Category Archives: NC DPI

NC Common Core Commission Mtg – 11-17-14

Posted on November 18, 2014 by A.P. Dillon

On Monday, the Academic Standards Review Commission met for the 3rd time.
I was only able to stay for the first half of the meeting, but tweeted during my time there.

NC DPI was brought in again, this time to explain the math. DPI brought in a team of 6 to present, however after two hours, the only presenter up there was still the first one – Dr. Jennifer Curtis.

Read my storify article, NC Common Core Review Mtg – 11-17-14, and see why the initial presentation stalled out and the overall theme of parents being ‘misinformed’ and teachers ‘making bad choices’ on curriculum being the problem and not the fundamentally flawed and experimental Common Core. Continue reading →

Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885), Academic Standards Review Commission, Common Core, NC DPI | Tagged | 1 Comment

Stokes County: Biggest Teacher Turnover Reason Was Local Supplement

Posted on November 17, 2014 by A.P. Dillon

Teacher pay is not just set by the state. Each county controls the supplemental pay rate teachers receive on top of that state rate.

The fights over teacher pay this past year has been to harp on the state rate. No one in the media really even mentioned the supplemental pay. That supplemental pay didn’t fit into the ‘assault on education’ narrative.

They’ve broken ranks in Stokes county:

KEEP READING… Continue reading →

Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885), EDUCATION, NC DPI | Tagged | Comments Off on Stokes County: Biggest Teacher Turnover Reason Was Local Supplement

Have NC Teachers Done The DPI Common Core Survey Yet?

Posted on November 7, 2014 by A.P. Dillon

The day after the last Common Core Academic Standards Review Commission meeting, a survey went out from NC Dept. of Public Instruction (DPI) to North Carolina teachers.

Given how busy our teachers are, I’m betting more than not deleted the email. It’s also interesting that this survey is an open link that anyone can enter data into. One has to ask how accurate and scientific the results will be.

One has to wonder why this wasn’t done prior to adoption and implementation? If it was, where are those results? Maybe they did and circular filed it along with the CommonCoreStandards.org feedback?

Oh, by the way, one has to enter data in every field in order to advance to the next page of this survey it seems. Way to discourage people from completing it!

This is the email I obtained that went out to NC Teachers:

READ MORE – HIT THE TIP JAR! Continue reading →

Posted in Academic Standards Review Commission, Common Core, NC DPI | 1 Comment

Narrative Collapse: Teacher Turnover Declined In Wake County

Posted on November 2, 2014 by A.P. Dillon

Remember the big hoopla that teacher turnover in Wake County was just amazingly high? Remember that this narrative was pushed by Moral Monday, Democrats and NC DPI itself?

KEEP READING. Continue reading →

Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885), EDUCATION, June Atkinson, NC DPI | Tagged | Comments Off on Narrative Collapse: Teacher Turnover Declined In Wake County

NC DPI Gave Media Outlet Private Charter School Information

Posted on October 29, 2014 by A.P. Dillon

Another day, another political agenda item pushed by NC DPI and Superintendent Atkinson.

First, flashback to April, 2014 via Charlotte Observer:

“Charter schools are set up and organized as public schools. Therefore I believe salaries are to be open to the public for review,” state Superintendent June Atkinson said Monday.

Atkinson said that when the N.C. Department of Public Instruction said in March that charter salaries are not subject to public disclosure, “our attorneys misunderstood the question.”

Now flash forward.

KEEP READING – SEE WHAT INFORMATION DPI RELEASED. Continue reading →

Posted in June Atkinson, NC DPI | Tagged | 1 Comment

Pearson Equella Contract for NC Community Colleges: $35,284,419

Posted on October 12, 2014 by A.P. Dillon

I received the FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) back on the Pearson Equella Contract with the NC Community Colleges System.

The contract takes advantage of some Race To The Top Funds.

The signed MOU includes language for “K-14” storage of “educational content and resources” through the creation of the “Learning Object Repository” or LOR. From what the MOU says, it looks like LOR is an upgrade or enhancement of the existing Pearson Equella “NCLOR”.

NCLOR has it’s own site “Explore The LOR”.
Mission Statement: “The mission of the NCLOR is to provide a centralized location for the acquisition, collection, sharing, and management of quality learning resources for all teachers in North Carolina.”

A few of the document highlights:

The signed intent to contract document cites Pearson receiving $1,309,805, but another ‘signed approval’ document says the amount wasn’t to exceed $1,155,808.
According to the DPI Project Management MOU, the Project manager is to be paid over $85 an hour.
Just for reference, according to page 36 of the State Board of Education’s large contract list, the total cost of this contract (#10037399) came out to be $35,284,419.39.
Broken out:

$18,832,611.39 State
$16,451,808.00 Federal (Race To The Top?) Continue reading →

Posted in EDUCATION, NC DPI | Tagged , | 2 Comments