North Carolina’s READY Initiative to Prepare Students for College and Career

FROM NC ABCs to NC READY ABCs NC SBE adopted- A Framework for Change: The Next Generation of Assessments and Accountability New Standard Course of Study Common Core in ELAs and Mathematics Essential Standards in all other subjects New Student Assessments Aligned to the new Standard Course of Study given for the first time in Spring 2013 New Accountability Model Focused on Career and College Ready Reported for the first time in November 2013 (NOW) NC Schools will be given an A-F school performance grade reported in the fall of 2014

North Carolina’s READY Initiative WHY????? To ensure that NC students are ready to compete in today ’ s economy and participate in society. HOW???? Curriculum is focused on the most critical knowledge and skills that students need to learn. Students are expected to master more difficult material earlier in school, to solve problems that are real-world questions and to express their ideas clearly with supporting facts.

Raising the Bar: New Standards, New Challenges

State Superintendent June Atkinson “North Carolina students didn’t lose ground in their learning last year, but they are being measured against a higher standard with more rigorous expectations for applying knowledge and skills to real-world problems.”

Changing Standards The Old: Standards were about students’ ability to move to the next grade level. The New: Testing now designed to reflect new, deeper content knowledge.

Proficiency standards now address how ready students are for college and careers, and whether students will be ready to graduate.

New Standards: Students are taught the process of problem solving… …not simply taught answers to questions.

New Standards: Students are asked to communicate and collaborate more… …to think critically, and to create more.

Changing Tests…Changing Scores End of Grade (EOG) and End of Course (EOC) scores will be released November 7th. It is NORMAL for test scores to drop when new standards are introduced—they usually do ( has happened twice in NC since 1990s).

Comparison New York and Kentucky both implemented new standards in , and they experienced similar drops last fall. 45 states have adopted the new standards, and they are also expected to have drops in scores.

Raising the Bar Just like the high jump, once the athlete clears the bar, it must be raised. The athlete may miss the bar at the new height, but will eventually clear it.

Student Growth It is important to remember that students continued to grow academically in Lower scores do not reflect poorly on them, OR on their teachers.

New Assessments Are a Baseline. Over time, scores will provide a clearer picture of how well prepared students are to enter college and the workforce.

Focus Having new test scores helps to support student learning and to support teachers. Teachers are involved in intense professional development to better understand new standards.

Outcomes We CANNOT compare this year’s scores to last year’s scores. Scores will NOT affect students’ grades or current placement.

North Windy Ridge Results Year 1 of NC READY % NWR Students Proficient in Reading, Math and Science NWR STUDENTS EXCEEDED GROWTH BY MORE THAN 1 YEAR

NC State Targets Federal Targets STATE LEVEL MET 36/37 TARGETS FEDERAL LEVEL MET 21/21 TARGETS AREA OF CONCERN: SCIENCE

NWR READY INITIATIVE REMAIN FOCUSED ON PROVIDING STUDENTS WITH A QUALITY EDUCATION EACH DAY TEACH STUDENTS TO THINK CRITICALLY, CREATIVELY AND TO COMMUNICATE CLEARLY ENCOURAGE STUDENTS PARTNER WITH FAMILIES – HOMEBASE PARENT PORTAL COMING SOON- WEEK PER GRADE LEVEL _ SCHOOL MESSENGER- UPDATE CONTACT INFORMATION INDIVIDUAL STUDENT SCORE REPORTS SENT HOME ON NOV. 15 CALL WITH QUESTIONS OR CONCERNS