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Click the + above and share your thoughts!

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The creativity at which PSUs are addressing staff shortages!

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Ensure that we're acknowledging and celebrating the good work of EC staff and students and other subgroups

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The science of reading initiative for our K-3 students!  

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The science of reading initiative for our K-3 students!  

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It's important to celebrate and continue the work of the Early Literacy Specialists. We're seeing real progress and making strides across the state in implementing the Science of Reading. The gains we're making reflect the dedication and effort of everyone involved. As we move forward, it’s exciting to know we're making a meaningful difference in students’ literacy development. Let's keep the momentum going!

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Teachers! We should acknowledge the extraordinary work of our classroom teachers!

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Teachers! We should acknowledge the extraordinary work of our classroom teachers!

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Educators and leaders who are truly committed to serving ALL children through innovation and with respect.

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The North Carolina State Improvement project and the work they do with literacy, math, coaching, and systems effectiveness.  

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The North Carolina State Improvement project and the work they do with literacy, math, coaching, and systems effectiveness.  

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Authenticity and passion among our students.

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We have a dedicated and committed DPI staff that has a true heart for students and service.

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We have a dedicated and committed DPI staff that has a true heart for students and service.

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The importance of our public schools in our communities

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The importance of our public schools in our communities

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Commitment to supporting evidence-based practices/frameworks: SoR, implementation science, MTSS, Pyramid Model and so on.

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DEI efforts

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1. Regional Support Teams providing tailored support to districts. This model promotes relationship building opportunities between local PSUs and NCDPI.

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ML/Title III will be releasing the application this week for the second year of the ERA award designed to honor the great work of ESL teachers in NC.

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The great work our state is doing with  literacy through the Early Literacy Specialist positions, LETRS, and supporting teachers and students.

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Providing quality public school choice (lab, charter, magnet, etc.) to all families.

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The collaboration between departments to ensure success for all of our students.  

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The collaboration between departments to ensure success for all of our students.  

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High quality preschool and early learning programs and partnerships at the state and local levels

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innovative collaborations - regional, cross sector, state, local - we're all in public education together!

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DPI's regional-based support to all PSUs across the state.

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Celebrate and lift up the business and industry credentials our students are earning in CTE - supporting career development for all.

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Celebrate and lift up the business and industry credentials our students are earning in CTE - supporting career development for all.

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Celebrate and recognize school programs that support our students, teachers, and the administration.

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Students earning industry credentials in CTE programs and also those signing with industry for Apprenticeships.

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More coordinated cross-agency efforts under the Regional Support Structure.

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We are a small team who were brought together last year to resume support for our public pre-k programs. This is a much-needed area of support in public schools, and I am extremely grateful and excited to be a part of this work.

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Celebrate veteran educators and their important contributions. Acknowledge the service of those that have continued in public education even when the salary scale is not benefitting them. They need to feel valued.

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Continue to celebrate our teachers by recognizing their great work and pushing it out through the many media platforms.

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Recognize, celebrate, and support our experienced educators.

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Early Learning Sensory Support Program (ELSSP) through NC DPI supports our earliest of learners who are deaf or hard of hearing and/or visually impaired. The impact our teachers have on the families and students is amazing in their most vulnerable times as they are just learning about their children's exceptionalities.

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The celebration and lifting up of our CLASSIFIED staff members (data managers, instructional partners, etc.) Often times these individuals work behind the scenes and contribute to student success both directly and indirectly. It takes the entire village.

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Continue promoting Public Education as the BEST choice for our students via social media.

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High school options and choice in some school districts!

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High school options and choice in some school districts!

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Early College Programs and dual enrollment opportunities across North Carolina are providing exceptional learning experiences for high school students. These programs allow students to take college-level courses while still in high school, earning both high school and college credits. Dual enrollment, in particular, gives students the flexibility to enroll in courses at community colleges or universities, further expanding their academic horizons. By offering these opportunities, North Carolina is helping students gain valuable skills, prepare for higher education, and enter the workforce with a competitive edge.

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21st CCLC subgrantees across the state are doing an amazing job of ensuring students have access to high quality afterschool programming.

