TEACHERS' MESSAGES 2006

JULY 13, 2006

The General Assembly¹s budget for 2006-07 is one of the most positive that I can remember. Not only will teachers receive pay schedule step increases, but you also will receive an average of an 8.23 percent pay increase. Salary increases will range from 6.45 percent for teachers moving into their 29th year of service to 14.05 percent for teachers moving into their third year of service. In addition, important efforts such as low wealth supplemental funding, disadvantaged student supplemental funding, high school reform and redesign, literacy coaches for middle schools and services for children with disabilities will receive increases in funding. Please take time over the summer to thank your legislators for their support of public schools and of teachers.

Regards,
June Atkinson

In this Biweekly Teachers' Message:

1. State Board Meeting Highlights
2. SBE Ad Hoc Rigor, Relevance and Relationships Committee Meeting Summary
3. Gov. Easley Announces Comprehensive Plan to Improve Low-Performing High Schools
4. Trainers Needed for Healthy Active Children Policy
5. Alexander County Student Places Third in National Spelling Bee
6. North Carolina Mathematics Team Wins National Competition
7. 2006 Presidential Scholars Named
8. Chapel Hill-Carrboro Schools' Student to Participate in Biology Olympiad
9. NC NBCT Listserv
10. Exceptional Children Conference to be Held in November
11. North Carolina Council on Economic Education Sponsors Workshops

State Board Meeting Highlights

At last Thursday's State Board of Education teleconference meeting, members approved a District Assistance Model designed to provide varying degrees of support, guidance and services to school districts; exemption requests made by New Hanover, Rutherford and Swain County Schools under the Innovative Education Initiatives Act; and Praxis testing requirements for Exceptional Children's License Areas. Board members also continued their discussion on licensing requirements for international teachers, received an update on high school turnaround assessment team activities and discussed their sixth strategic priority addressing 21st century learning skills. Complete highlights of the Board's meeting are posted online at http://www.ncpublicschools.org/sbehighlights.

SBE Ad Hoc Rigor, Relevance and Relationships Committee Meeting Summary

The State Board of Education¹s 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 on Aug. 1.

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

Last month, Gov. Mike 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 state¹s New Schools Project. Easley also is expanding the turnaround assessment team effort to schools where less than 70 percent of students are not meeting state proficiency standards. These schools will receive turnaround assessment 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 June press releases link then scroll down to June 13.

Trainers Needed for Healthy Active Children Policy

Trainers in each local school district are needed to help provide trainings this fall to inform educators on the Healthy Active Children policy and to provide them with resources (Energziers and Fit Kids) to create physically active classrooms. This training is in partnership with the Health and Wellness Trust Fund Commission, the NC Department of Public Instruction, and Be Active North Carolina, Inc. If you are interested in being a leader in helping implement the Healthy Active Children Policy please contact Carrie Krans at 919.765.3107 or carrie@beactivenc.org for more information.

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 broadcast 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

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 year¹s 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.

2006 Presidential Scholars Named

Congratulations to Shelby High School (Cleveland County Schools) student Jennifer Claytor, one of three North Carolina students to be named a 2006 Presidential Scholar. The other students were Robert Smithson, Jr., Cary Academy (Cary) and Meredith York, Providence Day School (Matthews). Presidential Scholars demonstrate leadership and scholarship, contribute to the school and community, and exhibit outstanding accomplishments in the arts, sciences and other fields of interest. Each year up to 141 students are named as Presidential Scholars. A special ceremony was held in Washington, D.C., in June to honor all recipients. For more information on the Presidential Scholars program, please go online to www.ed.gov/programs/psp/index.html.

Chapel Hill-Carrboro Schools' Student to Participate in Biology Olympiad

Congratulations to East Chapel Hill High School student (Chapel Hill-Carrboro Schools) Meng Xiao He, for his recent selection to a four-person team that will represent the United States at the International Biology Olympiad. The Olympiad will be held July 9-16 in Rio Cuarto, Argentina. He also participated on his schools' Science Olympiad team that competed in at Indiana State University and the Science Bowl Team that competed in Washington.

NC NBCT Listserv

All National Board Certified teachers are encouraged to sign up for the NCDPI's NC NBCT listserv. Information, including educational opportunities for teachers, updates on National Board Certification and other items of interest, will be sent once or twice a month. NBCTs can subscribe by sending an email message to join-nbct@lists.dpi.state.nc.us.

Exceptional Children Conference to be Held in November

Mark your calendars for Nov. 6-8 and plan to attend North Carolina's 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.

North Carolina Council on Economic Education Sponsors Workshops

The North Carolina Council on Economic Education (NCCEE) is sponsoring free workshops covering economic education and financial literacy. Subjects include Financial Fitness for Life, Civics and Economics, Virtual Economics 3.0, Mathematics and Economics, Thinking Globally and more. For information on all available workshops and programs, please visit the NCEE Web site at www.ncee.net. To schedule a workshop at your school, please contact Sandy Wheat, North Carolina Council on Economic Education, toll free 866.606.2233 or by email, swheat@nccee.org.