Summary of the

GLOBALLY COMPETITIVE STUDENTS

COMMITTEE MEETING
(Ms. Patricia Willoughby, Chair)
Education Building
301 N. Wilmington Street
Raleigh, NC 27601-2825
June 2, 2010

The following members were present:

Patricia Willoughby, Chair
Melissa Bartlett
Shirley Harris
Kevin Howell

George Litton, Local Board Member Advisor

Jack Hoke, Superintendent Advisor
Jessica Garner, Teacher of the Year Advisor
Cindi Rigsbee, Teacher of the Year Advisor

Also present were:

William Harrison, SBE Chairman
Wayne McDevitt, Vice Chair
June St. Clair Atkinson, State Superintendent

John Tate
Christine Greene

GCS Chair Patricia Willoughby called the June 2010 Globally Competitive Students (GCS) Committee
meeting to order.
In compliance with the requirements of Chapter 138A-15(e) of the State Government Ethics Act, Ms.
Willoughby read the ethics statement to Committee members. There were no conflicts of interest
communicated at this time.

ACTION
GCS 1 Occupational Course of Study (OCS) Testing Issues Related to No Child Left Behind
(NCLB)
Policy Implications: SBE Policy # GCS-C-003, GCS-C-020, No Child Left Behind (NCLB)
Presenters: Ms. Angela Quick (Deputy Chief Academic Officer, Curriculum, Instruction and
Technology Services), Dr. Louis M. Fabrizio (Director, Accountability Policy &
Communications) and Mrs. Mary N. Watson (Director, Exceptional Children Division)
Discussion/Comments:
GCS Committee Chair Patricia Willoughby reiterated that this is a short-term plan for the next two
years in order to remedy the situation. She then recognized Mrs. Watson who shared that a
webinar had been held on this topic with over 300 participants.
Mrs. Watson noted that staff are developing a document of FAQs containing information from the

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June 2, 2010

webinar. She also stated that the PowerPoint from the webinar would be posted to the Exceptional
Children website.
Chair Willoughby asked to be reminded if the plan was to cover the 2010-11 and 2011-12 school
year. Mrs. Watson responded in the affirmative.
Mr. Hoke commented that he thought the DPI staff had done an excellent job of communicating
all pertinent information.
There was no further discussion.

Recommendations:
The Department recommends that for the 2010-11 and 2011-12 school years that: (1) the attached
timeline of curriculum implementation and assessments be approved for OCS students, (2) the SBE waive
(for OCS students only) the requirement in GCS-C-003 that mandates that EOC assessments count as
25% of the students final grades and (3) amendments to policy GCS-C-020 be approved to eliminate the
current OCS NCEXTEND2 assessments from the statewide testing program and ABCs accountability
program.

ACTION
GCS 2 Policies Governing Services for Children with Disabilities
Policy Implications: General Statute NCGS 115C; SBE Policy # GCS-D-000-008, TCS-E-001
Presenter(s): Ms. Angela Quick (Deputy Chief Academic Officer, Curriculum, Instruction and
Technology Services) and Mrs. Mary N. Watson (Director, Exceptional Children
Division)
Discussion/Comments:
GCS Committee Chair Patricia Willoughby introduced the item and asked committee members if
there were any questions.
There was no further discussion.
Recommendations:
The State Board of Education reviewed the proposed amendments to Policies Governing Services for
Children with Disabilities at the May meeting and is asked to approve the amendments at the June
meeting.

ACTION ON FIRST READING

N/A

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June 2, 2010

DISCUSSION
GCS 3 Common Core Standards
Policy Implications: SBE Policy # GCS-F-008
Presenter(s): Ms. Angela Quick (Deputy Chief Academic Officer, Curriculum, Instruction, Technology
and Accountability Services) and Dr. Cindy Bennett (Director, K-12 Curriculum and
Instruction)
Discussion/Comments:
(Mr. McDevitt was not present for the discussion of this item. He had informed the GCS Committee
Chair that he would recuse himself from the discussion and vote.)
Dr. Harrison said that he wanted North Carolina to be one of the first states to sign onto this
initiative.
Ms. Quick provided an overview of the initiative to the Committee. The Common Core State
Standards for Mathematics and English Language Arts is a state-led initiative with a focus on
learning expectations for students. The goals for the Common Core and North Carolinas
Standards are similar. Most states are part of the initiative, though some have dropped out.
Mr. Tate inquired as to who is developing the Standards. Ms. Willoughby responded that the
Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) and the National Governors Association (NGA)
developed the concept and oversaw the work.
Equity, college and career readiness, comparability, sharing of resources, economies of scale, and
student mobility are rationales for participation in this initiative. Ms. Quick commented that staff
members are most excited about equity and comparability. Ms. Quick also shared that North
Carolina has been part of the development process with input from teachers and the public via the
Common Cores website.
Dr. Bennett spoke to the Committee about the English Language Arts Standards. She thanked
staff members from the English Language Arts section for their work and recognized those in
attendance.
Dr. Bennett shared some advances in the Standards: text complexity, balance of literature and
informational texts, a direct link to college and work readiness, literacy standards for science and
social studies, and a clear, vertical progression across grade levels. Advances in the mathematics
Standards include a focus in early grades on numbers, a focus on real-world problems, and
communication and problem-solving emphasis.
Dr. Bennett shared the Departments plans for supporting and transitioning to the new Standards
which include development of Toolkits, professional development for teachers and leaders, online
assistance (such as forums and webinars) and face-to-face meetings with other professional
development organizations.
Instructional Toolkits would include items such as crosswalks between old and new standards,
glossary of terms, lesson plans and units, and diagnostic, formative, and benchmarking assessment
tools.

