Friday Report – June 23, 2017

Read more here: https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/education/article157406509.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/education/article157406509.html#storylink=cpy

College tuition could come free of charge for students headed for careers teaching science, math or special education in North Carolina classrooms. State lawmakers are headed toward reviving – in more limited form – the N.C. Teaching Fellows Program that offered forgivable loans to education students until 2015.

It’s a program that helped educators like Shanta Lightfoot. Coming to N.C. State University in Raleigh from her home in Elizabeth City, Lightfoot said she had some initial fear of how big the university was. Teaching Fellows provided support and connections. As part of the program, she took trips to schools around the state, preparing her for her first job, at Ligon Middle School in Raleigh.

“When I got in the classroom, I wasn’t afraid about what I could do,” Lightfoot said. “That first-year fear wasn’t there … I was naturally comfortable with my students and I think that showed in my teaching.”

The 2008 N.C. State graduate received about $26,000 in scholarships as a teaching fellow.

A state budget compromise plan announced Monday in the General Assembly provides several million dollars for a new version of the program. If lawmakers approve a bill creating the program, it would loan as much as $8,250 per year to each of 160 students who commit to being teachers in special education or in science, technology, engineering and math classes. The loans would pay for two to four years of college as students pursue a degree or teacher’s license from one of five designated public or private universities.

The state would forgive a year of the loan for every two years the recipient teaches in North Carolina – or one year of forgivable loans for a single year at a school the state recognizes as “low performing.”

The original program was created in 1986 and funded by the General Assembly to address a teacher shortage. It awarded loans each year to pay four years of tuition for 500 students who agreed to pay back the loan by teaching in the state for four years. During the program’s existence it graduated more than 8,500 students and took students from all 100 North Carolina counties.

To continue reading the complete article click here.

Excerpt from:

Adams, M. “Potential teachers may get a fully ride – if they teach the right subject.” The News & Observer. 6/21/17.

Taxpayer money will be loaded onto debit cards for families to pay disabled children’s private-school tuition and other education expenses under a new state plan. Supporters say these education savings accounts, which give parents $9,000 a year, open more options to disabled children. Critics say the system is ripe for fraud and provides no assurances that students will receive a good education.

Five other states have laws allowing education savings accounts, according to EdChoice, a pro-school-choice group. In one of them, Nevada, its legislature put no money into the savings accounts this year.

The provision allowing for the education accounts in North Carolina is included in the state budget.

The state already has taxpayer-funded grants for special-needs students that pay up to $8,000 a year and a voucher program paying up to $4,200 a year for children whose families meet income guidelines.

Eligible families could receive both of those grants as well as the new $9,000 savings account, said Darrell Allison, executive director of Parents for Education Freedom, a group that worked to get all three programs. “That’s a family getting over $21,000 for the education of their children,” he said.

To qualify for the $8,000 grants, students must need special education. The $9,000-a-year savings accounts are open to children who have disabilities even if they don’t need special instruction.

Students would also be able to use the savings account money to attend private school part time if they are enrolled part time in public school, Allison said. The guidelines are “trying to give parents the opportunity to have that customized education” for children with special needs, he said.

Arizona was the first state to use education savings accounts. An audit there last year found that some parents were using the money for purchases that had nothing to do with education. In one instance, a parent spent $300 at a grocery store, according to the audit. Two parents spent $3,600 on books and other educational materials, then returned those items for store gift cards they used to buy a snow globe, a sock monkey, a Walking Dead board game and other items.

Parents who ran private schools used the accounts to pay themselves, the audit found. The Arizona law did not explicitly prohibit that practice.

The Arizona audit found $102,600 misspent over six months.

To continue reading the complete article, click here.

Excerpt from:

Bonner, L. “NC to offer debit cards for disabled students’ tuition. Fraud was found in Arizona program.” The News & Observer. 6/20/17.

To continue reading the complete article click here.

Excerpt from:

Hui, T. “Teachers are bailing out of high-poverty schools. Some say that needs to change.” The News & Observer. 6/16/17.

To continue reading the complete article, click here.

Excerpt from:

Trogdon, K. and Raynor, D. “Census: North Carolina’s population getting older, more diverse.” The News & Observer. 6/22/17.

For years, voucher advocates have pointed to a series of more than a dozen reports—usually funded or conducted by voucher proponents—that used randomized approaches, similar to those used in medical research, to isolate the effects of vouchers on treatment groups in citywide programs. While other researchers have questioned those reports over the last decade and a half, voucher advocates have claimed that these “gold standard” studies showed vouchers boosting achievement significantly for some students. Furthermore, they liked to point out, no students were harmed by school voucher programs.

