1. Honors Level Course Implementation Guide Q & A Session Social Studies
Welcome to the North Carolina Honors Level course implementation guide question and answer session for social studies.

2. Social Studies Content Area
Introductions
Today’s Webinar Is
Facilitated By
Fay Gore
Social Studies Content Area
My name is Michelle McLaughlin and I am a consultant with the K-12 Social Studies section of the Curriculum and Instruction Division.
The goal of this webinar is to address questions educators may have about preparing the curriculum portfolio for social studies courses offered to students in high school.

3. Social Studies Courses Eligible For Honors Credit
We would like to thank those of you who took the time to send us the questions you have about preparing a honors portfolio.
I will address those questions as we go through each section of this webinar.
There are however, several common questions that I want to go ahead an address at this time.
Frequently Asked Questions About Honors Level Courses In Social Studies:
Q: Which Social Studies courses can be offered at an honors level? A: Currently, any Social Studies course that is offered by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (has a Standard Course of Study) can be offered at an honors level. Additionally, any social studies course that might be developed by a local school system or school may also be offered at an honors level, as long as it has the approval of the local curriculum office and/or the local board of education. Note: This is not true for other content areas. If you are interested in knowing which courses can be offered at an honors level for another content area please check with the contact person representing that area on the honors committee. A listing of contact names is on the home page of the Honors Implementation wiki.
Q: For which Social Studies courses are teachers expected to prepare a portfolio? A: Teachers are expected to prepare a portfolio for any Social Studies course that is being offered for honors credit. Q: Which Social Studies courses are going to be reviewed with the state level review process? A: All courses that have a standard course of study in Social Studies that are being taught at an honors level will be subject to state level review.

4. How To Access The Honors Implementation Information
The honors portfolio implementation process and procedure guidelines can be found at the URL address seen here on the screen.
The screen you see here is a simple screenshot of the wiki site which will upload upon going to this site.
Notice here on the menu on the left….
Clicking onto the Professional Development link will take you to the PD page, on which you will find a section Titled “Content Area Honors Presentations”.
This link will take you to a page where you can click onto the social studies link.
Hopefully, those of you on this webinar today have already bookmarked this site and the social studies site in the favorites folder on you computers.

5. Structure and Content of The Honors Portfolio
The Honors Portfolio contains three primary sections:
Curriculum Content
Instructional Materials and Methods
Assessment
In preparing the Honors Portfolio teachers are asked to focus on providing information about content and enduring understandings, explanations and evidence for three primary sections:
Curriculum Content
Instructional Materials and Methods
Assessment

6. Let’s Discuss Section I
The
Curriculum
Content
Let’s Discuss Section I – The Curriculum Content section.

7. I. Curriculum Content
How is the honors level course adapted and differentiated for advanced learners? How does the honors level curriculum support vertical alignment for college and career readiness?
Honors Level Course Portfolio Evidence must include:
Teacher Rationale for Curriculum Content (intentional reflection & philosophy)
Standards and Objectives
Curriculum Plan (Pacing guides, course syllabus & sequence, curriculum maps, etc.)
What makes the teaching of an honors course more advanced than what would be expected at the standard level?
In addressing these two overarching questions, seen here on the screen…
The Social Studies honors course portfolio should provide evidence of what is taught in a specific teacher’s honors level classroom.
It should provide evidence of how that honors level course is being taught beyond what would be taught at the standard level.
The first component of each of the three major sections will always be “Teacher Rationale”.
The teacher’s rationale provides a narrative explaining the add social studies concepts, generalizations as well as the advanced topics for the course.
The second component of this section is the Standards and Objectives.
This is where the identification of particular standards and objectives unique to the honors course are listed.
This is also where the teacher explains HOW the teaching of particular essential standards and objectives is unique to the honors level course.
How are these standards and objectives taught to make them more rigorous than how they are taught in a standard level course?
Finally, the last component of this section on Curriculum content is the “Curriculum Plan”.
This is where the teacher should share an overview of the course curriculum plan, the yearly or semester plan, any acceleration of pacing, curriculum maps, any course outlines or syllabi, etc.

8. Questions About Content
At this point I will stop and address those questions sent to us prior to the session today that fit in this category of Curriculum and Content. (Read them and provide answers to them,)
After reading the questions and answering them ask if there are other questions pertaining to this section.

9. Let’s Discuss Section II
Instructional
Materials and Methods
Let’s Discuss Section II – Instructional Materials and Methods.

10. II. Instructional Materials and Methods
How is the honors level course taught?
Honors Level Course Portfolio Evidence must include:
Teacher Rationale for Instructional Materials and Methods
Instructional Materials and Methods (instructional resources, methods, strategies, equipment, and technology)
Sample Units, Lesson(s), and Assignments
Student Work Samples
Section II is focused on “Instructional Materials and Methods”. While Curriculum Content section DESCRIBES WHAT IS TAUGHT, THIS SECTION EXPLAINS HOW IT IS TAUGHT.
This section of the portfolio is where the teacher is going to include things such as samples concept-based units, lessons and assignments as well as actual samples of student work for those lessons and assignments.
The student work samples SHOULD NOT be samples of work that is not described in the lessons that the teacher submits for this section.
Of course it also begins with a “teacher rationale” or explanation for what is to be presented in the section.

11. Questions About Materials/Methods
At this point I will stop and address those questions sent to us prior to the session today that fit in this category of Materials and Methods. (Read them and provide answers to them,)
After reading the questions and answering them ask if there are other questions pertaining to this section.

12. Let’s Discuss Section III
Assessment
Let’s Discuss Section III – Assessment.

13. III. Assessment How is the Honors Level Course assessed?
Honors Level Course Portfolio Evidence must include:
Teacher Rationale for Assessment Practices
Assessment Practices (grading practices, use of rubrics and/or scoring guides, use of formative and summative assessment)
Assessment Samples (pre-assessment, description of formative assessment, and summative assessment)
Student Work Assessment Samples
The Third And Final Section Of The Portfolio Is The Assessment Piece.
In this last major section of the Social Studies Honors Portfolio the teacher is going to be sure to provide an explanation for the assessment practices that he or she is going to use in the Honors course but, also the types of assessment practices along with sample assessments and student work samples in responding to or answering Assessment Samples.
The Social Studies honors portfolio should provide evidence that best practices for assessment are being used in the course.
There should be evidence of pre-assessment, formative assessment and summative assessment.
The use of authentic assessments and ongoing student self- and peer- assessment to adjust and improve learning are important for advanced as well as struggling learners and is encouraged when considering selections to include in the social studies honors portfolio.

14. Questions About Assessment
At this point I will stop and address those questions sent to us prior to the session today that fit in this category of Assessment. (Read them and provide answers to them,)
After reading the questions and answering them ask if there are other questions pertaining to this section.

15. Closure North Carolina Honors Course Implementation Guide and Rubric
State-wide framework
Local flexibility
Guidelines for rigor required for honors credit weighting
The Honors Course Implementation Guide and Rubric was developed to support LEAS in the development and implementation of honors level courses.
It is intended to provide a state-wide framework for honors courses that maintains flexibility for course content differentiation at the local level while establishing guidelines for rigor required for honors credit weighting.

16. Contact Information
Michelle McLaughlin
Fay Gore
If you have questions or need clarification on any area of the implementation guide particular to social studies contact Michelle McLaughlin or Fay Gore.
As always, we thank you again for all you do for the students of North Carolina.