SBE HIGHLIGHTS

SEPTEMBER. 4-6, 2007

Special Note:To review background materials on each item, please go to http://www.ncpublicschools.org/stateboard/meetings/2007/09. Click on the appropriate agenda category: Globally Competitive Students (GCS); Twenty-First Century Professionals (TCP); Leadership for Innovation (LFI); Twenty-First Century Systems (TCS); or Healthy Responsible Students (HRS).

Action Agenda

K-2 Literacy Assessment Task Force Recommendations (GCS 1) - Board members approved DPI staff revising the contents of the K-2 Literacy Assessment to more closely align with the Standard Course of Study.

Proposed Revision of the Standards for the Evaluation of Superintendents (TCP 1) - New standards for the evaluation of superintendents were approved. The standards address the following leadership areas: strategic, instructional, cultural, human resource, managerial, external development, and micropolitical. Staff will now begin work on the development and validation of a new evaluation instrument for superintendents.

Job Description and Salary Upgrades for Occupational Therapist Assistant and Physical Therapist Assistant (TCP 2) - Proposed job descriptions for Occupational Therapist Assistants and Physical Therapist Assistants that reflect the current nature of work and the requisite knowledge, skills, training and licensure necessary for these positions in the state's public schools were approved. These paraprofessionals serve students who have, or who are suspected of having, disabilities in a variety of areas. Pay grades for these positions also will be upgraded to be congruent with similar positions in other areas of state government.

Action on First Reading

The 2006-07 ABCs Report and 2007-08 Assistance Program (GCS 2) - The 2006-07 ABCs results were approved, which include ABCs growth and performance and Adequate Yearly Progress status for each of the state's districts and schools. The 2006-07 results showed that 71.8 percent of the state's public schools made expected or high academic growth. Board members also approved staff's recommendation regarding state assistance for low-performing schools, and high schools with a two-year performance composite below 60 percent. Assistance will come in the form of assessments, leadership and instructional facilitators, professional development, and the development of action frameworks.

Approval of Grants (TCS 1) - The following grants were approved for distribution of funds to selected school systems as appropriate: NCLB Enhancing Education through Technology Grant Awards - IMPACTing Leadership Grant Awards; Even Start Family Literacy Programs - Supplemental Allocations 2007-08; Mathematics and Science Partnership Grant Cohort IVb; 21st Century Community Learning Center Programs; and Reading First Schools' Additional Allocation.

Additional Legislation Requiring Immediate Action for Fiscal Year 2007-08 (TCS 2) - Board members approved the funding of a 1:1 Laptop Pilot for the 2007-08 school year. The Pilot will be implemented in Hunt High School (Wilson County) and the following seven Learn and Earn schools: Davidson Early College High, Edgecombe Early College High, Sand Hoke Early College High, Macon Early College High, Nash-Rocky Mount Early College High, Rutherford Early College High, and Wayne Early College High. Each school will receive the hardware, software, personnel, and professional development necessary to assist it in effectively and successfully implementing a 1:1 laptop program for each teacher and student.

IHE Performance Reports (TCP 5) - Institutes of Higher Education (IHE) performance reports for 2006-07 were approved. No IHEs were identified as low performing. IHEs did report an increase in both the total enrollment of undergraduate degree-seeking students in teacher education programs (approximately 6 percent) and the bachelor's level for licensure-only purposes. However, the number of lateral entry teachers issued programs of study decreased by about a third, and the number of lateral entry teachers enrolled in one or more classes leading to licensure decreased by almost 8 percent. The performance reports will be forwarded to the Joint Legislative Education Oversight Committee.

Recommendations for Preliminary Approval of 2007 Charter School Applications (LFI 1) - This item was moved from Action on First Read to a discussion item for Board action in October. The 2007 charter school applications for Duplin Charter School (Duplin County), Triad Math and Science Academy (Guilford County) and Endeavor Charter School (Wake County) were discussed. There are currently two charter vacancies that need to be filled.

Discussion Agenda

Field Testing and Special Studies for the 2007-08 School Year (GCS 3) - Board members discussed the 2007-08 field test and special studies list, which includes grade 3 Pretest in Reading Comprehension, NCEXTEND2 OCS Occupational English, NCEXTEND2 OCS Occupational Mathematics, NCEXTEND 2 OCS Occupational Life Skills Science I & II, NCEXTEND2 EOG Reading, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) 2008 Long-Term Trend Assessments, NAEP 2008 Science Interactive Computer Task/Hands On Tasks Pilot, NAEP 2008 Field Test of Reading, Mathematics and Science, and NAEP 2008 Arts Test. The majority of these tests and special studies are federally driven and not a result of State Board action, which will be noted in the letter sent to local districts. Local districts are permitted to file an appeal with the State Board of Education for a school to be excluded from a specific field test.