To continue reading the complete article, click here.

​

Excerpt from:

Lubienski, C. and Lubienski, S. “Student Vouchers Aren’t Working. Here’s Why.” Education Week. 6/16/17.

The Public School Forum is now accepting applications for the 2017-18 cohort of the North Carolina Education Policy Fellowship Program (EPFP).

The Public School Forum has led the North Carolina Education Policy Fellowship Program since 1992, and it has continued to be the only statewide program of its kind that focuses on leadership and professional development in the context of education policy. Each new class continues the trend of high caliber participants and is rich in its members’ range of experiences, both professionally and personally. Fellows come from public schools, higher education, community colleges, state agencies, and a diverse array of education organizations across North Carolina. Each class includes a cohort of Fellows who focus on education policy issues and the wide range of factors that influence education in North Carolina. The program is designed for Fellows to learn about issues and perspectives in education that they don’t always encounter in their daily work so that they can be more informed, rounded contributors to the critical education debates that shape the quality and focus of schools. Fellows increase their awareness of how public policy is made, learn whom the key players are in the formation of this policy, and become more confident and involved in the policy-making process. Leadership development is a key focus of the Education Policy Fellowship Program.

Application information for both EPFP Central and EPFP West can be found online at https://www.ncforum.org/education-policy-fellowship-program/. Applications are due by June 30. 2017.

Want to learn how to inspire your students to conduct independent research? Interested in learning how to assist students in topic selection, time management, and presentation of science and engineering research projects? Planning your school’s science and engineering research competition? New to the process or looking for a more organized approach?

Plan to attend a NC Science & Engineering Fair Workshop

for the 2017-2018 Academic Year!

Workshops will be offered at the locations below. All workshops run from 9:00am to 3:30pm and include coffee, snacks and lunch.

• July 19 – NC Center for Engineering Technology, Hickory
• July 27 – Biogen, Research Triangle Park
• July 28 – Triad Math and Science Academy, Greensboro
• August 2 – UNC-Wilmington

Register online at https://ncsciencefair.org/index.php/teachers/workshops.

There is a $15 registration fee but all attendees will receive a $65 stipend for participation and 0.5 CEU for completion of the workshop.

ONLY Teachers & Administrators in grades 3 – 12 are eligible to participate. Participants will be asked to implement a science and engineering fair for your class, grade-level or school during the 2017-2018 academic year andcomplete a survey spring 2018.

The following topics will be discussed during the workshop

• Learn how to foster and guide scientific and engineering research in the classroom.
• Learn how to initiate, manage, and evaluate student science and engineering research projects.
• You will be guided through the steps in planning a school or district science & engineering fair.

Workshops are sponsored by the Biogen Foundation.

The Kenan Fellows Program for Teacher Leadership is pleased to announce its inaugural North Carolina Teacher Leadership Symposium on Tuesday, Aug. 1 in Greenville. As Lead Champion, the Biogen Foundation has made it possible for the Kenan Fellows Program to provide this Symposium at no cost to attendees. The event includes a plated lunch, a networking reception, concurrent professional development sessions, and keynote speakers.

This one-day immersive event will feature concurrent sessions on project-based learning, technology integration, interdisciplinary instruction, building leadership capacity, inquiry-based instruction, developing successful grant proposals, and more!

Educators in the Kenan Fellows Alumni Network will lead the one-day Symposium. These talented Fellows have developed expertise across a wide variety of innovative and effective educational practices that are particularly pertinent to teachers who seek to grow professionally and have a powerful impact in and beyond the classroom.

Registration is open to K-12 educators from 27 Eastern North Carolina school districts:
Beaufort, Bertie, Camden, Carteret, Chowan, Craven, Currituck, Dare, Edgecombe, Gates, Greene, Halifax, Hertford, Hyde, Jones, Lenoir, Martin, Nash, Northampton, Onslow, Pamlico, Perquimans, Pasquotank, Pitt, Tyrrell, Washington, and Wilson.

WHEN

Tuesday, August 1, 2017 from 9:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.

WHERE

Hilton Greenville

207 Greenville Boulevard Southwest, Greenville, NC 27834

SPONSOR

Biogen Foundation, Lead Champion

REGISTER BY JULY 21!

https://nc-teacherleader-symposium.eventbrite.com