January 2008	May 2008
February 2008	June 2008
March 2008	July 2008
April 2008	August 2008

Education Building, 301 N. Wilmington Street
Raleigh, NC 27601
August 5-7, 2008

SBE ADOPTS PARTIAL PLAN FOR THE USE OF MENTOR FUNDS AND MENTOR TRAINING
The State Board this week decided to drop the 2009-2010 portion of the SBE Plan for the Use of Mentor Funds and Mentor Training proposal (TCS 6) for now and voted to approve only the 2008-2009 portion of the plan that will allow school districts to continue all current practices regarding mentors. The State Board staff said there was “immediate and considerable concerns” from across the state about the 2009-2010 proposal, which would have eliminated the option for school districts to have full-time classroom teachers providing mentor services effective with that year. The State Board plans to convene a group of stakeholders to work on a new mentor proposal in the next couple of months in time for the necessary funding to be included in the State Board’s budget request for 2009-2010 that is due to the Governor’s Office on Nov. 14.

NCASA appreciates the efforts of all our members who took time this week to raise concerns about the proposed mentor plan and we will keep you posted on additional developments on this issue.

GOVERNOR ASKS SUPERINTENDENTS TO PROMOTE EARLY COLLEGE PROGRAMS
In his final months in office, Gov. Mike Easley says he plans to do more to market his Learn and Earn education initiative, its online component and the new EARN scholarships that enable some students to obtain a bachelor’s degree debt-free. Easley appeared before local school superintendents and state education leaders on Wednesday in Raleigh to tout a campaign to increase awareness about these initiatives and to encourage superintendents and other school leaders to help promote these programs to high school students.

Sixty Learn and Earn programs, which are located on community college and university campuses, are scheduled to be open this fall. An online portion of the program also allows students to earn credits while taking courses over the Internet.

Both versions of Learn and Earn, held in college classrooms and through the online learning program through the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, have earned nationwide recognition, but Easley wants more students and families to take advantage of the early college initiatives.

Learn and Earn Online had enough money for 12,000 course enrollments in the 2007-2008 school year and 28,000 for this year, yet fewer than 2,000 students have taken the online courses so far. But Easley remains confident in the program's potential.

"This has been bigger and better than anything I ever dreamed that it would be," Easley said. "But it's also the best-kept secret in education in North Carolina."

Easley said that starting this week, state officials will use a mix of public money and private dollars from education groups to promote Learn and Earn Online to students, parents and educators. The legislature authorized the state Department of Public Instruction to use up to $1 million to promote programs such as Learn and Earn Online.

The New Schools Project, a nonprofit created by Easley and others with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, has already raised $500,000 for the effort, Easley said.

The campaign will involve television commercials and Internet ads and other strategies, including student ambassadors who will promote options for students to middle schoolers. Easley spoke to the meeting of school officials to encourage them to push the program even more.

"People around the country think it's a wonderful thing, but we really haven't done a very good job getting our message out," said Easley, who sees the program as critical to provide more people with access to a college education. "This is the right thing to do. It is a moral issue."

ABC BONUSES FALL SHORT; SBE APPROVES MODIFIED DISTRIBUTION FORMULA
School level certified personnel can expect reduced ABC bonuses this year. The State Board of Education requested $107 million from the North Carolina General Assembly, but due to the tight budget year the General Assembly limited spending for this program to $94,325,612. Unfortunately, information released this week from DPI shows that ABC Incentive awards actually need $134,198,368 to be fully funded for FY 2007-2008.

2007-2008 ABC growth results show that 82 percent of schools received high growth or expected growth, a 10 percent increase from the following year’s data. In past, certified personnel have been awarded up to $1,500 in ABC Incentive bonus. This year, because awards for schools that exceeded growth and for schools that met growth projections totals more than DPI received, the award levels will be adjusted to enable the actual award distribution to be within the legislative maximum pay out. The chart bellow breaks down the approved pay out.

“The Legislature should be commended for not pulling the plug on the ABC bonus money, with all the other demands,” said Chairman Lee. “They could have easily justified turning money away from ABC bonuses.”

Kevin Howell, State Board member from region 3, referenced conversations already taking place between the State Board of Education and the N.C. General Assembly on ways both parties can work collaboratively on this issue during the next session.

The State Board of Education approved the 2007-2008 ABC’s Incentive award formula during Thursday’s meeting.

WRITING ASSESSMENT PROVIDES NEW INTEGRATED APPROACH
The State Board of Education’s June 2008 approval of the Framework for Change: The Next Generation of Assessments an Accountability, eliminated the forth and seventh grade writing assessment and requested DPI to produce a more integrated approached to writing across the curriculum.

On Thursday the State Board of Education approved a writing assessment proposal that would elevate the importance of writing throughout the curriculum and replace the current writing assessment with a PreK-12 writing assessment system that includes content specific and on demand writing tasks/assignments.

The new North Carolina Writing Assessment System will be piloted during the upcoming 2008-09 school year. In order to determine the appropriateness of the content, all students in grades 4 and 7 will complete two content-specific writing assignments and two on-demand writing tasks. Students in grade 4 will use a paper and pencil system, while students in grade 7 will use word processing tools in order to complete their assignments. All 7th grade students, with the exception of students in ten pilot LEAs, will store their work in local portfolios. Teachers will use State rubrics to score student writing. NCDPI will monitor student portfolios to ensure compliance and check for reliability.

Seventh grade students in ten LEAs will participate in a pilot that will allow for the electronic storage, uploading, and retrieval of student work. These students will be using Moodle an open-source software that allows students to compose and store their writing assignments, while providing teachers the ability to access student work and provide feedback and scoring.

For more information on the new assessment model and pilot please view GCS2.

Action Agenda: The State Board of Education also took action on the following items this week:

GLOBALLY COMPETITIVE STUDENTS COMMITTEE (GCS)
Approved-GCS 1 - AYP Results for High Schools, AYP Math Results for Elementary and Middle Schools, ABCs Growth and Cohort Graduation Rates
Approved- GCS 2 - Update on Framework for Change's "Writing Assessment"

BUSINESS/FINANCE AND ADVOCACY COMMITTEE (TCS)
Approved-TCS 1 - Approval of Grants (Carl D. Perkins College Tech Prep Grants , Personal Financial Literacy Grant Awards and NCLB Enhancing Education through Technology – IMPACT II Year 2 Awards)
Approved-TCS 2 - Requests for Waiver of the Repayment Obligation of the National Board Certification Participation Fee
Approved-TCS 3 - 2008-09 Special Provisions
Approved-TCS 4 - Program Approval Requests Under the Innovative Education Initiatives Act
Approved-TCS 5 - ABCs Incentive Award Formula
Approved 2008-09 transition plan-TCS 6 - SBE Plan for the Use of Mentor Funds and Mentor Training

21ST CENTURY PROFESSIONALS COMMITTEE (TCP)
Approved in closed session-TCP 1 - Recommendations from the Advisory Board on Requests for Exception from Teacher Licensing Requirements
Approved, discussion in closed session-TCP 2 - Final Decision in Contested Cases - Joshua Apple vs. DPI, Gregory Bates vs. DPI, and Heather Brame vs. SBE

Printable copy of the SBE Review

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Members of the NCASA staff represent NCASA at all meetings of the State Board of Education. If you have questions about the issues discussed in this State Board Pre-View, please contact Beth Worsley, Director of Communications, at 919-828-1426 or bworsley@ncasa.net or Emily Doyle, Assistant Director for the N.C. Principals & Assistant Principals’ Association, at 919-833-3205 or edoyle@ncpapa.net.