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OEL - Early Learning Resources and supports for evidence-based practices

OEC - Preschool Exceptional Children section provides critical support to LEAs serving our youngest learners and the ELSSP with a focus on specific disabilities at a critical age

ALL with a focus on ensuring positive outcomes for young children and their families as they begin their relationship with public education

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Thank you for acknowledging the many unknowns of the current situation in Washington, D.C. As a Multilingual learner/Title III consultant I am wondering how the department is preparing to preserve jobs and student services currently tied to title funding if the federal government shifts to providing states with more flexibility through block grants. One solution I would recommend is having ML/Title III voices at the table (DPI, LEA, school level, students) as funding distribution is discussed.

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A significant challenge in North Carolina has been improving literacy and aligning our practices with the Science of Reading. Early Literacy Specialists play a crucial role in addressing this challenge by driving growth in students' reading abilities and ensuring that instructional practices are aligned with evidence-based reading strategies. Continued funding for Early Literacy Specialists is essential to sustaining and expanding the progress we are seeing in students' reading development.

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Challenge: Siloed efforts at DPI which leads to siloed efforts locally

Solution: Encourage/require cross-office and cross-sector collaborations with a focus on implementation science, evidence-based practices with a consistency that honors local context

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Celebrating the work The Office of Early Learning is doing around literacy with LETRS, DIBELS, LIPs, increased support for districts, schools and teachers through the support of Early Literacy Specialist, regional consultants, and the state team.

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Continue to work on internal growth and communication within the agency to break down silos and enhance transparency and collaboration for the benefit of all.

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With the possibility of losing funding for students with disabilities and 504's, working with all departments on how we are not only going to provide services for students who need them but to help them thrive.  

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With the possibility of losing funding for students with disabilities and 504's, working with all departments on how we are not only going to provide services for students who need them but to help them thrive.  

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NCVPS has been and continues to be a solution for schools to expand their offerings to students.

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We need a comprehensive support framework (inside the agency and in the field) that comes alongside districts for improvement. Increasing a focus on coordinated regional support, planning, and field based human capital within the system of RSTs.

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Within the agency, having systems in place that bring the different Offices together. Oftentimes it feels like we work in silos. Solution: Determine initiatives that multiple offices are involved in and creating multi-office implementation teams to not only promote the work but effectively communicate within their Office.

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It is not well known and most would not want it to be publicly known - but this is the only place I know to put it as there is no good place - but. speaking to the character of your DPI staff - those based in the Western region - while dealing with their own loss during Helene - those in the EC Division made it a point to check in with every single EC Director in the affected districts multiple times to assess their needs, help carry the educational load during that time, and in some cases got specialized baby formulas to families - got generator fuel in the back way through Tennessee to a director - the list is endless. DPI staff kept checking on those staff members and picking up the load - while displaced themselves. That work is ongoing even at this point in time. The help was not just educational in nature -

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Modernization efforts have been slow due to lack of funding and staffing support. We are decades behind many LEAs in terms of technology. In order to catch up, we need to dedicate time, money, and human capital to modernizing DPI. We should also prioritize cross-training and specialized professional development (ie systems, analytics software, etc) for existing staff instead of simply hiring new bodies that lack the historical knowledge.

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I haven't been with DPI very long, but I have seen the positive impacts of RSTs, Early Literacy Specialists, etc. working directly in schools with districts. We currently have over 40,000 pre-k students in public schools and only four consultants to support these programs. We know the more you invest in the early years, the better the outcomes later in life. A solution would be to double our team or partner with other departments or early childhood organizations to get more direct, in-person support to these pre-k programs. (This aligns with Pillar 1)

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Clear, visible, organized and aligned support for early learning/preschool from DPI. We have a significant opportunity to provide coordinated and collaborative support for LEA's supporting early learners.

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The rigor or math and science needed to be successful in math and science is lacking. Both of my boys have struggles with higher level maths in college. I would recommend that we look at the alignment of our math offerings to see if there is alignment in preparation with the rigors of not just the math needed to enter college - but the math and sciences required for program completion in college - Organic chemistry, Chem II, Physics, Statitics, etc.

