NCAE SBE Review: Instructional Policy Updates A P R I L
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ACT Awards NC is one of 30 states that will participate in the ACT National Competition for preparing College Career Ready Students. The state winners: Jeffrey Barahona of CMS Harding High School (class Valedictorian) principal NCAE member John Floyd. Issac Bear Early College High School in New Hanover. Mayland Community College in Spruce Pine, NC.
SBE Student Advisor, Shykeim Williams, of Randolph County conducted a webinar with SBE staff to gather feedback on testing in NC. Students noted: One test at the end of the year developed by teachers, instead of multiple tests during the year was a better use of time. Stop taking time away from instruction and allow us to have time to learn. Current NC Final Exams don’t’ reflect what we have been taught. Paper & pencil tests are better. Students rush and don’t reflect when sitting at a computer. Need an assessment different from the ACT for students not attending college. Assessments similar to CTE or WorkKeys. Schools need more textbooks! We are sharing classroom sets and don’t have books to take home. Maybe the Graduation Project should be required as it is relevant to real world and builds one’s confidence.
Options for Differentiated Pay: A Presentation by NCDPI Staff A comprehensive compensation system must include pathways as a foundation to ensure North Carolina can retain, recruit and reward teachers, as well as plans that consider working in at-risk schools, high subject demand areas and teacher leadership roles. The plan needs to have a robust evaluation system, which NC has in place and inclusion of student growth that NC is working on a to ensure all teachers are included in a fair and equitable manner. Career pathways with clear roles and responsibilities that will help with the retention, recruitment of the teaching force are needed. Research shows that increased compensation does not equal better student outcomes (pay for performance). There must be more dialogue, as supply and demand is becoming a problem and quick fixes will not solve the growing problem. There is not much optimism for Teacher Education Programs. Teacher Ed candidate trends are declining; a five-year trend shows a 27 percent decrease and last year a 12 percent decrease in students pursuing teaching as a career. Data shows that the teaching force in NC consists of third who pursue the traditional route, a third are from out of state and once gain experience return to their home state. A third are alternative routes such as Lateral Entry or Teach for America. NC must develop a plan that does not make our state the training ground for other states. The average teacher salary in the Southeast for NC remains the same; 11th out of 12 states. The recent NEA Salary Rankings shows that NC moved from 46th to 42nd in the nation. Data shared on the new NC salary “bands” where teacher salaries will remain constant for five years before they move to the next band; however the cost of inflation a 2.0 percent a year will have a negative impact on teachers. A COLA adjustment needs to be considered for each step within these bands. A 1 percent COLA would run the state about $54 million. Student Growth and Teacher Rewards/Evaluations can be used in a “bonus system” but the following need to be considered: Statewide assessments and comparability, multiple years of data, individual performance of each teacher for student growth. ALL evaluation standards need to be included, not just student growth. If rewarding teachers on school-level performance based on 2013-14 data: 4,185 schools, 107,173 certified staff = 36.51percent (39,129) would be eligible for a bonus. If the bonus was only $100 that would cost the state $3,912,900. If rewarding teachers on projected status of being Highly Effective based on 2013-14 data: 14.2 percent (2,673) of teachers would be eligible for a bonus. There is much work to be done regarding salaries. It is encouraging that the SBE has salary compensation as one of its legislative agenda items.
NCAE SBE Review APRIL 2015