolina Teaching Fellows program from eight to 10 institutions. Through a competitive process, 15 proposals from colleges and universities were submitted for review by the commission. Proposals were judged on a number of criteria, including program data, institutional support and practical experiences for participants, as well as an institution’s potential impact on geographic diversity and number of applicants."

Read the full press release here. 

Number 1

Abigail Bentley (Haywood County Schools) Named NCCAT 2024 Empower NC Beginning Teacher of the Year

"Abigail Bentley, a teacher at Pisgah High School in Haywood County Schools, was named the North Carolina Center for the Advancement of Teaching (NCCAT) 2024 Empower NC Beginning Teacher of the Year in a special ceremony at the John W. Bardo Fine and Performing Arts Center on the campus of Western Carolina University Thursday February 15th.

Bentley is described as an effective communicator who stands out for their commitment to covering standards, increasing student achievement, and creating productive learning environments. Their dedication to aligning teaching with high academic standards 'has significantly contributed to our students’ growth and success,' shared a colleague.

Her mentor describes Bentley’s use of kinesthetic motions to help students retain learning. She notes that Bentley also uses her experiences to engage her kids with real life comparisons. An administrator shared, 'her professional teaching efforts have made a huge impact on our school.'"

Congratulations, Abigail! Thank you for all that you do for your students and the difference you're making in their lives. Read more here.