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Friday Report – March 9, 2018
This week in #nced: In NC, Funding Gaps are Shortchanging Students with Special Needs; Armed Volunteers Will Soon Be Present at Stanly County Schools
by Forum Admin
The Friday Report
March 9, 2018
This Week on Education Matters – Mass Shootings in Schools: How Can We Protect Our Children?
The shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida has sparked a national debate about guns and how best to protect students. This week in the first of two shows, we talk with a teacher, a school psychologist and students for their unique perspectives.
Guests Include:
Lisa Godwin, NC Teacher of the Year (pictured above, first picture, left)
Dr. Jim Deni, School Psychology Trainer & Professor, Appalachian State University (pictured above, first picture, right)
Zainab Antepli, Student, Chapel Hill High School, Chapel Hill (pictured above, second picture)
Erin McIndoe, Student, Green Hope High School, Cary (pictured below)
When and Where to Watch Education Matters
Saturday at 7:30 PM,
WRAL-TV (Raleigh/Durham/Fayetteville)
Sunday at 8:00 AM,
FOX 50
(Raleigh/Durham/Fayetteville)
Sunday at 6:30 AM and Wednesday at 9:30 AM, UNC-TV’s North Carolina Channel (Statewide)
The North Carolina Channel can be found on Time Warner Cable/Spectrum Channel 1277 or check your local listing and other providers here.
Ann Goodnight to Receive Public School Forum of North Carolina’s Annual Education Leadership Award
Ann Goodnight was named yesterday as the recipient of the 2018 Public School Forum of North Carolina Jay Robinson Education Leadership Award. The Forum established the award in 2000 to recognize leaders who have demonstrated innovative, creative, effective leadership for public education in North Carolina. Mrs. Goodnight will be honored at a gala event on Monday, May 21, at the Raleigh Convention Center.
“Ann Goodnight’s commitment to North Carolina’s children and to serving our state in so many meaningful ways made her an ideal choice for this honor,” said Michael Priddy, Chairman of the Public School Forum of North Carolina. “Her deep commitment to the entire education continuum, from early childhood to K-12 to higher education, really sets her apart – a commitment she backs up with both her time and investments. She’s a model for what giving back and servant leadership looks like.”
If you are interested in discussing a sponsorship, contact Lizzy Mottern at lmottern@ncforum.org.
In North Carolina, Funding Gaps are Shortchanging Students with Special Needs
Cleveland County Schools’ Exceptional Children Director Nellie Aspel, who is charged with managing all of the moving parts related to the education of her school district’s special needs students, has had to stretch a slim budget in ways that keep her up at night.
“We’ve really had to push the limits,” said Aspel. “We use outdated technology, we only replace our physical therapy equipment when it’s literally falling apart, and I frequently have to hire part-time staff with no benefits to care for and educate my students with special needs, something that I hate to do.”
But while those aspects of her job are challenging, they are not what’s standing between her and a good night’s sleep.
Aspel is wrestling with a special education budget that doesn’t cover the actual cost of services in her school district because the number of students in Cleveland County that are identified as having special needs exceeds the number for which the state provides funds—and that problem is compounded by a federal special needs budget that’s never been fully funded.
To continue reading the complete article, click here.
Do you know a leader in your community supporting our schools and making a difference in the lives of children both in and out of school? The Public School Forum is seeking nominations for individuals to be highlighted on our weekly statewide TV show, Education Matters. Click herefor an example of a recent spotlight.
Nominees could be principals, superintendents, teachers, teacher assistants, guidance counselors, parents, students, business leaders, community volunteers, afterschool providers, and the list goes on!
To nominate someone, please fill out the form here.
When Kids Come to School with Trauma, These NC Teachers Try and Listen
The sun sets outside W.A. Pattillo Middle School in Tarboro, where the staff is trying to better support students who have experienced trauma. Photo Credit: Lisa Philip, WUNC.
