TEACHERS' MESSAGES 2006
TEACHERS' MESSAGES 2006NOVEMBER 9, 2006 - Teachers' Biweekly Message
The State Board of Education approved the ABCs results for 2005-06 yesterday, and with that action, the Department of Public Instruction is allocating the funds to school district central offices to pay incentive awards totaling $67.3 million. This year's reporting of the ABCs results is later than usual because of the new mathematics end-of-grade assessments. In compliance with recommendations given to North Carolina by a national panel of testing experts, we waited until all student test results were in before beginning the process of setting cut scores. The 2005-06 ABCs results mark the beginning of a new standard for North Carolina in the area of mathematics. That is why this year's results for the ABCs and for federal Adequate Yearly Progress should not be compared to prior years' results since they are based on different standards. As you know, the results this year reflect the increased rigor of the new math end-of-grade exams. When the State Board of Education set the new mathematics standards, Board members also adjusted the AYP targets accordingly. This action will help our students be better prepared for the competitiveness of the 21st century.
Regards,
June Atkinson
In this Biweekly Teachers' Message:
State Board Meeting Highlights
At last week's Board meeting, members approved staff recommendation to not revise the North Carolina Social Studies Standard Course of Study and technology guidelines for new school construction. Members discussed a timeline to implement a default curriculum for high school students, reviewed a proposal for licensing teachers for world languages and received a report on the effectiveness of representative mentor programs and a preliminary report on the 2006 Teacher Working Conditions Survey. Complete Board highlights are available online at http://www.ncpublicschools.org/sbehighlights by clicking on the appropriate link.
International Education Week is Nov. 13-17
The U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of State would like educators to join them in celebrating International Education Week on Nov. 13-17. This year's theme is "International Education: Engaging in Global Partnerships and Opportunities." The USED is working closely with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to highlight international space exploration and the importance of a rigorous math, science and foreign language education. Educators are encouraged to go online to http://iew.state.gov for further information about how students and schools can get involved.
Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools Recognized as a Global Communicators
School District
Congratulations to Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools for recently being honored by the State Board of Education and North Carolina in the World as a "Global Communicators School District" for its K-12 language program, including outstanding dual language programs at the elementary level. The Mandarin Chinese-English Dual Language Program at Glenwood Elementary and the Spanish-English Dual Language Program at Carrboro Elementary are in their fifth year and enroll more than 200 students in kindergarten through fourth grades. Dual language learning provides both language and content area instruction in two target languages. Half the students in each class are native English speakers, and half are speakers of the other target language.
NCVPS Seeks Online Instructors
The North Carolina Virtual Public School is searching for highly qualified teachers to work part-time instructing students online across North Carolina. Teachers are needed as part of the collaboration among the NCDPI, the Cumberland County Web Academy and the North Carolina Virtual Public School. If interested, please visit http://www.ccswebacademy.net/Employment/Employment_Opportunities.htm to fill out the online application.