Welcome to INNOVATOR, an update on secondary school change from North Carolina New Schools. Our newsletter aims to inform practitioners, policy makers, and friends of public education on innovation, research and success stories from secondary schools. Please contact us to provide feedback and suggest article ideas.
|
|
New Schools: Less Project, More Promise
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
 | Tony Habit
President
NC New Schools |
When the North Carolina New Schools Project was launched nine years ago, we began with a goal to help create small, innovative high schools across the state aimed at raising graduation rates and improving career and college readiness, especially for underserved students. Our mission focused on growing the knowledge and skills of teachers and administrators and creating stronger links between high school and college.
Now our name is catching up with the work we've been doing and plan to continue doing.
The "project" this organization was created to complete has evolved into something less limited in scope and much broader in reach. This year, more than 100 innovative high schools are available to students in more than half of the state's 115 school districts. They're not just small schools, either, and even entire districts are now thinking in larger terms, adopting a front-and-center focus on effective teaching leading to career and college readiness for all students, starting as early as kindergarten.
We think that's less a project than a promise. Under our new name, North Carolina New Schools, we're renewing our commitment to the kind of education that all our students need to succeed in a world that demands higher skills and greater flexibility. That kind of education can't be limited to small schools, but must begin to reach every school so that every classroom is a place where all students learn to think, talk, read and write every day.
Read more ...
|
NC STEP expands, seeks more candidates
 College graduates interested in becoming high school science, math and technology teachers can now take a cost-free alternate route to certification that combines intensive, school-based preparation with online learning.
Now in its first year, the N.C. STEM Teacher Education Program (NC STEP) is providing hands-on training at four innovative high schools across North Carolina to an initial round of candidates who are being prepared for teaching jobs beginning in the fall of 2013. The addition of four more participating schools next year will open slots to 40 teachers-in-training.
More than half the teaching vacancies in North Carolina high schools are in math and science classrooms, according to data from the N.C. Department of Public Instruction.
The NC STEP program focuses on training teachers in innovative and effective instruction of subjects now considered critical for strong high school preparation - science, technology, engineering and math - STEM in shorthand. Candidates in the 15-month program receive a year of school-based training at an innovative school supported by NC New Schools, combined with seminars and online coursework through WIDE World, a professional development program of the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
"The training that you get is top notch," said Greg Stolze, an industrial engineer who joined the program after 25 years in manufacturing and distribution fields. "It's a great opportunity to work alongside a master teacher for an extended period and to receive high-caliber professional development. That's the best of both worlds. You learn so much."
|
Twitter chats on teaching start TODAY 
Interested in powerful teaching and learning? Looking for conversation about instructional strategies to support innovation in the classroom? Want to hang out on Twitter with lots of cool educators? Need an excuse to spend more time online?
If you answered "yes" to any of those questions, then North Carolina New Schools has just the thing for you!
What: A weekly twitter chat centered on teaching and learning, particularly in schools partnering with NC New Schools. Just search for the hashtag #NCNSchat and join the conversation.
Topic for 10/29 -- That's right TODAY: "Reading, Writing, Thinking, Talking, Every Class, Every Day??? Really???"
When: Mondays, 8:30-9:15 p.m. Eastern Time
We will start with an 8-week series, running from Oct. 29 - Dec. 17, 2012, and continuing on in 2013 if participants are interested.
Who: Any educators interested in discussions about powerful teaching and learning.
Chat moderators are Matt Sears (@teachindurham) and Cyndi Soter O'Neil (@ncnewschools).
How: Visit http://bit.ly/NCNSchat for more details and to offer suggestions for future chat topics. You'll also find tutorials about using Twitter, tips for participating in a Twitter chat and other helpful information.
Why: Share best practices, ask questions, get new ideas, build community, expand your network - think of it as a virtual coffee talk with some of your favorite educators.
|
|
Study: Dual enrollment boosts outcomes
A study of recent high school graduates in Texas shows that students who took college courses while still in high school are more likely to earn a two- or four-year degree.
The study, from Jobs for the Future, a Boston-based policy group, found that students who had completed a college course before graduation were nearly 50 percent more likely than students who had not taken one to earn a college degree within six years of graduation.
The research examined the outcomes of nearly 33,000 students who graduated with the class of 2004, with half the group having completed at least one college course while in high school; with the other half having not done so. Both groups were similar in terms of academic performance and demographic factors.
The study found that 54 percent of the dually-enrolled graduates earned a two- or four-year degree six years after completing high school, compared to 37 percent of students who had not taken a college course in high school.
Read more ...
|
|
|
|
|
Data snapshot
2012 graduation rate for low-income students ...
2012 graduation rate for black male students ...
| 
Source: NC New Schools and NC Department of Public Instruction |
|
|
Meet an Innovator
Angela Ballentine's job title at Vance Granville Community College is "Vice President of Instruction."
But she could also be known as "Community College Expert on Opening Early College High Schools," after helping to launch not just one, but four early colleges that VGCC operates in partnership with local school districts and North Carolina New Schools.
As the higher education partner for early colleges on satellite campuses in Vance, Granville, Warren and Franklin counties, VGCC has more early colleges than any other community college in North Carolina and at one time had more than any community college in the nation. Her work with early colleges earned her a President's Leadership Award in 2010.
"This is a wonderful opportunity for students in our four-county area, a chance to get a step ahead and have a first-hand experience of what it's like to be in college programs," Ballentine said.
Read more ... |
|
|