One day last fall, teachers sauntered past a wall in W.A. Pattillo Middle School in Tarboro as if they were studying works of art. Really, they were looking at the names of all 265 of their students, each written neatly on an index card. They contemplated which students they had meaningful relationships with, and placed dots next to those students’ names.
“Then we were able to step back and see which students didn’t have a dot, or didn’t have as many dots as other kids,” said Byron Bullock, an administrator at the Edgecombe County school, about 75 miles east of Raleigh. “And so teachers said, ‘Wow, I never really thought about how I never really reached out to this kid.’”
The exercise was part of the staff’s efforts to meet students where they are and make school a place they want to be, because students at Pattillo face serious hurdles to coming to school each morning and staying engaged.
To continue reading the complete article, click here.
Why North Carolina Thinks $200 Per K-3 Teacher Will Help Kids Learn to Read
State Superintendent Mark Johnson announced a $4.8 million plan to buy books, digital subscriptions and other reading aids for 479,000 K-3 students across North Carolina.
The allotment comes to $200 per teacher in those grades and will be distributed this month to school districts and charter schools. It’s part of North Carolina’s Read to Achieve program, a long-running quest to improve reading that has so far fallen short.
“Early-grade teachers are working extremely hard to get students reading on track by the end of third grade, and we are very pleased to be able to support them with these resources,” Johnson said Thursday. “Rather than make the decisions for them in Raleigh, we want districts and principals to partner with their K-3 reading teachers to decide what materials they need for their students and classrooms.”
To continue reading the complete article, click here.
Armed Volunteers Will Soon Be Present at Stanly County Schools
Photo Credit: WBTV.
The Stanly County School Board recently unanimously passed a measure that would allow the Stanly County Sheriff to use armed volunteers to help protect students.
A pilot program will start in April at four elementary schools. North Carolina legislators passed a law that gave school districts authority to use armed volunteers. Stanly County leaders say with fatal school shootings and threats that are happening these days, they thought it was time to enact that law.
To continue reading the complete article, click here.
Judge Refuses State Board’s Request to Be Let Out of Leandro Lawsuit
Photo Credit: JJ Thompson, Unsplash.
A judge in the long-standing Leandro education case has denied the State Board of Education’s request to be removed as a defendant the case.
Judge David Lee rejected the State Board’s claim that the education landscape in North Carolina has changed so greatly that the original complaints of the Leandro case no longer apply to the Board.
“The SBE has failed to present convincing evidence that either the impact or effect of these changes and reforms have moved the State nearer to providing children the fundamental right guaranteed by our State Constitution,” Lee writes in his court order.
To continue reading the complete article, click here.
We Polled NC Teachers About Guns at School. Here’s What They Had to Say.
Photo Credit: Element5 Digital, Unsplash.
Most North Carolina educators think it’s a bad idea to let teachers carry guns in the classroom, and they say arming teachers would make schools less safe and harm the learning environment, according to a newly released poll.
The Valentine’s Day mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida that left 17 people dead has ignited a national debate about whether schools would be safer if teachers carry guns. But 78 percent of North Carolina educators say it’s a bad idea, according to an Elon University/News & Observer/Charlotte Observer poll.
To continue reading the complete article, click here.
Gov. Roy Cooper: More Than Low Tax Rates & Quality of Life, CEOs Care About Education and a Skilled Workforce
Gov. Roy Cooper (D-N.C.) speaks with Axios’s Mike Allen in Washington, D.C., on February 23. The event, “Raising the Bar: A Conversation on Education in America,” was presented by The 74 and the Walton Family Foundation.
Photo Credit: Chuck Kennedy, Axios.
Gov. Roy Cooper considers himself the “chief economic development recruiter” for North Carolina. And to build the workforce of the future, he’s making a massive call for change in how his state and others treat education.
The perennial American push for job growth — and outcry against overseas outsourcing — has hovered at the top of the economic and policy agenda: cutting taxes for corporations and sweetening the pot of perks to get them to move their operations to areas that need jobs. But, according to Cooper, those might not really be the things companies care most about.