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June 2, 2010

Plans to support professional development would include using valid, reliable assessments and
data, creating plans to help lead students to mastery of subject, explaining standards in studentfriendly language, and planning for common student mistakes.
Ms. Quick explained the adoption process of the Common Core State Standards: participating
states would adopt 100% of the new Standards, verbatim, in mathematics and English Language
Arts with an option to add 15% of their own standards.
A state will have considered to adopt the Standards when its standards-authorizing body has taken
action to adopt and implement the Common Core.
Ms. Quick said the Department will recommend adding very little, if any, additional content.
Dr. Harrison commented that this would be a true benchmark of how North Carolinas students
are doing across the nation.
GCS Committee Chair Patricia Willoughby said that this item could be moved from Discussion to
Action at the Thursday Board meeting. There were no objections.

Recommendations:
The State Board of Education is asked to discuss and provide feedback to the Department.
GCS 4 Discussion of North Carolinas Proposed New Accountability Model
Policy Implications: SBEs Framework for Change
Presenter(s): Ms. Angela H. Quick (Deputy Chief Academic Officer, Curriculum, Instruction,
Technology and Accountability Services) and Dr. Louis M. Fabrizio (Director of
Accountability Policy & Communications)
Discussion/Comments:
GCS Committee Chair Patricia Willoughby introduced the agenda item and invited Ms. Quick to
address the Committee.
Ms. Quick shared that the topic of this presentation on the new accountability model was
postsecondary readiness; what we are trying to accomplish is to measure students preparedness
for life and to give students usable results to share with educational institutions or employers upon
graduation from high school.
Eight states currently use a nationally recognized postsecondary readiness test; five states
currently administer the ACT, while six states measure the college and career readiness of their
students by a self-developed (state) assessment or ADP Assessment Consortium.
Types of assessments:
- ACT, WorkKeys, and COMPASS (developed by ACT)
- SAT and ACCUPLACER (developed by the College Board)
Mr. Tate inquired about the logic of using WorkKeys. Dr. Atkinson explained that this is a screen
device.
Dr. Garland offered that, when asked, the UNC system had no preference in SAT over ACT. She
also said the question had not been asked of representatives of the private colleges and
universities, though she believed the answer would be the same.
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June 2, 2010

Ms. Willoughby thanked agency staff for being open to all of the feedback that was being offered.
Ms. Quick shared that at the last ACRE Project External Stakeholders meeting held on May 14,
participants were in favor of ACT and WorkKeys.
Dr. Atkinson clarified that community colleges will accept ACT and WorkKeys as well as
COMPASS and ACCUPLACER.
Ms. Willoughby requested that links to the publishers of these tests be added to the ACRE website
so that viewers would have easy access if they had questions.
Ms. Quick reiterated the indicators to build the model.
In closing comments, Ms. Willoughby suggested that Committee members should reflect upon the
discussion.

Recommendations:
The State Board of Education is asked to discuss and provide guidance to the Department.

INFORMATION
N/A

CONSENT
N/A

NEW BUSINESS
Writing Instruction Update
Ms. Quick recognized agency staff members who have worked on the development of the Writing
Instruction System (WIS).
One of the endeavors is how to incorporate the successes in the pilot program into the ACRE
process. The mission of the WIS is to emphasize the importance of writing instruction by
incorporating daily opportunities for students to write with a purpose in the classroom, provide
opportunities for teachers to monitor student growth, and provide opportunities for on-going
teacher feedback in order to develop student writing and communication skills.
Analysis of Grade 4 and Grade 7 writing from the pilot program shows
- No significant growth in scores throughout the school year;
- Inconsistency with teachers entering student scores during the course of the school
year;
- Decline in student reporting over the course of the school year;
- Incomplete data (some schools do not conduct the second on-demand writing task
until the end of the school year).
The number of students enrolled in the WIS remained constant.
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June 2, 2010

The number of student scores entered by the teachers into the system declined over time.
There was a slight increase in student submissions in Grade 7 compared to Grade 4.
Over 60 LEAs are currently participating in the WIS.
Ms. Quick shared some of the recommendations to improve the WIS:
- Require all LEAs to file an electronic K-12 writing plan to DPI;
- Require all LEAs to submit student data for all students enrolled in the WIS by
June 30, 2011, as part of the end of year data collection;
- Expand WIS for all grades 3-12.
In order to improve the Writing Instruction System, DPI will
- Develop an external validation to compare North Carolinas students against
the writing performance of students in other states;
- Develop artificial intelligence scoring software to be developed within WIS;
and
- Develop new modules to increase teacher capacity in writing.
Utilizing a PowerPoint slide, Ms. Quick illustrated usage statewide of the Writing Instruction
System.

Greetings and Remarks from Mr. Bu Jinkun, Deputy Director General, Jiangsu Provincial
Department of Education (China)
(All greetings and remarks shared through an interpreter.)

Mr. McDevitt introduced Mr. Bu Jinkun, Deputy Director General, Jiangsu Provincial Department
of Education from China.
Mr. McDevitt affirmed that the partnership between Jiangsu Province and North Carolina
continues to grow and that the Board takes the partnership seriously.
Currently there are 24 partner schools; the hope is to grow 35 and then 70 additional partner
schools.
Hope for the future result in teacher exchanges, programs for student collaboratives,
international conferences, and students to focus on math, science and technology.
Dr. Harrison shared some remarks and introduced members of the GCS Committee. He then
invited all of the representatives accompanying Mr. Jinkun to the front of the room where he
presented them with small tokens of appreciation. The presentation was photographed. The
contingent was then invited to adjourn for an informal lunch with members of the GCS
Committee.

ADJOURNMENT
Indicating no other business, GCS Chair Patricia Willoughby adjourned the June 2010 meeting of the
GCS Committee.