PRINCIPALS' MESSAGES 2009

DECEMBER 17, 2009 - Principals' Biweekly Message

North Carolina continues to lead the nation in the number of teachers who have received certification by the National Board of Professional Teaching Standards. We learned this week that our state can now boast of 15,695 National Board certified teachers. If you have teachers who earned this distinction in 2009, please congratulate their efforts at professional improvement. And, if you've been wondering how principals can tap into this same type of experience, the opportunity is coming. The NBPTS has launched the National Board Certification for Educational Leaders, which includes the development of National Board Certification for Principals. National Board Certification for Principals, the first national certification program focused on principals, is also the first phase of an expanded umbrella program, National Board Certification for Educational Leaders, which builds on the National Board's 20-year certification program for teachers and school counselors. National Board Certification for Principals will not only create standards and an assessment process for principals, it also will lay the groundwork for a new teacher leader certification. For more information on this announcement, please visit www.nbpts.org.

Regards,
June Atkinson

In this Biweekly Principals' Message:

1. What's New with ACRE: Constructed Response and Statewide Summative Assessments
2. Honors Course Review
3. Gov. Perdue Launches eLearningNC.gov
4. National Board Certification for Principals
5. NC Number One in National Board Certified Teachers
6. Johnston County Elementary Student Wins National Poster Contest
7. Library Media Coordinator and Teacher/Instructional Technology Specialist of the Year Award Nominations
8. LEARN NC Facilitates Transition to new Teaching Standards

What's New with ACRE: Constructed Response and Statewide Summative Assessments

Staff with DPI's ACRE (Accountability and Curriculum Reform Effort) initiative have published a report on the potential inclusion of constructed-response, or open-ended, items in the statewide summative assessments. At present, many teachers in North Carolina use constructed-response items in the classroom for both formative and benchmark assessments. However, these item types are not currently included in statewide summative assessments used for accountability. Inclusion of constructed-response items in statewide tests offer an array of benefits and present a variety of issues that require careful consideration. In January, a second report on the topic will be published, and will explore how other states are using constructed-response items and the cost of using these item types in the statewide summative assessments. Read the Executive Summary or full report at http://www.ncpublicschools.org/docs/acre/archive/2009/resources/20091023-01.pdf

Honors Course Review

The NCDPI is preparing to implement the Honors Course Review (Spring 2010) process. Participating schools' principals will be notified on Jan. 4 of their selection for this review. A copy of this notification will be sent to the principals' superintendents. HONORS COURSE REVIEW SUBMISSIONS ARE DUE MAY 15. The "Honors Course Implementation Guide" is available online at www.ncpublicschools.org/curriculum/honorsguide . Dr. Vinetta Bell will chair of the Honors Course Review (Spring 2010) committee. She can be contacted at vbell@dpi.state.nc.us or 919.807.3952.

Gov. Perdue Launches eLearningNC.gov

Gov. Bev Perdue recently announced the launch of www.eLearningNC.gov, the entry point to all the eLearning resources North Carolina has to offer. The new Web site will provide an easy one-stop-shop for any North Carolinian, from K-12 students to life-long learners, who want to take advantage of online learning such as the NC Virtual Public School, online courses from community colleges or universities, and online career building. The eLearningNC.gov Web site was created by a partnership between the Office of the Governor, the North Carolina Education Cabinet, and the North Carolina eLearning Commission.

National Board Certification for Principals

The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS), the organization that sets and maintains the standards for teacher excellence, last week launched National Board Certification for Educational Leaders, which includes the development of National Board Certification for Principals. National Board Certification for Principals, the first national certification program focused on principals, is also the first phase of an expanded umbrella program, National Board Certification for Educational Leaders, which builds on the National Board's 20-year certification program for teachers and school counselors. National Board Certification for Principals will not only create standards and an assessment process for principals, it also will lay the groundwork for a new teacher leader certification. For more information on this announcement, please visit www.nbpts.org .

NC Number One in National Board Certified Teachers

For the 14th year in a row, North Carolina has the most National Board Certified teachers in the nation as 15,695 teachers in the state have earned this certification. North Carolina also ranks first in the nation in the number of newly-certified teachers with 1,509 educators earning the recognition this year. Three North Carolina school districts are among the nation's top 20 in terms of the number of teachers who achieved National Board Certification in 2009: Charlotte-Mecklenburg-2nd (221), Wake County-3rd (197) and Guilford-9th (69). Five North Carolina school districts are among the nation's top 20 in terms of the number of teachers who achieved National Board Certification over time: Wake County-2nd (1,702), Charlotte-Mecklenburg-5th (1,439), Guilford-11th (592), Forsyth-18th (413) and Buncombe-20th (371). For more information, visit the NCDPI's Web site at www.ncpublicschools.org and click on the appropriate link under "News."

Johnston County Elementary Student Wins National Poster Contest

Jennifer Sieredzki, a second grader at Riverwood Elementary (Johnston County Schools), was presented with a $500 savings bond from the National School Bus Safety Week committee for winning first place in the K-2 Division of the National School Bus Safety Week Poster Contest. NCDPI Transportation Services Section Chief Derek Graham presented Sieredzki with the savings bond at last week's Johnston County Board of Education meeting. Sieredzki's poster focused on the 2010 National School Bus Safety Week theme "Cross in View, It's the Right Thing to Do!" This theme highlights the need for students to remain in view of the bus driver when crossing the street to board the school bus.

Library Media Coordinator and Teacher/Instructional Technology Specialist of the Year Award Nominations

The North Carolina Technology in Education Society (NCTIES) is currently accepting nominations for its School Library Media Coordinator and Teacher/Instructional Technology Specialist of the Year awards. The deadline for nominations is Jan. 10. For more information, visit http://ncties.org/awards/index.html or contact Cathy Evanoff at cathy.evanoff@dare.k12.nc.us or 252.377.1539.

LEARN NC Facilitates Transition to new Teaching Standards

LEARN North Carolina is taking measures that will make the transition to the new NC teaching standards easier. Educators will soon be able to use LEARN NC to find standards-aligned professional materials the same way you use the Standard Course of Study matrix to navigate to standards-aligned lesson plans. For more information, please visit http://blogs.learnnc.org/blog/2009/11/12/from-the-director-adapting-to-the-new-nc-teaching-standards/ .

 

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