“I talk to CEOs all over the world … and the No. 1 thing they ask me is, ‘Do you have the people, do you have the workforce?’ ” Cooper told Axios’s Mike Allen last Friday in Washington, D.C. “That question comes before taxes. It comes before quality of life. It is the No. 1 question. If you do not have that workforce, they will not come.”
To continue reading the complete article, click here.
Governor Cooper Proclaims March Music in Our Schools Month
Photo Credit: Pixabay, Pexels.
Governor Roy Cooper has proclaimed March as Music In Our Schools Month in North Carolina to highlight the importance of music education.
“Music education shapes our children’s understanding of themselves and the world,” said Governor Cooper. “Through music, students develop skills including collaboration, communication, critical thinking, and creativity that can help them succeed in school and in life.”
Research shows that music education helps to improve student’s reading skills and to keep students engaged in school. Schools with music education programs often have higher graduation and attendance rates.
NC Schools Face a New Kind of Threat: Professional Hackers
This participant in Brigham Young University study ignored the malware warnings that popped up on his screen.
Photo Credit: Brigham Young University, Slate.
North Carolina’s public schools are facing serious, ongoing cybersecurity threats from professional hackers that are costing time and money and putting personal information at risk, a consultant warned state lawmakers on Tuesday.
Most North Carolina school districts and charter schools aren’t prepared to deal with massive breaches and intrusions into their computer systems, according to Phil Emer, director of technology planning and policy at N.C. State’s Friday Institute For Educational Innovation. Emer told lawmakers that schools are facing threats such as software attacks designed to shut down systems unless a ransom is paid, malicious software trying to steal information off databases and email phishing scams designed to get sensitive information.
To continue reading the complete article, click here.
Guilford Schools Dig Into Gaps, From Achievement to Discipline
Photo Credit: Creatas.
Guilford County Schools is digging into disparities, hoping to tackle head-on what might be leading to achievement and other gaps between white and nonwhite students.
Guilford County Schools Superintendent Sharon Contreras and her staff last week announced measures aimed at building the competency of employees within the district to deal with the various gaps.
“Until they are owning and discussing and linking the academic and race-based strategies, we are going to be climbing up this slope and not making any traction along the way,” interim chief academic officer Whitney Oakley said Wednesday during a meeting of the school board’s achievement gap committee.
To continue reading the complete article, click here.
Students and teachers return to Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on February 23 in Parkland, Florida.
After last week’s school shooting in Parkland, Florida, the young survivors underwent a routine that has become all too familiar. Teams of crisis counselors were dispatched, vigils and funerals were held, and local officials debated what to do about the physical aftermath of the massacre: inspecting the school’s buildings and deciding when (and if) the campus would re-open for classes. The psychological damage may be harder to assess. Among kids exposed to traumatic violence, short-term symptoms immediately after such incidents include trouble focusing, managing emotions, and negotiating relationships. The effects of childhood trauma also show up later in life: As adults, children who witnessed violence will be more likely to suffer from depression, deal with substance abuse, and struggle with obesity.
American school shootings are a relatively rare form of childhood trauma—albeit less so than they used to be. But many other experiences that can cause lasting psychological damage, such as parental incarceration and economic hardship, are relatively common. Indeed, a new report from Child Trends, a Bethesda, Maryland, nonprofit that conducts research on improving children’s lives, found that almost half of all American children have experienced at least one potentially traumatic “adverse childhood experience,” or ACE.
To continue reading the complete article, click here.
A brewer, a Sunday school teacher, and a plastic surgeon walk into an education forum…
While it may sound like the setup for a bad joke, the description aptly describes the former lives of three governors — John Hickenlooper (D-Colorado), Roy Cooper (D–North Carolina), and Jeff Colyer (R-Kansas) — who graced the stage last Friday at “Raising the Bar: A Conversation on Education in America.” The Washington event was moderated by Axios’s Mike Allen and presented by The 74 and the Walton Family Foundation.
