TEACHERS' MESSAGES 2009
TEACHERS' MESSAGES 2009DECEMBER 10, 2009 - Teachers' Biweekly Messages
There is no gift that I would rather receive this holiday season than to hear in 2010 that North Carolina is receiving a federal Race to the Top grant. Staff members at the NC Department of Public Instruction, under the coordination of the Governor's Office, have been working very hard to prepare a strong and compelling grant. On Friday, I am meeting with NCAE presidents and state leadership to make sure this group has the information they need to be supportive of North Carolina's grant. Our goal with this grant proposal is to obtain funding to help move our state forward with North Carolina's Accountability and Curriculum Reform Effort, with the successful District and School Transformation effort, and with strengthened professional development efforts, as well as others. Race to the Top could bring up to $400 million to North Carolina's public schools, with up to half of that going directly to local school districts that participate in Race to the Top. So, let's keep our fingers crossed for success!
On another note, I hope your holiday break is peaceful and joyous and that you return in January renewed and refreshed for a new year.
Regards,
June Atkinson
In this Biweekly Teachers' Message:
State Board Meeting Highlights
At last week's Board meeting, members approved removing the second retest from the state's testing program beginning in 2010-11, developing a process to collect and analyze teacher and principal evaluation data, a policy for allowing nonpublic school students to access North Carolina Virtual Public School courses. Board members discussed the state's proposed new accountability model, draft K-12 Science Essential Standards (Draft 3.0 available online at www.ncpublicschools.org/acre/standards/ ), recommendations for revised mentor standards and training, adding teaching areas to licenses based on 24 semester hours of coursework, and awarding CEUs for retired teachers. Board members also received a presentation on NC WISE's Parent Assist Module. Complete Highlights of the Board's December meeting are available online at www.ncpublicschools.org/stateboard/highlights .
What's New with ACRE: Constructed Response and Statewide Summative Assessments
Staff with the NCDPI'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
Mecklenburg County Teacher Receives International Spirit Award
Congratulations to Socrates Academy teacher Zoi Karavokyri who was recently given the International Teacher Exchange Services' 2009 International Education Week Spirit Award. International Education Week is a joint initiative of the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of State designed to promote programs that prepare Americans for a global environment and to attract participants from abroad to learn and share experiences in the United States. Karavokyri is an exchange teacher from Greece. She incorporated a variety of Greek themes into her second grade classroom for International Education Week enabling her students to learn about ancient Greek mythology and how fables written by Aesop the Greek are still enjoyed by children all over the world today.
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/ .
New LEARN NC Blog Focuses on Special Education
As a teacher, hearing that students in your classroom have a diagnosed learning disability or other special need can be overwhelming and even intimidating. Each week, UNC Pittleman Fellow Kris Zorigian will consider a commonly held belief about special education, providing special instruction to students with special needs, and the behavior problems you might encounter in an inclusive classroom. The blog will concentrate on classroom practices, looking at each issue, asking what the research says, and offering teacher-tested strategies for teaching students with learning and behavior problems. Log on today at http://blogs.learnnc.org/ecblog .