An Increase in Student Academic Growth!

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 Fresh-

man 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 current-

ly uses the 7-point grading scale, with some LEAs using +/- as well. As the pos-

sible 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.

NCAE SBE Review MORE REVISONS LIKELY WITH GRADING SCALE

Issues Session:

Received an update on

the Gifted Education

and Advanced Place-

ment 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.

Received information

on the Biennium Budg-

et process for next cy-

cle. The SBE can net a

2 percent expansion.

This will be part of the

Fall SBE retreat in Oc-

tober.

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.

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%

State Performance Levels

In March 2014, the SBE adopted five aca-

demic 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 mak-

ing a Level 3 and above means grade–level

proficiency and Level 4 and above

demonstrates meeting the college-and-

career 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 successful-

ly completing Math III was more than 95

percent. High schools implementing more

rigor using the Graduation Project was at

44.2 percent this year.

School Accountability Growth 2013-14

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

September 2014

Accountability

Performance Results can

be found by schools:

http://goo.gl/z05x84

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:

NCAE SBE Review Page 2

NCAE SBE Review September 2014

New licensure exams cut scores adopted

Pearson Test 090 - Foundations of Reading Score for next two years = 229

Pearson General Curriculum for North Carolina

Subtest 103 - Multi-subjects

Score for next two years = 227

Pearson General Curriculum for North Carolina

Subtest 203 - Mathematics

Score for next two years = 227

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 De-

velopment 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 profes-

sional development opportunity. Watch this video to find out more on a Digital Badge for Teachers http://youtu.be/

RDmfE0noOJ8.

Earning a Global Educator Digital Badge

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.

NCAE SBE Review

NCAE SBE Review September 2014

North Carolina continues to move forward to ensure all

teachers have subject-specific student data to populate

Standard 6. Teachers responsible for grades three through

eight reading and math, as well as high school subjects in

Math I, English II, Biology and ACT, have used standardized

tests for decades. The standardized test results for growth are

now being used to populate Standard 6 to provide data for an

overall teacher effective rating that takes place at the end of a

three-year data period. This year, after two pilot runs in 2012-

14, the following specialty subject area teachers will have an

assessment process to provide data for Standard 6:

Advanced Placement, Arts Education, Healthful Living

and PE, International Baccalaureate, and World Languages.

The State Board of Education and NC DPI have created a pro-

cess similar to National Board Certification components,

where teachers collect and provide evidence of student work

for specified subjects they teach that do not have standard-

ized tests. An overview of the process called Analysis of Stu-

dent Work (ASW) show the progression over the course of a

semester or a year.

For 2014-15 the State will have a full pilot implementation of

all impacted teachers. Advanced Placement, Arts Education,

Healthful Living and PE, International Baccalaureate, and

World Languages. More than 600 educators have been

trained across the state on what the process should look like

and how teachers will gather data within their subject areas.

Tentative Semester 1 Timeline

September 10 DPI will extract course code data from

PowerSchool

September 15 Teachers access schedule information

in ASW Platform to complete a prac-

tice validation of their schedules

September 15 – 26 Window for districts to correct teacher

schedule information

September 29 DPI will extract final course code data

from PowerSchool

October 1 Teachers access schedule information

in ASW Platform to complete the final

validation of their schedules*

* Teachers on a semester schedule will validate their second

semester schedule data in late January 2015

October 1 – 15 Teachers validate their schedules and

principals approve. Teachers receive

the classes for which they will collect

evidence

October 15 Final deadline for schedule validation

and class selection by the online

platform

October 15 – Jan. 2 Evidence Collection Window for

Semester 1

January 5 Semester 1 Student Selection/

Evidence Collection Window Opens

January 20 Semester 1 Evidence Collection

Window Closes

Special Subject Area Teachers and Standard VI

NCAE SBE Review September 2014

CHARTERS September 2014

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.

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 im-

plementing 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 lowest-

achieving 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 ef-

fective 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.

RT3 Update