Legislative and DPI Update

June 29, 2011

Dr. Rebecca Garland

Chief Academic Officer

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Agenda

1. School-focused legislative update

2. Updates from the NCDPI

3. Update on teacher effectiveness policies

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School-focused Legislative Updates

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HB 736/SB 498: School Discipline

• Allows parents to elect out of corporal punishment• Requires LEAs to report annually to the State Board

of Education on the use of corporal punishment• Local board policy may not allow for suspension of

student for more than two days solely for truancy or tardiness offenses

• Local board policies may not be zero tolerance for long-term suspensions; they must allow the principal and superintendent to consider issues such as the student’s intent and disciplinary and academic history

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HB 736/SB 498: School Discipline

• Local board policies can only provide for long-term suspension or expulsion if the conduct meets the standard set in the law: threatens the safety of students, staff, or school visitors or threatens to substantially disrupt the educational environment

• Allows continuation of a long-term suspension through the first semester of the following school year for offenses that occurred in the last quarter of the year

• Eliminates 365-days suspensions except as required by federal law for gun possession

• Revises process for requests for re-entry after expulsion and makes the same process available for 365-days suspensions

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SB 394: Reportable Offenses

• Limits required reporting to only serious offenses outlined in statute

• Makes it no longer a crime to fail to report offenses

• Provides LEAs with discretion to work with law enforcement on other offenses

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SB 466: Teacher Tenure

• Provides detailed guidelines for implementing a “mandatory improvement plan” when a teacher’s performance is not satisfactory. This includes the use of “qualified observers”

• Makes modifications to the hearing process, providing for a hearing officer (instead of case manager) and giving more stringent requirements for qualifications and for meeting deadlines

• The NCDPI staff is reviewing statute and current State Board policy for alignment

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HB 200 and HB 720: Required Reports

• Eliminates district Safe Schools Plan

• Eliminates district School Technology Plan

• Moves toward more consolidation of existing plans

• Keeps School Improvement Plan in place

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SB 726: Placement of Siblings

• Requires principals to place multiple-birth siblings either with or separate from each other at request of parents

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HB 792: Concussion Awareness

• Requires each middle and high school to:– Have a venue specific emergency action plan to

address serious injuries and acute medical conditions

– Provide concussion and head injury information sheet to be signed by school employees, first responders, volunteers, and students/parents

– Maintain records of compliance with requirements pertaining to head injuries

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HB 769: High School Work Partnerships

• Requires schools to allow excused absences for students participating in job shadowing

• LEAs will develop policies on the number of excused absences that will be allowed

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SB 744: Student Enrollment

• Requires schools to request a birth certificate to enroll a student

• Allows schools to accept medical records, a birth certificate issued by a religious organization, or other credible evidence if birth certificate is unavailable

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HB 200: Teacher Renewal Credits

• Reduces the number of required credits for the Standard Professional 2 license from 15 to 7.5

• The NCDPI anticipate policy changes by State Board of Education on credits granted

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Additional Information

Please visit the Legislative Update page at

http://legislative.ncpublicschools.gov

Also, please contact Ann McColl, Legislative Director for the State Board of Education, with additional questions or concerns at ann.mccoll@dpi.nc.gov

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Updates from the NCDPI

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Accountability

• Proposed model impacted by HB 48, which eliminated all EOCs except for English I, Algebra I, and Biology

• Budget allows for statewide administration of the ACT (if funding is available)

• Continuing to search for funds for this work

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Standards and Assessments

• Common Core and Essential Standards training has begun

• New state assessments expected by 2012 – 2013 school year for all new standards

• Shared Common Core assessments expected by 2014 – 2015 school year (in conjunction with Smarter Balanced consortium)

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Responsiveness to Intervention (RtI)

• RtI is a data-based problem-solving instructional model as opposed to a model specifically for EC students

• Focused on early intervention targeted to specific student needs

• Training rolling out across the state

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School Improvement Grants (SIG)

• 40 SIG schools in the state

• Four models for SIG schools: school closure, transformation, turnaround, restart

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District and School Transformation

• Using Race to the Top funding to double the size of the staff working with low-achieving schools

• Data indicate improvements in student performance due to reform

• Making progress toward complete staffing in all partner districts by the fall

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System Alignment

• NCDPI working with universities, community colleges, and K-12 schools to strengthen the quality of education

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Update on Teacher Effectiveness Policies

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U.S. Department of Education Requirement

• States must report on the percentage of teachers and principals that fall into each category of their evaluation instruments

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Current Process

• For the 2010 – 2011 data, the NCDPI will use the median to aggregate standards for teachers and principals

This information will be linked to the school report cards. Data will be reported in the aggregate, not at the individual level

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Sixth Standard for Teachers

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• TEACHERS CONTRIBUTE TO THE ACADEMIC SUCCESS OF STUDENTS

• The work of the teacher results in acceptable, measurable progress for students based on established performance expectations using appropriate data to demonstrate growth

Eighth Standard for Principals

• ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT LEADERSHIP

• Summary: School executives will contribute to the academic success of students. The work of the school executive will result in acceptable, measurable progress for students based on established performance expectations using appropriate data to demonstrate growth

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Issues for Consideration

• The measures of growth used to rank a teacher on the sixth standard

• Under Consideration: combination of team, individual, and school value-added measures

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Reasons for Annual Evaluation

• Required for school districts that accepted funding through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (all districts in NC)

• Required for all school districts and charter schools that accepted funding from Race to the Top (all districts and group of charters)

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Concerns about Annual Evaluation

• The new evaluation instrument is more thorough and specific, and, therefore, takes longer for evaluators to complete

• The budget reduced the number of assistant principals

• Principals may not have time to complete the entire evaluation process for all staff members

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Annual Abbreviated Evaluation

Student Surveys

• Student surveys can play a role in professional development for teachers, teacher evaluation, and school improvement.

• These surveys also capture specific teacher behaviors that lead to student success, which can be useful formative information for the professional development process.

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Assessments for Non-Tested Areas

• Work groups of teachers will vet potential assessment items for inclusion on measures of growth for all non-tested subjects and grades

• Work groups will be created and receive initial training this summer

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Technical Assistance:

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The NCDPI will release a request for proposals for technical assistance on:- Selecting a growth model, - Combining individual, team, and school-wide value-added

measures in the sixth standard, and

- Entering data from new assessments in non-tested subjects into the growth model

Discussion and Questions

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