Policies Governing Services for Children with Disabilities (GCS 4) - Board members discussed replacing the current "Procedures Governing Programs and Services for Children with Disabilities" with "Policies Governing Services for Children with Disabilities." The Procedures currently being used are a combination of law and best practices that no longer meet the requirements of Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) 2004 and the accompanying regulations (34 CFR Part 300). Input was solicited from a number of stakeholders representing educators, parents, and organizations, in addition to three public hearings. A separate best-practices publication will be provided to local districts. Following State Board approval, the document will be submitted to the U.S. Department of Education. The new policies would go into effect immediately upon Board approval except for the one relating to class size and that would take effect in 2008.

Revision of the License Renewal Requirements to Reflect Legislation (TCP 6) - Proposed revisions to teachers' license renewal requirements to reflect recent legislative requirements were discussed. In July, the General Assembly enacted legislation that directed the State Board to adopt a policy requiring teachers to take credits in their academic subject area as part of the license renewal process. The proposed revisions would become effective for teachers renewing their licenses on or after July 1, 2009.

Information Agenda

Briefing on Literacy Coaches (LFI 2) - Gov. Easley's Education Advisor Ann McArthur briefed Board members on the 21st Century Literacy Coaches initiative, which was implemented at Gov. Easley's direction in 2006 to improve reading scores in middle schools. The 2006 state budget funded 100 literacy coaches. This year's budget provides funding for another 100 literacy coaches. The Board will decide which schools will participate and will base that decision in part on recommendations from the N.C. Teacher Academy. Two hundred and thirty schools have been invited to participate. Board members also heard from Retha Smith, Bertie County's literacy coach, and a few students from Southwestern Middle School on the positive impacts this program has had on their reading skills.

High School Workforce Development Program (Learn and Earn Early College High School Initiative) (LFI 3) - The New Schools Project's Learn and Earn Research and Communications Director Geoff Coltrane provided Board members with a status update on the Learn and Earn Early College High School initiative and the 33 schools that were open for the 3,100 students (mostly ninth and tenth graders) in the 2006-07 school year. Forty-two schools are open for the 2007-08 school year. Each of these schools is working in partnership with a community college or university that is providing facilities for the school and college-level courses for the students. The NCDPI, in conjunction with the NC New Schools Project (NCNSP), is monitoring and evaluating the progress of the schools in implementing the Learn and Earn model and its effects on student achievement. Student performance data for the Learn and Earn early college high schools will be included in a follow-up report in January 2008. NCDPI and NCNSP are partnering with Jobs for the Future to establish a comprehensive student-level database to collect and analyze data on the achievement of students who attend Learn and Earn early college high schools. NCDPI and NCNSP also are partnering with SERVE, Duke University, Abt Associates and UNC-Greensboro in a federally funded comprehensive research study on the effects of the Learn and Earn early college high school model on student achievement and other outcomes.

Briefing on Comprehensive, Consolidated Assistance Program (LFI 4) - NCDPI Innovation and School Transformation Associate Superintendent Robert Logan updated Board members on the Department's efforts to redefine and redesign the way it supports continuous improvement in schools and districts. The Department is looking at ways to offer assistance that will create scalable solutions; enable the highest impact; offer sustainable solutions; allow for monitoring, evaluating and measuring success; offer customer-focused service; and build credibility and expand capabilities of DPI over time. Self-diagnosis by districts will play a major role in the new model, which will then be used to tailor assistance based on capacity and performance. The ultimate goal of the assistance program is to help districts learn how to identify their system's root problems in order to build the needed capacity to meet those needs and better serve students.

Update on the Blue Ribbon Commission on Testing and Accountability (GCS 5) - State Board of Education's Senior Policy Analyst Kathy Sullivan provided Board members with an update on the progress of the Board's Blue Ribbon Commission on Testing and Accountability. The Commission has heard from a wide variety of stakeholders in regard to the state's assessment program and has discussed a number of issues including the legislation recently passed by the General Assembly, the cost of not complying with No Child Left Behind and the value of state-developed tests versus commercially available, nationally-normed tests. Although there has been much discussion, the Commission has not made any recommendations. Members understand their recommendations need to be in-depth, visionary and reflect 21st century skills.

Committees' New Business

Globally Competitive Students

Graduation Project Update - NCDPI Middle and Secondary Education Division Special Assistant to the Director Bryar Cougle provided an update on activities related to the graduation project. Cougle said the "NC Graduation Project Implementation Guide and Promotional DVD" are ready and will be distributed to local districts. The how-to document includes the graduation project's history, information on how to build a 6-12 foundation that is discipline specific, options for completion, intervention strategies, and appendices (rubrics, 6-12 skills materials, promotion, FAQ, sample documents, resources and references). A North Carolina Graduation Project Coordinators Conference will be held Sept. 7, and six facilitative delivery sessions will be held across the state in the coming weeks. NCDPI Instructional Services/Enterprise Divisional CIO Ken Little updated members on the graduation project software pilot. The project was initiated in January, five vendors responded to an RFI and product demonstrations were held in March. Currently staff members are drafting an RFP to distribute by the end of September (cost for the pilot would be a part of the RFP). Responses to the RFP will be evaluated with a contract award projected by the end of December. Four to five schools would be selected to participate in the pilot, which staff members anticipate would run from January-June 2008. An analysis of the pilot would then be presented to the Board.

