PRINCIPALS' MESSAGES 2009

JUNE 19, 2009 - Principals' Biweekly Message

I know that you would agree with me when I say that the 2008-09 school year has been one of the most difficult because of our state's and nation's financial difficulties. I would like to think that 2009-10 will be better, but the economic forecasts don't lead me to believe that will be the case. I do pledge to you that I will continue to explain the potential impacts of deep cuts in education, to advocate for principals and teachers and the important work you do, and to keep you as informed as possible about the state's budget. Budget conferees have been named and are available online at www.ncleg.net. I encourage you to continue to talk with your legislative representatives about the needs of your schools and how your staff and students can be best served given our limited economic resources.

Regards,
June Atkinson

In this Biweekly Principals' Message:

1. Summer Leadership Virtual Conference 2009
2. North Carolina Joins State-Led Effort to Develop K-12 Education Standards
3. Learn and Earn Online Course Registration More Than Triples in Two Years
4. NC Committee on Dropout Prevention Schedules Webinar
5. Federal Education and Health Officials Encourage H1N1 Planning
6. Public School Forum Releases Position Paper on Balanced Budget Approach
7. Talent Management Director Opening Announced
8. Project-Based Learning

Summer Leadership Virtual Conference 2009

The Western Region Education Service Alliance and North Carolina Association of School Administrator's Summer Leadership Virtual Conference 2009, "Transforming Education to Prepare Tomorrow's Leaders," will be held July 14 from 8:15 a.m.-4 p.m. The free, virtual conference will be streamed throughout the state and can be viewed at regional sites (RESA locations) or from your home/office computer. General sessions include two keynote speakers, Michael Horn (co-author of "Disrupting Class - How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns") and Tim Waters of McREL; updates from state education leaders, and four virtual breakout sessions presented by Architectural Design Studio, Scientific Learning, UNCG iSchool and LEARN NC. The final schedule will be available online July 10. In preparation for this unique event, educators are invited to view the "Pre-conference Orientation Video," which is available on the conference Web site at www.wresa.org/virtual . Viewing the video is not required, but highly recommended as it will introduce you to the technologies that will be used throughout the conference: Second Life, Twitter and Wimba. It also will discuss connectivity for your virtual conference experience. You can register online at www.wresa.org/virtual(click on Online Registration). Once you have registered, you will receive a confirmation by email. Please make sure your email address is correct. You will receive more instructions on how to access and participate in the virtual conference by email.

North Carolina Joins State-Led Effort to Develop K-12 Education Standards

North Carolina has joined 48 other states to develop a common core of state education standards. With these national standards, the state will save money and be able to focus more resources on teacher, rather than test, development. The new common core standards in K-12 English language arts and mathematics will be aligned with college and work expectations, and will be internationally-benchmarked and based on research and best practices. North Carolina also is one of 35 states to join the American Diploma Project (ADP), which works to align standards with college and career expectations. As a part of this involvement, the NCDPI has given the ADP Algebra II end-of-course exam in a random sample of schools across the state. Student perfor mance can then be compared with results from students across the country. To read more, visit www.ncpublicschools.org and click on the appropriate link under "News."

Learn and Earn Online Course Registration More than Triples in Two Years

More students than ever are logging onto Learn and Earn Online to earn free college credit according to new data presented this month to State Board of Education members. Learn and Earn Online enables high school students across the state to register for online college-level courses through the University of North Carolina at Greensboro iSchool and participating colleges in the North Carolina Community College System. Hundreds of different courses in language, music, politics, sociology and other subjects are currently available. In spring 2009, North Carolina high school students registered for a total of 5,429 college-level courses through Learn and Earn Online. This number represents a significant increase from the 1,421 classes students registered for at the inception of the program in the fall of 2007. Classes are offered for students to take during school with an on-site course facilitator or at home. There are prerequisites for some classes so students should check with their school counselors for program specifics. For more information, visit the Learn and Earn Online Web site at www.nclearnandearn.gov .

NC Committee on Dropout Prevention Schedules Webinar

The North Carolina Committee on Dropout Prevention will meet via Webinar on Monday, June 29, from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Agenda items include approval of the monitoring instrument, review and approval of fiscal guidelines, and continuation of the discussion of the 2009-10 grant application process. To participate in this meeting, you can register online at https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/942888657 or go to Room 753 of the Education Building, 301 N. Wilmington Street, Raleigh. For more information, please contact Debora Williams at dwilliams@dpi.state.nc.usor 919.807.3925.

Federal Education and Health Officials Encourage H1N1 Planning

US Education Secretary Arne Duncan and Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius are encouraging all school districts to make sure that they are strengthening their seasonal and pandemic flu planning in preparation for the fall-winter flu season. In a letter released last week, the Secretaries noted that collaborating with local and state health departments, promoting good hygiene, and creating response and communications plans to reach parents and other community members are important activities. There is a great deal of helpful information available at www.ed.gov and www.cdc.gov to guide your planning.

Public School Forum Releases Position Paper on Balanced Budget Approach

The Public School Forum released a position statement encouraging legislators to adopt a balanced approach to this year's budget - one that would include both reductions and increased revenue measures. With this approach, the Forum says, the impact of the state's budget reductions will be lessened considerably. To view the entire position statement, please go to http://www.ncforum.org/ and look under News & Events.

Talent Management Director Opening Announced

NCDPI is recruiting for a new director of Talent Management. This person oversees and delivers professional development to the local school districts; secures and manages third party deliverers of professional development; oversees the design, development, and execution of an on-line support clearinghouse; and coordinates the state's efforts to recruit and keep high quality educators in public schools. Dr. Jesse Dingle, who is leaving the NCDPI to become the new principal at Chapel Hill High School, recently held this position. Complete details about this position and the application process are online at http://www.ncpublicschools.org/jobs/. Look for Position Number 60009942, Education Program Director III (http://www.ncpublicschools.org/jobs/details?id=723&p=1&&orderBy=closing_date&order=ASC).

Project-Based Learning

At the mid-point of the 2008-09 academic year, East Wake School of Integrated Technology biology teacher Kelley Yonce needed to introduce her class of 20 sophomores to deoxyribonucleic acid, a.k.a. DNA. At home on a snow day watching television, Yonce saw a news item titled "Designer Babies" and knew she had her answer. You can read about her project-based learning project online at http://www.learnnc.org/lp/pages/5319 .

 

If you'd like to review past Principals' Biweekly Messages sent to the listserv group, just go online to http://www.ncpublicschools.org/principalsarchive/.