Welcome to INNOVATOR, an update on secondary school change from the North Carolina New Schools Project. Our newsletter is designed to inform practitioners, policy makers, and friends of public education on innovation, research and success stories from secondary schools. Please feel free to contact us, provide feedback and suggest article ideas.
|
|
Making STEM education work for NC
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
 | Sam Houston
President and CEO N.C. Science, Mathematics and Technology Education Center |
Education in North Carolina is at a crossroads. The shift in the state's economy from one driven largely by low-skilled labor to one shaped by the know-how of a well-educated workforce is creating a golden opportunity for tremendous change in what and how we teach our children.
Students must now complete high school ready for almost anything and with an agility to adapt to a fast changing world. Knowing things is still important, but the "to do" is now indispensible.
Which is why STEM education is so crucial to North Carolina's youth and their future. Schools that are creating new approaches that integrate science, technology, engineering and math aim to graduate students able to think for themselves and to help solve problems for their communities and the world. Consider that STEM can also stand more broadly for Strategies That Engage Minds - approaches to powerful teaching and learning that can excite and challenge students with relevant issues, projects that require thought and collaboration and the demonstration of skills. That's the kind of education that provides students with something that has real shelf life.
Read more ...
|
Regional school opening in Northeast NC
 Students in northeastern North Carolina will have a chance to attend a new school focusing on biotechnology and agriscience developed through a unique partnership among five local school districts, NC State University, the State Board of Education and the Department of Public Instruction and the North Carolina New Schools Project. Strong support for the school also is being provided by the NC Department of Agriculture, the NC Biotechnology Center, and JOBS Commission.
The school will be a first in the state, where multiple school districts are working together to develop a regional school that will offer hands-on learning, computers for every student, internships and other experiences to prepare students for college and careers. Students from Beaufort, Martin, Pitt, Tyrrell, and Washington counties can apply now to enroll in the school in August. Students who will be the first in their families to attend college are strongly encouraged to apply.
As an early college high school, students will have the opportunity to earn as much as two years of tuition-free college credit along with their high school diploma. Students will take online college courses through a partnership with NC State University.
Read more ... Watch a video about the school ... |
April conference puts STEM center stage
x
 Educators, students, innovators and leaders from business and government will converge on the Triangle next month for a conference devoted to STEM education. "Scaling STEM: Transforming Education Matters," focused on science, technology, engineering and mathematics, is set for April 16-18, at the Sheraton Imperial Hotel & Convention Center in RTP, NC.
Among the keynote speakers at the event are Emily Pilloton, who leads a ground-breaking design initiative at Bertie Early College High School, and Tony Wagner, a Harvard-based education expert and author of "The Global Achievement Gap"
and soon to be published "Creating Innovators: The Making of Young People Who Will Change the World."
Participants from North Carolina and across the nation will share strategies to implement STEM practices and demonstrate STEM impacts in the community. The conference will include studen-led sessions, a symposium on project-based learning, visits to area innovative schools, as well as 40 concurrent sessions about a range of STEM topics. The complete listing of concurrent sessions is available here.
Other keynote speakers include:
The Scaling STEM conference is co-hosted by the NC New Schools Project; the Kenan Fellows Program; the NC School of Science and Math; the NC Science, Mathematics and Technology Education Center; New Tech Network; the NC Department of Public Instruction; and the Teaching Institute for Excellence in STEM.
Read more ...
|
|
Report cites NC for graduation rate gains
North Carolina is one of 12 states cited for improved graduation rates in a report released Monday at a national forum held by America's Promise Alliance.
The report, Building a Grad Nation, notes that the dozen states that led the nation for graduation gains accounted for most of the improvement in the nation's overall graduation rate, which climbed from 72.6 percent in 2002 to 75.5 percent in 2009.
North Carolina also saw one of the nation's biggest improvements in the number of high schools with graduation rates of less than 60 percent, declining from 106 in 2002 to 78 in 2010.
Read more in this Associated Press story, which includes comments from NCNSP President Tony Habit. |
Teacher survey: professional climate key
An annual nationwide survey found morale among teachers to be at its lowest ebb in more than two decades - a consequence of budget cuts and efforts to link test scores to teacher performance.
But The MetLife Survey of The American Teacher also found that teachers with high levels of job satisfaction said they had more opportunities for professional growth and time for planning and collaboration.
Teachers with high job satisfaction were more likely to say their their school or district provides adequate opportunities for professional development -- 86 percent, compared to 72 percent of teachers with low levels of job satisfaction. Teachers who reported high levels of satisfaction also said that time to collaborate with other teachers had not decreased during the last year.
The survey findings on issues associated with opportunities for professional growth are consistent with those found in North Carolina's own Teacher Working Conditions Survey, conducted every two years. Teachers in NCNSP-affiliated schools have given high marks to their schools on that front.
A growing body of research shows a link between teachers' perceptions of their working conditions, staff turnover and student achievement in all levels of schooling, but particularly in high schools. The North Carolina-based Center for Teaching Quality says that reforms related to working conditions are especially critical in improving high schools and informing innovation efforts underway in North Carolina and elsewhere.
Read more ...
|
|
|
|
|
Focus on Innovation
More 9th graders advance
Students in schools affiliated with NCNSP in 2010-11 were more likely to be promoted from 9th grade than the state average. Early college high schools had a combined 9th grade promotion rate of 98 percent.
Research shows that promotion from 9th grade is a strong predictor of a student's likelihood to graduate.
Percentage of schools with grade 9 promotion rates of 95% and above
 Source: NCNSP analysis of 2010-11 data from NC Dept. of Public Instruction
|
|
Want to teach STEM?
|  |
NCNSP is launching a new lateral entry teacher certification program for mid-career professionals and recent college graduates interested in becoming high school science, math and technology teachers. To be eligible for the tuition-free program, applicants must have a college degree in a science, technology, engineering or mathematics related field and have an interest in becoming a teacher of STEM courses in a NC high school.Applications must be received by April 1.Find out more ...
|
|
Meet an Innovator
|
 | |
Loretta Rowland-Kitley
|
|
Loretta Rowland-Kitley and her nine siblings are the first generation in her family to go to college. So this principal knows what she's talking about when she tells her students at Early/Middle College at GTCC Jamestown they can get there too. "We have a reputation in our area for giving students opportunities they wouldn't otherwise have," Rowland-Kitley says. "We have students who were on the verge of dropping out going on to be valedictorians of their universities and succeeding in big companies. Our graduates are going places, including one who just earned a full scholarship to Duke as a first-generation college-going student." She credits the power of personalization for making the difference for students at her innovative school, one of the first early/middle college high schools in North Carolina. Read more ... |
|
|