Financial Literacy Update - NCDPI Middle and Secondary Social Studies Section Chief, Tracey Greggs, provided an update on Personal Financial Literacy (PFL) training. A videoconference for Civics and Economics (C&E) teachers will be held on Sept. 12. The sites for viewing the video-conference are DPI (Wake), Kinston High School (Lenoir), Hertford County High (Hertford), A.L. Brown High (Cabarrus), Starmount High School (Yadkin), Columbia High School (Tyrrell), and Avery County High (Avery). The videoconference will introduce PFL legislation, review current C&E PFL documents, and share dates and locations for statewide training. For those unable to attend the videoconference, streaming will be accessible on the DPI Secondary Social Studies Web site for two months. Day-long trainings are scheduled for Sept. 27 (North Raleigh Hilton), Sept. 28 (Martin Community College), Oct. 11 (Lumberton Farmers' Market), Nov. 16 (WRESA in Enka), Dec. 13 (Village Inn, Clemmons/Forsyth), and Jan. 25 (Moore County Days Inn). In addition to these trainings, exemplary Civics and Economics classroom instruction will be videotaped and posted on the DPI Web site. Classroom assessment is emphasized as a part of legislation. A Request for Information has gone out. Meetings with the National Council for Economic Education and Software Express, Inc. are planned and a Request for Proposals will be submitted for assessment bids.

Middle School Courses for High School Credit Update - NCDPI Middle and Secondary Education Division Director Wandra Polk told members that following the Board's approval of this policy change, a letter was sent to all high school principals and posted on the Department's listservs noting the policy change. A follow-up letter was recently sent to local instruction directors. Polk said staff are currently looking at expansion of this program (to include English, science and social studies) and will present their finding to the Committee at its October meeting.

Twenty-First Century Systems' Business/Finance and Advocacy Committee

Connectivity Project Update - The Department is under a three-year timeline to build an optimal operating model. The Board approved plans for recurring funds last month. Non-recurring funds will be used for transient issues such as set-up, organizational and one-time base infrastructure costs. By the end of this fiscal year, staff hopes to have an organizational structure in place in addition to e-rate changes, a common shared backbone, and a functioning group that will provide e-rate and network engineering services to districts.

Allotment Formulas Update - As part of the General Assembly's Budget Bill (HB 1473), a study commission will review nine public school funding formulas and the average daily membership growth model. The technical budget corrections bill added three more funding formulas for review. For committee presentations, the formulas will be divided into three groups: those that are controlled by the legislature, those that are controlled by the State Board of Education, and those where the State Board has no influence but can request to intervene. At this month's committee meeting, members received information on how two of these formulas - low wealth supplemental funds and small county supplemental funds - are used to determine if local districts are eligible to receive these additional funds and how much they would receive. Low-wealth supplemental funds are used to make up the difference between what a county could generate per child and the state average local appropriation per child. Small county supplemental funds provide additional resources to counties that, due to their size, are not able to generate enough resources from their traditional allotments to effectively deliver the standard course of study. In addition, an update was provided on the pilot program for alternative teacher salary plans, per House Bill 966. The purpose of the pilot is to enable local districts to develop and implement new and innovative teacher salary plans that will improve student performance by financially rewarding teachers through performance pay plans and recruiting teachers to hard-to-fill positions. The State Board of Education may approve up to five districts to participate in the pilot program, which is targeted to be effective July 1, 2008. Staff would like the pilot to be in place by February 2008 so that districts can use it as a recruitment tool. Once the pilot timeline is confirmed, information will be sent to local districts to gauge interest. The Board is expected to discuss this pilot at its January meeting with approval to occur in February.

Twenty-First Century Professionals

Update on the Status of the Lateral Entry Committee and the Task Force on Teacher Recruitment Recommendations - State Board of Education Senior Policy Analyst Kathy Sullivan provided an update on recommendations from the Task Force on Teacher Retention, Select Committee on Lateral Entry and the Ad Hoc Committee on School Leadership. The summary grouped the recommendations by those that have been implemented, those where some action has taken place, and those where no action has occurred. Funding is a major reason why little to no action has occurred on some of the recommendations.

