Race to the Top. North Carolina. Year 1: School Year 2010-2011. [State-Specific Summary Report]
Author: Department of Education (ED)
Date: 2012-01-10
Type: Numerical/Quantitative Data
Subjects: Academic Achievement,Academic Standards,Accountability,Achievement Gains,Administrator Effectiveness,Administrator Evaluation,Best Practices,Budgets,Charter Schools,Competition,Data,Data Collection,Disabilities,Educational Assessment,Educational Change,Educational Improvement,Elementary Secondary Education,English Curriculum,Enrollment,Federal Legislation,Federal State Relationship,Graduation Rate,Grants,Higher Education,Language Arts,Leadership Effectiveness,Mathematics,Measurement Objectives,Models,Outcomes of Education,Performance Based Assessment,Poverty,Principals,Professional Development,Program Evaluation,Program Implementation,Reliability,School Districts,School Effectiveness,School Turnaround,State Government,STEM Education,Systems Approach,Teacher Effectiveness

This State-specific summary report serves as an assessment of North Carolina's Year 1 Race to the Top implementation, highlighting successes and accomplishments, identifying challenges, and providing lessons learned from implementation to date. Delaware created new structures at the State level to support both State and LEA (local education agency) Race to the Top work. North Carolina is transitioning from its current Standard Course of Study to new standards and assessments that prepare students for success in college and the workplace. The State adopted the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) in June 2010 and created the North Carolina Essential Standards for all content areas not covered by the CCSS. The State will implement the CCSS in school year (SY) 2012-2013 and is already taking steps to offer training and support structures to build readiness and understanding for the CCSS and North Carolina Essential Standards. To provide strategic support to teachers around standards and other education reforms underway, the State also established a framework known as the Professional Development Initiative (PDI). In addition, during Year 1, North Carolina began planning and coordinating within the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (DPI), among LEAs, and across stakeholder groups and potential vendors to lay the groundwork for statewide technology initiatives, including the North Carolina K-12 Education Cloud and Instructional Improvement System (IIS). A key challenge that North Carolina faced in Year 1 was building capacity within DPI. The State recognized the need to expand its staff to manage and coordinate the multiple new projects and activities. In several of the Race to the Top initiatives, the State underestimated the time necessary to move from planning to implementation, and the State's procurement and hiring processes imposed additional delays, resulting in contract delays and setbacks in hiring key personnel. Furthermore, during Year 1 of Race to the Top implementation, the State recognized that more staff was needed to address project management and oversight support needs, in addition to the positions included in its Race to the Top application. North Carolina added three positions in the Race to the Top PMO, one in the SBE, and one in the Office of the Governor to help coordinate and support implementation. A glossary is included. (Contains 15 footnotes.) [For the parent document, &quot;Race to the Top Annual Performance Report,&quot; see ED529267. For the full report, &quot;Race to the Top. North Carolina. State-Reported APR: Year One&quot;, see ED529321.]