Allen peppered the governors with questions about what their past jobs taught them about education and how those lessons help them navigate their current roles. While none is a political neophyte, all three manage states with strong divisions: Republican against Democrat, affluent/poor, urban versus rural. These divides call for a common touch on hot-button issues from gun violence to education funding.
To continue reading the complete article, click here.
Volunteers Needed for NC Science & Engineering Fair
The 31st NC Science & Engineering Fair (NCSEF)will be held at NC State University’s Talley Student Union on Saturday, March 24, 2018. General Volunteers are needed on Friday, March 23 (3 pm – 7 pm) and Saturday, March 24. Click here, General Volunteer Registration, to assist with our 300 plus Grades 3-12 student researchers from all across NC with their project set-up, room and hallway monitors, awards preparation, awards ceremonies, and other needed tasks. The volunteer shifts are about 2 hours in length.
Judges from STEM-related businesses, education, and government sectors are also needed for Saturday, March 24 only. Click here for, Judges Registration.
The NCSEF is a 510(c)3 non-profit and is the NC affiliate to the INTEL International Science and Engineering Fair. NCSEF’s top 12 Senior Research Projects (Grades 9-12) will advance to the 2018 ISEF competition in Pittsburgh with over 1,700 high school competitors from over 70 countries.
Kenan Fellows Program Teacher Leadership Journal Announces New Submission Guidelines
The Kenan Fellows Program for Teacher Leadership is pleased to announce it has revised its submission guidelines for its Journal of Interdisciplinary Teacher Leadership (JoITL), an online peer-reviewed publication featuring original work on research, professional learning, and leadership in K-12 education. We will now be accepting articles with up to 7,000 words. This expanded word limit will allow authors to discuss their work in greater depth and provide readers with a more thorough treatment of the subject matter.
We are also changing the publication schedule. Beginning this year, JoITL will publish annually in December. We will accept manuscripts year-round but authors will be required to submit articles by the beginning of September in order to have them considered for publication.
Building Tomorrow’s Workforce Today Through Expanded Learning
When: April 25 – 27, 2018
Where: The Greenville Convention Center in Greenville, NC
Each year, the North Carolina Center for Afterschool Programs (NC CAP) holds a conference to convene community, state, and national stakeholders in the afterschool and expanded learning environment. The Synergy Conference convenes hundreds of out-of-school time providers to share insight on research-based practices, effective programs, and public policies that impact students and their overall success in school and life.
Registration is now open for the annual Synergy Conference! You can register here at the rate of $225.
The Synergy Conference has a hotel block at the Hilton Greenville at the discounted rate of $139/night, which includes breakfast. You can make hotel reservations here. Hotel reservations must be made by March 26th to get the discounted rate. Please make your hotel reservations as soon as possible as space is limited.
TeacherSquared will be hosting its third Teacher Educator Institute in New Orleans from May 7-9. Join teacher educators, the teachers of teachers, from across the country for this Institute focused on Using Data to Improve Novice Teacher Practice. This institute is for new or experienced teacher educators interested in collaborating with other teacher educators to deepen their ability to use data to help the novice teachers they train get better. This Institute will be a uniquely valuable professional development experience for teacher educators in a range of roles: from clinical professors and deans to coaches and directors, in both traditional and alternative teacher preparation programs.
Click here for more details and to register today! Take advantage of early bird pricing (through 3/9) with the discount code “FRIEND2018” for $200 off.
Burroughs Wellcome Fund Accepting Applications for
Student STEM Enrichment Program
The Burroughs Wellcome Fund has opened its application for the 2018 Student STEM Enrichment Program (SSEP) grant awards. SSEP supports diverse programs with a common goal: to enable primary and secondary students to participate in creative, hands-on STEM activities for K-12 students and pursue inquiry-based exploration in BWF’s home state of North Carolina. These awards provide up to $60,000 per year for three years. The application deadline is April 18, 2018.
The Friday Report is published weekly by the Public School Forum of NC and is distributed to Forum members, policymakers, donors, media, and Forum subscribers. Archived editions can be found at www.ncforum.org.
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