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Our lowest performing schools and districts need "boots on the ground" to help them learn how to turnaround and sustain the transformation moving forward. This would require an increase in human capital at NCDPI which would require funding by the General Assembly

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Our lowest performing schools and districts need "boots on the ground" to help them learn how to turnaround and sustain the transformation moving forward. This would require an increase in human capital at NCDPI which would require funding by the General Assembly

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For many DPI consultants, compensation with the coaching work and program creation we implement is instrumental in helping schools raise achievement, and should be compensated as such. A solution to this may be to increase funding for DPI salaries that are mid-level positions using evaluations from VIP to determine if high performing goals are met.

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Beginning Teacher Support Program (SBE & GS requirement)

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Beginning Teacher Support Program (SBE & GS requirement)

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To second Alessandro's point about fewer regional support personnel- the Beginning Teacher Support Program (required by GS and SBE policy) is, to my knowledge, an unfunded requirement. This is a challenge for many schools districts, especially rural districts with less local funding to staff this program and support these beginning teachers. And when I'm talking about Beginning Teachers, I'm including beginning teachers from all pathways (EPPs, residency, etc.) We have to support all those pathways and tailor support accordingly.

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Coaching has been proven to be a highly effective tool for implementing best practices in education. However, one of the challenges faced by North Carolina public schools is the lack of sufficient human resources to provide dedicated coaches for implementing these strategies. Often, coaches are required to take on multiple roles, which can lead to the coaching function not being given the attention and priority it needs to be most effective.

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Challenge: Licensed, qualified teaching staff in public schools, and a dwindling talent pool for teachers.

Solution: Leveraging Charter Schools in the state, partnered with local universities, to train, develop and give teachers experience and gain licensure to benefit all public schools. Teachers could gain experience and licensure, charter schools would be able to be more fully staffed, and then we develop a bigger pool of certified teachers in our state.

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Communication at DPI feels very siloed. Improving communication and collaboration between departments would help us to align and coordinate our initiatives and communication with the field and improve our support to PSUs

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The recruitment and retention of educators in all areas is a huge challenge across the state particularly in rural areas and areas that border other states with higher educator pay. Bringing NC pay and benefits closer to the national average is important. Recognizing that many educators are coming to our systems through alternative licensure programs, these teachers need high quality PD and support programs.

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Support for the student information system is a vital component to the accuracy of student data. The SISPL team is doing a amazing job of providing regional support and direct PSU support during implementation/conversion for both Phase 1 and now Phase 2 PSU transitioning to the new SIS. The continuation of data validation/auditing/monitoring is super importation as the SIS touches all areas.

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Every district is different with its own culture, identity, and funding. As we craft solutions, keep in ind every district with limited resources, cannot carry out plans with the same level of fidelity. Help bridge the gap and provide additional layered support those districts who need it.

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Every district is different with its own culture, identity, and funding. As we craft solutions, keep in ind every district with limited resources, cannot carry out plans with the same level of fidelity. Help bridge the gap and provide additional layered support those districts who need it.

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We need to acknowledge that districts are faced with hiring staff that are less equipped than they have been traditionally (if they can get certified staff at all). Onboarding and transitioning residency teachers to public schools to close the gap between expectations and reality, as well as skills to be successful, is a right now and critical need. The agency can do some of this with it's current resources and structures.

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Challenge: Communication and morale within the agency is a concern. Solution options: review exit interviews, continue to allow an avenue for open conversation and feedback from all employees, create and implement communication protocols, create a group of boots on the ground representatives (vs. leadership) from each office. These representatives can act as liaisons to share concerns and solutions from within offices.

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NCCAT is amazing. To be part of one of their cohorts was a life-changing and encouraged me to continue pursuing opportunities for growth. Growing this program would be amazing. 

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NCCAT is amazing. To be part of one of their cohorts was a life-changing and encouraged me to continue pursuing opportunities for growth. Growing this program would be amazing. 

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I concur with Hopeful Orca

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Students with the most challenging behaviors including those with disabilities spend MOST of their time in General Education settings, providing staff with high quality core support and staff to coach and implement positive behavior support is critical to overcoming these challenges.

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Issue: ill-equipped and under supported district and school leaders

Solution: School leadership support (coaching, resources, PL, TA) focused on the realities of the hardest job in the world with a priority of ensuring the best possible outcome for ALL children

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I agree there needs to be more cross collaboration within the agency.

