#READY2012
Our State Superintendent, Dr. June Atkinson, invited the 2,500+ public school principals in the state to bring a teacher representative with them to a Regional Meeting to learn about the state’s new Ready Accountability Model. (www.ncpublicschools.org/ready) Superintendents and Central Office Personnel were also invited. An invitation of this type had not been issued in our state since the mid-1990s when the ABCs of Public Education were first introduced.
The meetings were held in eight different locations across the state (one in each of the eight education regions). Participants were able to choose between either the morning or afternoon session. The meeting lasted just over 3 hours. I had the honor to be a part of these 16 meetings and have come away with a renewed appreciation for the incredible principals and teacher-leaders across our state. I observed them working hard and taking notes throughout the meetings.
I have tried to capture a few notes about the meeting’s components. Each agenda item is followed by a link to the presentation for that item. One of the meetings was video-ed and will be posted on the Ready website. Throughout each of the meetings, I tweeted comments and questions that came up using the hashtag #Ready2012. You may search Twitter using that hashtag to read about what came out of each of the meetings.
2012 READY Regional Outreach Meetings for Educators
| DATE | REGION | LOCATION |
| Tuesday, February 28 | Region 5 | Greensboro Marriott |
| Wednesday, March 7 | Region 1 | Elizabeth City State University, KE White Center |
| Thursday, March 8 | Region 2 | UNC Wilmington, The Burney Center |
| Friday, March 9 | Region 4 | Fayetteville State University, Shaw Auditorium |
| Monday, March 12 | Region 3 | Raleigh, NC State University, McKimmon Center |
| Thursday, March 15 | Region 7 | Hickory Crowne Plaza |
| Thursday, March 22 | Region 6 | Concord, Charlotte Motor Speedway Club |
| Friday, March 23 | Region 8 | Asheville, Crowne Plaza |
Welcome & READY: Remodeling North Carolina Schools - Dr. June Atkinson, State Superintendent
Dr. Atkinson welcomed participants to the meeting and discussed that public education is like a home in need of remodeling. You would not tear down a home with a strong foundation, you would remodel it to meet your current needs. We simply need to remodel public education. It is not broken.
The Guiding Principles of the READY Accountability Model include: High standards and good measures; Equal access for all communities; Economies of scale; Transparency; and Accountability.
READY: A Framework of Support - Adam Levinson, Director Race to the Top
Mr. Levinson led the group through the development of the READY Accountability Model by going back to the release of the ABCs Accountability Model in 1996 and showing a timeline of critical steps. NC has been engaged in the remodeling process for many years. Current programs build on what we learned from previous programs. Ready builds on ACRE that built on the ABCs.
READY: A Framework of Support - Michael Martin, DPI Policy Analyst
Mr. Martin shared the project map for the READY Accountability Model. He shared that our work has to focus on getting students ready for life and the purpose of our work has to be students. As a former Math teacher, he shared one of the areas of the new Common Core standards that resonate with him is the goal of increasing the perseverance of students in problem-solving. He pointed out the tendency of students to quit trying early in the problem-solving process and the need to help them develop the skills and confidence to keep trying. He reviewed the agenda for the meeting participants.
READY: Standards - Dr. Maria Pitre-Martin, Director, Curriculum and Instruction
Dr. Pitre-Martin echoed Dr. Atkinson’s remarks about the need to remodel public education. With consideration of the Graduation Rate, we have made strides, but we must continue to improve. The Graduation Rate for the state of North Carolina is at the highest level in history, yet last year 24,391 students who could have graduated, did not. She discussed the new Common Core and Essential Standards. She asked the question:
“Why Common Core?”
· Equity – zip code should not determine access
· College and Career Readiness – for all students
· Sharing of Resources – to help all classrooms
· Economies of Scale – making our resources go further
· Student Mobility – allowing teachers receiving new students from other areas to know what they had been working on because all teachers in a subject followed the same standards.
She discussed that the new standards would be fewer, go deeper, and spiral across grade levels.
READY: Assessments and Evaluations - Angela Quick, Deputy Chief Academic Officer
Mrs. Quick spent time talking about the assessments that are emerging. She made the point that Assessment is not driving the content change. The content change is driving the change in assessments. Among the changes she discussed were the sample items from the Smarter Balanced Consortium. Sample items are available here: http://go.ncsu.edu/nctdemo
The state is moving towards exclusively using online assessments. The state is also building a statewide benchmark tool, available in the IIS (Instructional Improvement System) to help with formative assessment.
A hybrid of assessments is forthcoming. They may include online research, group projects, etc. The new NC accountability model has three types of indicators; Performance Indicators; Progress Indicators; and Growth Indicators.
READY: Technology - Mr. Phillip Price, Chief Finance Officer
Mr. Price joined Mrs. Quick to share with the assembled group the vision for improvements in the area of technology. He talked about three areas, cleverly linked to the “enter” button on a computer keyboard. He stated first that when a teacher hits the “enter” key, something valuable should happen. There should be a good instructional reason to hit “enter.” Secondly, when a teacher hits the “enter” key, something should happen because good structure is in place to keep the students and teachers connected to the internet and beyond. Finally, there should be a device to hit “enter” on. Each of these items led to the conversation around the development of the IIS. (referenced above)
READY: Teacher Effectiveness - Dr. Rebecca Garland, Chief Academic Officer
Dr. Garland began the conversation about Teacher Effectiveness. This works builds on the recent development of the new Teacher and Principal Evaluation Systems. She discussed the addition of the 6th and 8th Standards to the Teacher and Principal Evaluations respectively. The new standards measure effectiveness based on student growth as based on assessments. She discussed the coming inclusion of student surveys in the measure of teacher effectiveness. This work has been guided by the research of the Met Project and may be reviewed here: www.metproject.org
Dr. Lynne Johnson, Director Educator Recruitment and Development
Dr. Johnson picked up the presentation of started with discussing the difference between status and ratings. She also talked about the use of 3 years of data being used. Many decision points remain ahead of the State Board of Education to complete the creation of this measurement including the creation of MSLs (Measures of Student Learning) that will give common assessments in all courses.
Mrs. Tyronna Hooker, 2011-2012 NC Teacher of the Year
Mr. Rob Jackson, 2011-2012 NC Principal of the Year
Mrs. Hooker and I were asked to speak about how all of the changes currently underway impacted teachers and principals. Mrs. Hooker talked about the professionalism of teaching requires a commitment to improvement and that crucial conversations with evaluators should lead to individual growth.
I spoke about the power of the conversations required by the new evaluation systems. Teachers have the opportunity to really engage in true conversations about their work with their principals. This gives principals the opportunity to understand how they may serve and support teachers in their work. The rubric for teacher evaluation is 11 pages long and as we mentioned in the meetings, teachers are worth all eleven pages.
It is hard to capture all of the information that was shared during the three-hour meetings. The 15 meetings that took place in 8 cities across the state were dense with information and hopefully helpful to principals and teachers. Our State Superintendent, Dr. Atkinson, the senior leadership of the NC Department of Public Instruction, and Mrs. Hooker and I traveled over 1500 miles to bring the information to building leaders. The commitment of our educational leaders in Raleigh certainly shows in their willingness to travel the state.
For more information, I would certainly recommend that you utilize the state’s website for the new READY accountability system for more information.
Meeting most of the state’s 2,500 principals was a blessing. To a person, they are committed to their schools and are giving deeply of themselves to the students and staff they serve. I truly appreciate having had this opportunity.
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