September 2014 State Board of Ed Review

NCAE SBE Review MORE REVISONS LIKELY WITH GRADING SCALE The NC State Board and NC DPI recently changed the weighting of grades for honors and AP/IB courses, with changes being implemented with the Freshman Class of 2015-16.

The SBE is currently discussing another change regarding grade calculations for GPA and changing the current grading scale/system. North Carolina currently uses the 7-point grading scale, with some LEAs using +/- as well. As the possible grading scale may change, NCAE would like to provide the teacher voice.

Please take a moment and complete the following survey by September 22, 2014.

Graduation 4-Year Cohort Rate All Students

83.8%

Male Students

80.2%

Female Students 87.6% LEP Students

51.8%

Special Needs

64.4%

AIG

95%

Received an update on the Gifted Education and Advanced Placement Programs.

Received information and viewed a new training video for Safe and Healthy Schools.

Provided updates on PowerSchool. All 115 LEAs are connected and using the tools of HomeBase.

An Increase in Student Academic Growth!

Thanks to the dedicated educators, hard working students and supportive families students in North Carolina made gains in their academic growth. Almost 75 percent of the schools met or exceeded their growth goals.

Issues Session:

demonstrates meeting the college-andcareer readiness standard.

Statewide on all assessments, the percent of college/career ready is 46.2 and the percent of grade-level proficiency is 56.3.

There is a slight increase in the success rate of eleventh-graders who took the ACT this year; with 59.3 percent meeting the minimum requirement score. Students who participated in the ACT WorkKeys earned a silver certificate or higher, 68 percent. High school students successfully completing Math III was more than 95 percent. High schools implementing more rigor using the Graduation Project was at 44.2 percent this year.

State Performance Levels

School Accountability Growth 2013-14

In March 2014, the SBE adopted five academic achievement levels for reporting student performance on the EOGs and EOCs. The additional level allows for demonstration of not only being proficient but college/career ready. Students making a Level 3 and above means grade–level proficiency and Level 4 and above

Results were presented for 2,422 of the 2,565 public schools that participated in the statewide testing program.

Exceeded Expected Growth

31.8

Met Growth

42.9

Did Not Meet Growth

25.4

Received information on the Biennium Budget process for next cycle. The SBE can net a 2 percent expansion.

This will be part of the Fall SBE retreat in October.

Accountability Performance Results can be found by schools: http://goo.gl/z05x84

September 2014

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NCAE SBE Review

New licensure exams cut scores adopted In June, the SBE approved new licensure requirements for elementary and exceptional children candidates.

The new assessments for earning an Elementary and Special Education: General Curriculum license begins October 1, 2014.

Approved tests with cut scores: Pearson Test 090 - Foundations of Reading

Score for next two years = 229

Pearson General Curriculum for North Carolina

Score for next two years = 227

Subtest 103 - Multi-subjects Pearson General Curriculum for North Carolina

Score for next two years = 227

Subtest 203 - Mathematics

Earning a Global Educator Digital Badge As North Carolina continues to support educators with 21st Century tools, one process that has been developed is a Global Digital Badge. A proposed policy was discussed during the SBE meeting in September and will be voted on in October. Recommendations provide the criteria and process for teachers to earn the Global Educator Badge for Teachers. The recommendation is that the Global Educator Badge for Teachers designation be available beginning in January 2015.

Candidates for the Global Educator Digital Badge will develop a Professional Development Growth Plan utilizing the recommended process from the North Carolina Educator Evaluation System. The teacher, along with their principal, will review the teacher’s evaluation specific to the global awareness elements reflected in the North Carolina Professional Teaching Standards I, II, III, IV and V. Based upon this evaluation, the teacher and principal will establish a professional development plan to move teachers on the continuum to embedding global education in their instructional practices, while addressing the alignment to the North Carolina Standard Course of Study. The completion of the proposed 100 hours or 10 CEUs global education professional development and the Capstone Project (including acceptance into HomeBase as a state wide resource) must occur within two years of the goals documentation. Global education professional development hours may count towards regular license renewal requirements as general renewal credits. When the teacher has satisfied all requirements, a digital badge will be issued at the state level and the designation will be documented in the Home Base Educator’s Professional Development Profile.

There will be more guidance and technical assistance to provide information on LEA implementation and address questions regarding professional development including, how global education professional development earned prior to this proposed policy may be recognized, the review of the Capstone Project within Home Base, and how to address the time element, should a teacher not complete the process within the documented two years. As well as how CEUs will transfer from one LEA to another. As of this discussion, the process is not a mandate but a professional development opportunity. Watch this video to find out more on a Digital Badge for Teachers http://youtu.be/ RDmfE0noOJ8.

NCAE SBE Review September 2014

NCAE SBE Review

Teacher Leadership Specialist Standards

In January 2007, the State Board of Education ap-

proved new professional standards for the evaluation of teachers. The NCESS has been in place now since 2009.