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Also agree with Hopeful Orca

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We collect a lot of data for reporting purposes, and the data sometimes reveal that we are not meeting certain standards. A solution might be to form task groups to focus on these low performing areas and bring them within standards.

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Disconnect between General Assembly and NCDPI 

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Disconnect between General Assembly and NCDPI 

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This is not a new idea. However, legislation is often passed that is crafted in a way that creates undue burden (unintentionally) on districts and schools to carry out the general statutes. Possible Solution: Establish a Two-way Communication Structure between GA committees and NCDPI around topics related to education, where applicable, and allow discussion/input from DPI staff as thought-partners, to provide legislators with context/lens into how the laws are implemented operationally at the school level.

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Universal PreK for all students coming into our schools!  

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Universal PreK for all students coming into our schools!  

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Many families do not think Charter Schools are actually public schools, and more sharing information about the true work Charter Schools do only highlighting their strengths (because there are SO MANY!) with a spotlight in DPI newsletters and social media.

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The continuation of support for creating sustainable systems around literacy within our school districts. The role of the ELS serves as a bridge between the state and the district, schools, and teachers to take legislation from compliance to action around literacy through a systems coaching model. We are making gains, but the work is just beginning. We also need a statewide universal math screener to support student learning and growth.

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Adding Math Support across the state.

Adding Charter Schools to the regional support model.

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High school options at all of our PSU's including Early Colleges, Vocational, IB, and regular and honors high schools.  Families need choices.  

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High school options at all of our PSU's including Early Colleges, Vocational, IB, and regular and honors high schools.  Families need choices.  

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Business and community sponsors and/or higher ed sponsoring teachers (every teacher) for a paid summer externship to support and promote what is current, refresh the teacher, enhance professionalism of educators, and build teacher network and community partnerships (again for each teacher)

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Required WBL for each student as graduation requirement

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Required WBL for each student as graduation requirement

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Whetherit's job shadowing or internship.

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Utilizing implementation science with fidelity. We currently talk the talk but do not walk the walk.

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Yes to Universal PreK! And, revitalize the "office of early learning" with a focus on serving children ages 3-8 with a wholistic approach grounded in evidence. Our early learning work has been scattered and now desperately needs to be revitalized.

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Yes to Hopeful Orca (again)

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Would be great to have a directory for who needs to be contacted for specific needs/questions within the agency. Too often valuable time is lost trying to figure out who should be included in conversations to make processes move forward.

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That we spend intentional time to effectively explore and plan for implementation efforts. Oftentimes we build planes while we're flying them, and they crash. My big idea would be for effective implementation efforts not only at the agency but that the implementation generalizes to the PSUs. We want out PSUs to trust DPI and want to work with us as equals - not believe that we're just a "supervising" agency.

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Agree, Amanda!

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Duke has a TeachHouse. Duke TeachHouse is a living and learning community for early career teachers and graduates of the Duke University teacher preparation programs.

It would be an out-of-the-box idea to develop a model could be implemented for the whole state of NC, linking EPPs across the state, or having multiple "TeachHouses" across the state that offers beginning teacher support.

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For all students to achieve their  maximum potential by providing a focus on some of our most vulnerable populations.

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DPI and all of our PSUs are tasked based on a DOJ ruling with being fully accessible with digital content by either April of 2026 or April of 2027 depending on the size of the area they support. We need more staff to truly support this issue as well as the software and training to fully bring all of our staff on board with being successful with complying and modeling what this looks like.

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I would love to see more collaboration with our universities to better prepare pre-service and in-service educators for working with the students they will encounter in today's classroom. My focus is multilingual learners. One way we are approaching this goal is through a DPI hosted ML IHE committee made up of over 20 universities and colleges and 30+ members who meet monthly.

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Yes to IMTA!

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Kindergarten and primary grade classrooms are facing challenges in meeting academic goals alongside implementation of age appropriate instructional practices and expectations. Teachers in the early grades often feel unable to implement certain research based practices for early learners due to misinformed leadership and understanding around effective instructional practice for young children. We need to get information/guidance out to LEA and district leaders around research based early learning environments and instructional practices in support of reducing challenging behaviors and increasing positive student outcomes particularly during the kindergarten year.

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A comprehensive and cohesive recognition that students with disabilities ARE gen ed students first.