Leadership for Innovation Committee

NC Virtual Public School Update - The North Carolina Virtual Public School (NCVPS) began its fall semester on Aug. 27 with a total enrollment as of Sept. 2 of 6,617 students (4,914 students enrolled in the NCVPS courses, and 1,703 enrolled in courses offered by outside providers such as Florida Virtual). The NCVPS is hosting 47 courses; 13 are Advanced Placement. This is the first time these courses are being offered for a full semester or year. The outside providers are offering 31 courses. NCVPS is using 104 qualified instructors to teach its 180 sections. These numbers may decline somewhat as the Drop Period is still in effect. A full course listing was handed out and also is available on the NCVPS Web site, www.ncvps.org. The Summer School program had a final enrollment of 4, 010 - only 45 percent of those students received a final grade of 60 or above. About two-thirds of these students were taking summer courses for credit recovery.

Special Recognition

Resolution Honoring Retiring State Board of Education Staff Attorney Harry Wilson - Board members presented a resolution to retiring State Board of Education Staff Attorney Harry Wilson honoring his dedication to ensuring excellence in all he accomplished on behalf of the State Board of Education and the public schools of North Carolina.

Recognition of New State Board of Education Student Advisor - Board members recognized their new student advisor, Enloe High School junior Brandon Young, and presented him with a pin, an apple and a mug.

State Board of Education Graduation Project Awards were presented to:

• Student Award: Ashley Barrow, John A. Holmes High School (Edenton-Chowan Schools)
• Coordinators' Award: Beverly Alford, Michelle Ammann, Holly Danley and Diane Gill, Graham High School (Alamance-Burlington Schools)
• School Award: John A. Holmes High School (Edenton-Chowan Schools) Each of the recipients also received a State Board of Education mug.

Good News Presentation

Karen Wells, NC Arts Executive Director, thanked the Board members for their support of arts education in the state's public schools and showed a DVD on "Arts Awareness Education" that will be presented across the state. Wells asked Board members to continue to support and grow arts education.

Chairman's Remarks

State Board Chairman Howard Lee discussed the adoption of new assessment instruments for administrators, teachers and superintendents and said that North Carolina Professional Teaching Standards Commission Executive Director Carolyn McKinney and Board Senior Policy Analyst Kathy Sullivan would staff the committee that would develop the actual assessment instrument. Training is targeted to occur in October with two participating districts with the implementation of the rubric scheduled for November and the validation process from January-April. On April 11, McRel would bring back the instruments for approval by the State Board of Education. Training would then take place in the remaining districts with full implementation to occur in the 2008-09 school year. Board members presented outgoing State Board of Education Legislative Liaison Rita Joyner with a resolution honoring her service to the Board. The Board will hold its retreat on October 28-30 (Greensboro), which will then lead into the Board's November meeting (Raleigh).

State Board of Education Executive Director Rebecca Garland in her report to the Board said that the Board's committee structure is working fairly well and that staff are working to make sure handouts are appropriately distributed to Board members. On Oct. 30, Board members have been invited by High Five to hear Dr. Doug Reeves discuss power standards. Executive Assistant to the State Board Betsy West provided members with tentative details regarding their retreat and Board meeting in Ocracoke. State Board Legislative Liaison Rita Joyner provided her final legislative report to the Board. She noted various materials available in the Board's packet including a chronological schedule of reports due and actions required by the General Assembly, and a list of bills to watch that may see action in the General Assembly's short session. She also said the Education Legislation report would soon be available online. At the conclusion of her report, Board members presented Joyner with a resolution honoring her service as legislative liaison.

State Superintendent's Report

State Superintendent June Atkinson highlighted a number of items in her monthly report including an update on No Child Left Behind, a briefing on the 2007 Annual Agency-wide Meeting, recognition of staff who received performance awards, the agency's new logo, presentations she has provided to a number of organizations and future engagements. She also encouraged Board members to participate in Jumpstart's Read for the Record scheduled for Sept. 20 by reading "The Story of Ferdinand" to a group of kindergarten students in their communities.

Deputy State Superintendent's Report

Deputy State Superintendent J.B. Buxton also congratulated Department staff who received performance awards at the 2007 Annual Agency-wide meeting. These winners are: State Superintendent's Award - Agnes Wong, workstation integrator, IT Operations Support; Performance Excellence Award - Faye Atkinson, IT support analyst on the Accountability Services Management Team; Team Excellence - Transportation Services (Charles Bell, Steve Beachum, James Hawkins, Randy Henson, and Craig Warren, all transportation consultants; Kevin Harrison, computer consultant; and Jean Strickland, administrative assistant). He also mentioned the creation of the Department's Conference Coordination Committee chaired by Accountability Services Education Testing/Accountability Consultant Sherry Ward. The committee will make sure conferences sponsored by the Department align with State Board of Education goals, realize efficiencies by combining logistical arrangements, and ensure that conference dates don't conflict with each other.