Welcome to INNOVATOR, an update on school and district transformation from North Carolina New Schools. Our newsletter aims to inform practitioners, policy makers, and friends of public education on innovation, workforce development, research and success stories from schools, districts and regions across the state. Please contact us to provide feedback and suggest ideas.
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NC: Leading for education innovation
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Tony Habit
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NC New Schools President Tony Habit addressed the House Education Innovation Committee of the NC General Assembly last month, offering several recommendations for strategies to improve outcomes for all students. His remarks follow:
NC New Schools believes that every student deserves to graduate able to provide for themselves, for their families and for their communities. Achieving this goal requires highly skilled teachers and administrators.
We are a world-class provider of professional learning for teachers and administrators. And we work with educators to create strong pipelines from the classroom into careers and college for all students.
NC New Schools began in 2003 as a developer of new school models. We are most noted for early college designs which we administer in partnership with the NC Department of Public Instruction and the community college and university systems.
Today, because of support from both the state and the private sector, NC leads the country in the development of high schools that are blended among colleges, universities and the public schools.
Early college high schools have fundamentally changed the relationship between secondary and post-secondary institutions. In most communities, early college leads to broader change such as aligning high school with college and work-ready standards.
There are 77 early colleges across the state with an overall graduation rate of 96.2 percent. Statewide, low-income students graduate at a rate of 76 percent. In early colleges, low-income students graduate at 95 percent -- that's almost a 20 point difference.
In addition to serving as proving grounds for teaching to a college-and-work-ready standard, early colleges are also demonstration sites for effective professional learning for teachers and administrators. We are proud that our partner schools achieve some of the best results in the country. And the longer teachers and administrators participate in professional learning with us, the better their results.
We are also deeply engaged in creating networks of innovative STEM schools linked to economic and workforce development in such areas as agriscience, energy and sustainability, aerospace, health and life sciences, information technology and advanced manufacturing.
Read more ...
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Two new schools win state approval
High school students in Buncombe and Mecklenburg counties have a new option starting this fall with the addition of two schools with a STEM-focus and career orientation. The State Board of Education approved both schools last week for cooperative innovative status, giving the schools flexibility in their approach and allowing them to partner with a college or university to offer students the opportunity to earn significant college credit.
Both schools are designed  in response to local economic needs, with specific attention to a recognized skills gap in the supply and demand for a workforce well equipped with STEM-related skills (science, technology, engineering and math.) The two schools are partnering with NC New Schools for instructional and leadership coaching and other professional development services for teachers and school administrators.
The Charlotte-Mecklenburg school system will open an early college high school on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte - the district's first early college - and housed near the university's Energy Production and Infrastructure Center, known as EPIC.
 The partnership among Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, UNC Charlotte and NC New schools is aimed at helping increase access to college while providing students with exposure to career pathways in the engineering and energy sectors. The school is also intended to serve as a research and professional development site for STEM education and teacher preparation. It will encompass a five-year curriculum that will enable students to earn their high school diploma and up to two years of transferable college credit.
The school will blend the resources of NC New Schools and the National Academy Foundation and will serve as an all-district magnet, open to any CMS freshman, and with a specific emphasis on first generation students or those underrepresented in STEM disciplines.
The curriculum will be adapted to each student using a personalized plan to guide instruction. Using the Grand Challenges for Engineering for unifying questions, students will investigate the concept of sustainable energy through project-based leaning. A technology-rich environment will provide opportunities to design, explore, problem-solve, and lead.
In Buncombe, the Discovery Academy will emphasize a student-centered curriculum and project-based approach that encourages students to identify, design, and solve real world problems that mirror both the hard- and soft-skill demands of the workforce. The school is designed to replicate an innovative high-tech research environment which merges educational practices with business principles to provide a STEM-themed model school for the western region of the state.
The Discovery Academy is also aimed as a learning laboratory for other educators where best educational practices can be replicated in traditional schools and will serve as a hub for regional STEM activities.
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Rural county embraces innovation
"Classrooms without walls" reprinted with permission from the Roanoke-Chowan News HeraldBy Cal Bryant AHOSKIE - When it comes to preparing local high school students to compete in a worldwide market, no stone needs to be left unturned. An initiative, led by NC New Schools, is gaining momentum this year with the addition of seven high schools, including Hertford County High, to take part in the North Carolina Investing in Rural Innovative Schools program. The initiative, now in its second year, began with five high schools. "This is an early college high school concept on a high school campus," said Teresa Watford, a counselor for the program at Hertford County High School. "They do not receive a (college) degree, but they do receive college credits and those credits can be transferred to the college or university of their choice." As an example, Watford said one current HCHS senior will graduate in June and then enroll at Winston-Salem State University as a second semester sophomore due to the credit hours they earned through the Rural Innovative Schools program. "She has really taken advantage of this program; she has earned a lot of college credits," Watford said of the student. Currently, HCHS has 102 students (juniors and seniors) involved in the program: 43 enrolled at East Carolina University, 33 enrolled at UNC-Greensboro, and 26 enrolled at Roanoke-Chowan Community College. HCHS Principal James Futrell stressed that he would like to see those numbers grow, saying that other juniors and seniors at the school can enroll in the program after the Christmas/New Year holiday break. Students in the program are able to get a head start on college by taking courses through local community colleges, tuition free, along with academic support from their high school teachers. Teachers in the high schools receive intensive classroom-based coaching to better engage students through active learning that demands them to "read, write, think and talk in every class, every day." Thanks to the Rural Innovative Schools program grant funding, students are also able to take online college courses at no cost, to include textbooks, from East Carolina University or the UNC-Greensboro iSchool. Read more ...
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Gap in skills, gender
Even as fewer degrees were awarded in computer science at all levels nationally in 2012 than in 2003, when they reached a peak, they've rebounded -- among men -- in recent years. But the number of women earning computer science degrees hasn't recovered, a new report shows, dropping by 29 percent.
Men alone can't fill the demand for workers in computer science and information technology, the report from Change the Equation argues.
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Meet an Innovator
Ten Years of Progress
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When Mary Linda Andrews joined the board of advisors of NC New Schools Board in 2003, the newly launched organization was just getting started with a handful of schools and STEM was a little known acronym for science, technology, engineering and math. She was drawn to the positive approach toward making a difference for students. "NC New Schools always had a strategic outlook that was a little bit different but also complementary to the school process in North Carolina," Andrews says. "Initially they started out talking about rigor, relevance and relationships and how they apply those principles to ensure that every student is prepared for their future, whether that was university or industry training or work. "For an organization to articulate that each of these students still needed the same 21st century skills - including critical thinking, problem solving, working in a team, communication skills - no matter what their future held is very important to what all businesses in North Carolina want for their citizens." A decade later, Andrews - who works as director of NC community partnerships for GSK - still serves on the board and marvels at how things have changed. "When you compare where these schools were when they became partners and where they are now, it's a powerful impact," Andrews says. "NC New Schools is in it for the duration - it's not a fly-by-night program. It's challenging, aggressive work to offer the consistent professional development and long-term support to make real and lasting change for students." Read more ...
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Early registration deadline is Friday for next month's Scaling STEM conference. Take advantage of discounted rates. The two-day event is an opportunity to learn from experts from across the state and nation, and with other educators.The 2014 conference will focus on supporting participants in designing for the future of learning. The conference is co-hosted by NC Science, Mathematics & Technology Education Center, Teaching Institute for Excellence in STEM (TIES), and NC New Schools in partnership with NC Department of Public Instruction, NC Community College System, NC Independent Colleges and Universities and the UNC System. Learn more and register ... |
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