Using these standards, rubrics and users guides, Teacher Leader Standards have been crafted and are aligned for roles such as an Instructional Resource Teacher, Literacy Coach or Lead Mentor. The new standards are called Teacher Leadership Specialists. The role of this specialist involves direct interaction with teachers for the purpose of improving student learning and achievement. Research and Evaluation Associates worked with NCDPI staff and LEA representatives to develop these instruments for the Teacher Leadership Specialist. Teacher Leaders will not have direct involvement with students, but with the adults in the school. The DRAFT standards were discussed and will be voted on at the October SBE meeting. Vice President Mark Jewell was on the design team.

Special Subject Area Teachers and Standard VI trained across the state on what the process should look like North Carolina continues to move forward to ensure all

and how teachers will gather data within their subject areas.

teachers have subject-specific student data to populate

Tentative Semester 1 Timeline DPI will extract course code data from PowerSchool eight reading and math, as well as high school subjects in September 15 Teachers access schedule information Math I, English II, Biology and ACT, have used standardized in ASW Platform to complete a practice validation of their schedules tests for decades. The standardized test results for growth are September 15 – 26 Window for districts to correct teacher now being used to populate Standard 6 to provide data for an schedule information DPI will extract final course code data overall teacher effective rating that takes place at the end of a September 29 from PowerSchool three-year data period. This year, after two pilot runs in 2012- October 1 Teachers access schedule information in ASW Platform to complete the final 14, the following specialty subject area teachers will have an validation of their schedules* assessment process to provide data for Standard 6: * Teachers on a semester schedule will validate their second Advanced Placement, Arts Education, Healthful Living semester schedule data in late January 2015 and PE, International Baccalaureate, and World Languages.

October 1 – 15 Teachers validate their schedules and The State Board of Education and NC DPI have created a proprincipals approve. Teachers receive the classes for which they will collect cess similar to National Board Certification components, evidence where teachers collect and provide evidence of student work October 15 Final deadline for schedule validation and class selection by the online for specified subjects they teach that do not have standardplatform ized tests. An overview of the process called Analysis of StuOctober 15 – Jan. 2 Evidence Collection Window for Semester 1 dent Work (ASW) show the progression over the course of a January 5 Semester 1 Student Selection/ Evidence Collection Window Opens semester or a year.

January 20 Semester 1 Evidence Collection Window Closes For 2014-15 the State will have a full pilot implementation of

Standard 6. Teachers responsible for grades three through

September 10

all impacted teachers. Advanced Placement, Arts Education, Healthful Living and PE, International Baccalaureate, and World Languages. More than 600 educators have been

NCAE SBE Review September 2014

September 2014

CHARTERS News about public charter schools 1.

Seventy-one charter school applications were received in the spring and the Office of Charter Schools along with the Charter Advisory Committee selected 12 to receive approval for their planning year. The State Board of Education approved the following 11: Charlotte Lab School Excelsior Classical Academy Ignite Innovation Academy - Pitt KIPP Durham College Preparatory Patriot Charter Academy PAVE Southeast Raleigh Charter School Piedmont Classical High School Queen City STEM School Shining Rock Classical Academy: CFA VERITAS Community School Youngsville Academy

The charter school that was not approved by the SBE was North Carolina Connections Academy ( a virtual charter school).

Applications rubrics and impact statements are located on the Office of Charter School webpage: http://www.ncpublicschools.org/charterschools/resources/application/.

2. The SBE approved the process for a “fast-track” replication of high-quality charter schools.

3. The SBE approved Commonwealth High School, a charter school in Charlotte, to participate in the legislated dropout prevention and recovery pilot program.

4. After much discussion and debate, the SBE approved the Virtual Charter School Pilot Program application process and timeline. The SBE also repealed the SBE policy on the Establishment of Virtual Charter schools in NC.

RT3 Update

Since NC received Race to the Top funding, the State Board of Education has submitted reports to the Joint Education Oversight Committee. The report, provided semi-annually, is due September 15. The purpose of the reports is to share the Board's progress toward implementing the “initiatives" which include 11 components in the state's Race to the Top (RT3) plan: (1) Transition to new standards and assessments, (2) Establishment of an Instructional Improvement System, (3) Establishment of the North Carolina education cloud technology infrastructure, (4) Full rollout and enhancement of the North Carolina Educator Evaluation System, (5) Provision of performance incentives to teachers in the lowestachieving schools to improve recruitment and retention, (6) Establishment of regional leadership academies, (7) Expansion of teacher recruitment and licensure programs to support low-performing schools, (8) Provision of effective teachers for schools through virtual and blended courses, (9) Provision of aligned professional development and establishment of professional development system, (10) Expansion of District and School Transformation work to turn around the lowest-achieving schools, and (11) Establish STEM thematic high schools and networks.

To review the Power Point on the implementation successes and lessons learned click RT3. This will be the last report to the JEOC as this is year five of North Carolina’s RT3 4 year project with funding from the USDOE.

NCAE SBE Review September 2014