COMPONENTS AND COST

Home Base includes certain tools that the NCDPI is requiring all school districts to use. Required tools are PowerSchool, the student information system that is replacing NC WISE; Test Nav for summative assessment (in 2014-15); and the new tool from Truenorthlogic for educator evaluation. These tools will be provided free of charge to districts.

In addition to the required tools, Home Base will include many optional tools — some available in the 2013-14 kick-off year — others rolling out later; "a tightly integrated and robust set of instructional, assessment and teacher evaluation tools with the power to revolutionize the way we teach and assess students and evaluate teacher effectiveness," according to Angela Quick, deputy chief academic officer and sponsor of the instructional and assessment portions of Home Base. The optional package rolling out in 2013-14 includes Schoolnet instructional and assessment tools plus OpenClass, which is a basic and freely available Learning Management System (LMS) that offers tools for classroom collaboration. Initial content for the core instructional improvement system includes:

  • NCDPI, LEA and licensed instructional content (e.g. instructional exercises, videos, lesson plans and unit plans) as well as Open Education Resources (OER) that have been vetted to ensure alignment to the North Carolina Standard Course of Study.
  • NCDPI, LEA and licensed assessment items to deliver benchmark and classroom assessments in Math, ELA, Science and Social Studies.

Again, these optional tools will be free to all school districts and charters in 2013-14. Districts are encouraged to test drive them thoroughly in the no-cost year; then the NCDPI will be asking LEAs for a decision to opt-in by March 31, 2014, for the 2014-15 year at an opt-in cost of $4 per student, which is a significant savings thanks to statewide buying power.

MARCH 2014 DEADLINE: Districts/charter schools will test drive the optional tools beginning with the 2013-14 school year then must decide by March 2014 if they will opt in at $4/student. Opt-in must be district-wide.


Components and Costs
List of required and opt-in Home Base components and any associated costs
(pdf, 1.4mb)