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The idea is to create a state-required system where PSUs can monitor both the procedural and instructional aspects of their special education programs. This will help build their ability to manage and improve services for students with disabilities, ensuring they’re aligned with IDEA and providing effective teaching methods. By tracking how well these procedures and instructional strategies are working, PSUs can spot areas where they’re succeeding and where they may need to make adjustments.

This system will also support DPI by giving them access to real-time data from the PSUs. This would allow DPI to provide more targeted, meaningful support, helping PSUs fine-tune their practices to be more effective both in how they deliver services and in how they implement instructional strategies.

This approach would empower PSUs to take charge of their own improvement, while also making it easier for DPI to assist with guidance and resources. The goal is to boost both procedural and instructional quality, leading to better outcomes for students in special education.

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Matching Grade Level Content to Reading EOG Passages

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Matching Grade Level Content to Reading EOG Passages

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With all the research to show the positive impact background knowledge plays in reading comprehension, Reading EOGs/EOCs should contain passages related to content learned in that grade's science and social studies topics throughout the year. This would help to level the playing field for students since all of them have been taught on that subject and are familiar with those topics. Even if it was just for the informational texts, that would be a better assessment to show what the students are able to do.

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Second the need for Universal Pre-K in NC and move oversight and support back to NCDPI! Alongside investment in our early learning educators!

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Recruitment and retention of instructional staff is a critical concern. The amount of new staff entering the profession via alternate pathways to licensure has surpassed traditional pathways. Additionally, the rates of attrition within the first 4 years of teaching among these groups is also alarmingly high. Multiple factors are at play here, however, a focus on retention could be leveraged to reverse this trend. Beyond the myriad technical skills new teachers are tasked to learn and implement from the moment they are in the classroom they are also being held to the same expectations as veteran educators. Examination of ways to release the pressure on new educators while they are learning their craft is needed. This is especially true for special education teachers.

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Statewide calendar flexibility so that districts can implement weekly time for teachers to have professional development sessions or personal time for growth. We have so many teachers now entering the classroom without a College of Education background and they could use instructional and content training

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more public facing/general public media. tell a personal story of public schools in NC. educate our public so they are a voice for public schools. teach the public how to be an advocate for public schools. those tearing down public school are doing it vocally - we need to start doing the same. we need a diverse coalition aside from just teacher unions.

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more public facing/general public media. tell a personal story of public schools in NC. educate our public so they are a voice for public schools. teach the public how to be an advocate for public schools. those tearing down public school are doing it vocally - we need to start doing the same. we need a diverse coalition aside from just teacher unions.

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1. Broadly...we work best internally and externally when we have common beliefs on important things that we move in harmony on (not necessarily lock step, but orchestrated to stay together). We have the real opportunity to define internally and with our partners what this common direction is and what the structures are to support it. 2. As we do this, our role is to not only define and lead implementation, but to recognize, scale and sustain the amazing things happening in the field.

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Agree with a sustainable coaching focus that supports (1) implementation teams and (2) teachers and providers

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Celebration of Teacher Innovation in each district lifted up to DPI through social media

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Celebration of Teacher Innovation in each district lifted up to DPI through social media

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A concentrated focus in each district to lift up the innovative and often sweat equity work teachers are doing in their classrooms through social media. The effort would be a campaign so to speak - the domino effect for organic energy to support teachers and students will come... Additionally the same to showcase student success.. the good of our students and the impact they are making in their communities... recognize and promote ... building increased positivity

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Early learning goes beyond Pre-K. It includes PK - Grade 3. Rather than talk about the importance of early learning, let's put action behind the words. Disseminate guidance to public school leaders that is research based on effective practices specific to early learning (particularly K-1). Re-boot the Office of Early Learning so that it effectively supports the work of early learning beyond early literacy.

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We need to look at how schools and teachers are evaluated with the current assessment model. We find it difficult to make long-term shifts when school grades and money is tied to test scores. If we want to lean on the science, we need to look at our current grading model. With the SOR push, we need to move away from the multiple choice, skill focused and move to knowledge building focus so we can get stronger buy in from teachers to focus on high quality text and rigorous instruction rather than simple test prep. Building student knowledge needs a greater focus and would further support the implementation of SOR based instruction.