PRINCIPALS' MESSAGES 2006

JUNE 15, 2006

Congratulations to North Carolina's remarkable Mathematics Team, which beat more than 100 teams (see item below) in order to win the American Regions Mathematics League Meet earlier this month. I hope that principals and teachers across our state will tell this story to students as an example of how North Carolina students are capable of being competitive at a very high level. Too often, the standards and performance of our students is discounted, but this team's performance shows me that North Carolina students are just as capable and just as competitive as others when they are focused on a goal.

Regards,
June Atkinson

In this Biweekly Principals' Message:

1. Gov. Easley Announces Comprehensive Plan to Improve Low-Performing High Schools
2. SBE Ad Hoc Committee on School Leadership Meeting Summary
3. SBE Ad Hoc Rigor, Relevance and Relationships Committee Meeting Summary
4. Alexander County Student Places Third in National Spelling Bee
5. NC Mathematics Team Wins National Competition
6. Exceptional Children Conference to be Held in November

Gov. Easley Announces Comprehensive Plan to Improve Low-Performing High Schools

Gov. Easley Announces Comprehensive Plan to Improve Low-Performing High Schools - Tuesday morning, Gov. Easley announced a comprehensive plan to improve low-performing high schools across the state. As a part of the plan, school districts with high schools where less than 60 percent of students did not meet proficiency on end-of-course tests for the past two years will be required to select from a menu of proven, long-term restructuring options or the schools will be reconstituted and redesigned through the state's New Schools Project. Easley also is expanding the turnaround team's effort's to schools where less than 70 percent of students are not meeting state proficiency standards. These schools will receive turnaround team visits in the 2006-07 school year. If the schools fall below 70 percent again in 2006-07, they would be required to begin a restructuring effort in the fall of 2007. To read more, please go to the Governor's Web site at http://www.governor.state.nc.us/News/PressReleases/Default.asp and click on the appropriate link.

SBE Ad Hoc Committee on School Leadership Meeting Summary

SBE Ad Hoc Committee on School Leadership Meeting Summary - The State Board of Education's Ad Hoc Committee on School Leadership met Tuesday, May 30, to consider preliminary recommendations related to revised standards for school administrator evaluation, school administrator preparation programs, principal recruitment and retention, and principal induction and continuing professional development. In addition to the reinstatement of the add-on license for school administration (which the State Board approved earlier this year), the committee is considering other possible alternative routes to school administrator licensure. The committee anticipates having a preliminary report to distribute widely for discussion and input within the next few weeks. For additional information, please contact Kathy Sullivan, Human Resource Management/Quality Professional, NCDPI, at ksulliva@dpi.state.nc.us.

SBE Ad Hoc Rigor, Relevance and Relationships Committee Meeting Summary

SBE Ad Hoc Rigor, Relevance and Relationships Committee Meeting Summary - The State Board's Ad Hoc Committee on Rigor, Relevance, and Relationships met on Tuesday, May 30. The committee's agenda included a presentation from Juliana Langston, an eighth grader from Ligon Middle School (Wake County Schools), on the benefits of a virtual school program. The agenda also included an update from NCDPI's Secondary Education Division Director Wandra Polk on the activities surrounding the American Diploma Project (ADP). One of the goals of ADP is to define what students need to know and do to be college and work ready. ADP research indicates that students need the same level of skills and knowledge for college and for work. DPI staff members working with the project are involved in aligning high school standards with the knowledge and skills required for success in post-secondary education and work. Work on this project will continue throughout the coming year. The R3 committee also heard a report from John Dornan of the Public School Forum on issues of time for school. He pointed out that, in some countries whose students are out-performing US students, the school year and day amounts to one to three years longer than in the US. The US has the shortest school year compared to some competitive countries, which average 207 days in school. He said that the Public School Forum will soon release its report on extended day programs. The R3 Committee will hold its next meeting in August.

Alexander County Student Places Third in National Spelling Bee

Alexander County Student Places Third in National Spelling Bee - Congratulations to West Alexander Middle School (Alexander County Schools) student Saryn Hooks for placing third in the Scripps National Spelling Bee. The competition began with 275 fourth through eighth graders. The ABC television network broadcasted the championship rounds during prime time. An eighth grader from New Jersey, Katharine Close, won the event by spelling correctly "ursprache." The runner-up was a student from Canada.

NC Mathematics Team Wins National Competition

NC Mathematics Team Wins National Competition - A team of 15 students from across North Carolina defeated over 100 teams from the United States, Canada, Taiwan and the Philippines at the American Regions Mathematics League Meet held June 3. The meet was held simultaneously at three locations: Penn State University, the University of Iowa and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Two North Carolina teams competed and were chosen based on their performance in contests sponsored by the North Carolina Council of Teachers of Mathematics and on their scores on various tests of the American Mathematics Competitions. Congratulations to high-scoring individual team members John Berman, John T. Hoggard High (New Hanover County Schools), Jeremy Hahn and Arnav Tripathy, East Chapel Hill High (Chapel-Hill-Carrboro City Schools), Mikhail Lavrov, Enloe High (Wake County Schools) and Amy Wen and Steven Ji, North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics. Coaching this year's teams were Archie Benton, North Buncombe High (Buncombe County Schools), Ken Thwing, Freedom High (Burke County Schools), Kathy Hill and Deanna Lancaster, Athens Drive High (Wake County Schools) and David Mermin, Duke University.

Exceptional Children Conference to be Held in November

Exceptional Children Conference to be Held in November - Mark your calendars for Nov. 6-8 and plan to attend the 56th Annual Conference on Exceptional Children. The conference will be held at the Sheraton Hotel/Koury Convention Center, Greensboro. Registration information will be sent in August in addition to being available online at www.ncpublicschools.org/ec/conference.