September 11, 2014
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.
Our website debuts new look, new features
NC New Schools has a new look online with a redesigned website that's more informative and easier to navigate. It's been reorganized around you -- whether you're an educator, community or business leader, parent or student. The content is both deeper and broader, with more stories, videos and profiles of our network schools and innovative partners across the state. We've also added more user-friendly ways to access information about our services.

Check it out
Innovative schools results show strength
Schools that are partners with NC New Schools showed strong performance on a range of accountability measures for 2013-2014 released last week by the N.C. Department of Public Instruction. Together, the innovative schools continue to achieve at high levels, with student outcomes exceeding state averages for key measures, including: 
  • Graduation  rates: More than 50 percent of NC New Schools partner schools achieved rates exceeding 95 percent, with 88 percent posting rates above the state average of 83.8 percent.
     

             NC New Schools partner schools                      All NC high schools   

 

 

  •  ACT Performance: 81 percent of NC New Schools partner schools had an average score of 17 or better on the college entrance exam, now required of all 11th graders. The score of 17 is the minimum required by the UNC system.

 

 

  • Student growth goals: 82 percent of NC New Schools partner schools met or exceeded their goals for academic progress as measured by the Educational Value Added Assessment System (EVAAS), compared to 67.5 percent for all high schools in the state.

           NC New Schools partner schools                 All NC high schools       

                      

          

 

See performance data for all schools from the N.C. Department of Public Instruction.
NC New Schools network grows in new year
As the new school year begins, NC New Schools continues to broaden its reach across the state to help districts and schools transform teaching and learning so that students graduate well prepared for the challenges of a changed world.

In all this year, NC New Schools is working in partnership with districts in nearly 80 of the state's 100 counties with services ranging from leadership development to instructional coaching to customized, on-site support for professional learning. Total enrollment in 152 schools now served by NC New Schools now exceeds 35,000 students.

NC New Schools provides services at the district level in a growing number of counties, from three in 2013-2014 to 13 this year, including Buncombe, Madison, Warren, Rutherford, Winston-Salem/Forsyth, Yadkin, Surry, Beaufort, Hertford, Bladen, Wake, Durham, and Guilford.  
 
Among 17 schools with which NC New Schools is working for the first time are a new early college on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, a new STEM-focused school in Buncombe County, Martin L. Nesbitt Jr. Discovery Academy, and three career academies at high schools in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg district under a new partnership between NC New Schools and the National Academy Foundation.

For the first time, NC New Schools is also working in elementary  schools, providing leadership coaching to principals. 
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