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NCCAT Raises the Bar for Professional Development for North Carolina Teachers

CULLOWHEE (November 5, 2012)—The North Carolina Center for the Advancement of Teaching Board of Trustees recently held their semi-annual board meeting in Cullowhee. Faculty and staff reported on the center’s activities. Earlier this year, two trustees were appointed to four-year terms by Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Berger (R-Rockingham). During the October board meeting, these new appointments were sworn in: Aaron Fleming of Apex and M. Brock Womble of Spruce Pine. Terms began July 1. Also, Gregory E. West of Fayetteville was elected vice chair.

M. Elaine Franklin, executive director of NCCAT, reported that the center will continue to incorporate appropriate state and national education initiatives into its intensive, research-based professional development seminars and innovative programs, including training for integrating the Common Core State and North Carolina Essential Standards, providing support for beginning teachers and developing expanded opportunities for leadership in education.

Franklin presented information about the organization’s newly developed strategic plan. The four priority areas of the plan emphasize the development of professional educators and the needs of students in the 21st century, growing the institution’s capacity to more fully engage in and contribute to educational research and evaluation, advancing the development and use of educational innovations, and fostering a culture of service.

Franklin also reported that the center is expanding new and existing strategic partnerships to increase programming support with organizations including the Department of Public Instruction, UNC-General Administration, Western Carolina University, Communities in Schools North Carolina, Learn NC, North Carolina Humanities Council and others.

Franklin announced several innovative educational opportunities for North Carolina’s public and charter school teachers. With the implementation of increased technology in today’s classrooms, NCCAT will pilot a program for delivering a few “flipped” seminars in 2013. Flipped instruction inverts traditional teaching practices; lectures and other types of presentations are delivered on-line, which preserves class time for application-based activities and greater learner engagement. NCCAT’s flipped seminars will provide a combination of online and face-to-face professional development for public school teachers and reduce the number of days the teacher is away from school. Also, NCCAT is in the initial planning stages for developing the inaugural “NCCAT K–12 Scholars Conference.”

“We are proud of NCCAT’s positive contributions to public education in North Carolina,” Franklin said. “Since NCCAT’s inception in 1985, about 67,000 educators have been served by this organization. We believe that teaching is one of the most important jobs on the planet and that education is one endeavor that we can’t afford to get wrong.”

In other news, Angie Hambling, chief of staff, provided updates on the center’s current organizational chart, introduced an employee engagement program, discussed recent accomplishments of faculty and staff members, and outlined the concept for a pilot program for administrators that would focus on the principles of visionary leadership.

Tina Wilson, director of business services, reported on the center’s budget and finances. Wilson reported on the annual state appropriation for the previous fiscal year (July 1, 2011–June 30, 2012). A copy of the 2011–2012 NCCAT Annual Report, which can be found online at www.nccat.org/annualreport, was distributed.

Renée Coward, director of programming, reported on the center’s instructional programming. Coward provided updates on NCCAT’s highly successful Beginning Teachers Program, comprised of NCCAT Connections, a yearlong induction program for first-year teachers, and NCCAT’s “Connect to Your Future: Celebrating Success in the Classroom” residential seminars, which are designed for beginning teachers in their second or third year of teaching. Both of these programs are supported by funds from Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation.

Coward shared summative outcomes from an external evaluation of the NCCAT Connections program. Performetrics of Florida conducted the research and found that principals reported the NCCAT Connections program was directly related to increased teacher effectiveness. Principals also reported that the program better equipped their teachers to work through the challenges of being a first-year teacher, giving them more strategies to assist with teaching, increasing their ability to use newly learned concepts immediately in the classroom, and helping them gain confidence in their classroom management skills.

Coward concluded her report by saying, “The NCCAT faculty and staff worked diligently to maximize the number of teachers served in high-quality professional development programs within the constraints of a drastically reduced budget.” In 2011–2012, NCCAT served 1,317 educators in intensive professional development seminars and innovative programs. “Even more significant,” Franklin added, “NCCAT’s instructional programs provided almost 40,000 contact hours for our state’s teachers.”

Jonathan Wade, lead fellow, reported on NCCAT’s “Seize the Data” Initiative, a two-year data literacy program designed to help teachers use data to improve student engagement and performance. This program will build a cadre of data literacy specialists throughout the state who will be trained in the best practices of engaging teachers with meaningful assessment. The blended learning program will build capacity by creating a scalable train-the-trainer program with online and face-to-face instruction, culminating in the “Southeast Data Literacy Conference” in June 2014. This program is being implemented by NCCAT with funding provided by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction through a Race to the Top (RttT) grant.

NCCAT exercises its duties through the NCCAT Board of Trustees, which is comprised of Linda S. Suggs of Morrisville, chair; Gregory E. West of Fayetteville, vice chair and representative from Region 4; Deborah F. Aldridge of Asheville, representative from Region 8; Henry L. Chandler of Waxhaw, representative from Region 6; Wanda P. Dawson of Kinston, representative from Region 2; Aaron Fleming of Apex; Clement Geitner of Hickory, representative from Region 7; J. Ferrel Guillory of Raleigh, representative from Region 3; Guy P. Smith of Lexington, representative from Region 5; the Hon. Willis P. Whichard of Chapel Hill; M. Brock Womble of Spruce Pine; Jackie C. Wooten of Bethel, representative from Region 1; and M. Elaine Franklin of Sylva, executive director of NCCAT. June S. Atkinson of Raleigh, state superintendent, and William C. Harrison of Raleigh, chairman of the State Board of Education, serve in an ex officio capacity.

“Every day, with the support of the NCCAT Board of Trustees and the Development Foundation of NCCAT Inc. Board of Directors, we strive to create an environment where faculty and staff are able to do what they do best to significantly improve public education in our state,” Franklin said. “By working together, we can help every teacher grow in knowledge, skills, compassion, and professionalism so that all North Carolina students become engaged, self-motivated, and successful.”

Before adjourning the joint meeting, the boards recognized and honored the work of Coward, who will be retiring from NCCAT in January 2013. “During her years of service, Dr. Coward has been fully committed to the goals and ideals of NCCAT, devoting enormous time and energy to the mission and vision of NCCAT while treating the faculty and staff and the teachers of North Carolina with the utmost respect and professionalism,” Suggs said.

The next meeting of the NCCAT Board of Trustees and joint meeting of the NCCAT Board of Trustees and the Development Foundation of NCCAT Inc. will be held April 21, 2013 in Ocracoke.

NCCAT educates North Carolina’s teachers and provides them with new knowledge, skills, teaching methods, best practices and information to take back to their classrooms. NCCAT conducts interdisciplinary, topic-specific seminars for pre-kindergarten through 12th-grade teachers in the environmental and biological sciences, technology, mathematics, communication, leadership, and the arts and humanities. For more information, visit www.nccat.org.