Past Reports

The North Carolina State Improvement Project II

The North Carolina State Improvement Project (NCSIP) was initiated in the fall of 2000 to improve the quality of public school instruction for students with disabilities in North Carolina. The project’s primary focus was to improve the quality and effectiveness of reading instruction for students with disabilities. In addition, the project planned and implemented school improvement efforts that included establishing school-wide, positive-behavior supports systems in partnership with the North Carolina Positive Behavior Supports Initiative; improving mathematics instruction; and improving writing instruction. A secondary focus of the project was to improve the quality and quantity of teachers for students with disabilities.

In 2005 the Division for Exceptional Children of the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (DPI) successfully applied for an additional five years of funding to build on the foundation of improvement strategies developed by NCSIP. As we enter into the third year of NCSIP II, we continue to address the four primary goals of the project. The following is a description of the progress made, and initiatives employed, in the work towards attaining these goals.

Goal 1: Improve Basic Skills Performance For Students With Disabilities

• An average of 93% of the 22,156 educators trained by the project received professional development supported by science- or evidence-based practices.
• At the end of the second year of NCSIP II, 91% of the professional development training activities were followed up with on-site sustainability activities.
• One hundred percent of the 1059 leadership personnel participating in professional development through the project received research-based training.
• During the first five years of the project, the percent of students with disabilities performing at or above grade level on AYP reading tests increased by 13 points statewide. At the end of the second year of NCSIP II, the number of students with disabilities performing at or above grade level in reading increased 5.8 percentage points, a rate more than five times greater than all students in North Carolina.
  

Goal 2. Increase the Percent Of Qualified Teachers of Students with Disabilities

• The percent of special education teachers with appropriate certification improved from 82.7 at the beginning of the project to 86 at the end of the first five years. In addition, the number of special education administrators with appropriate certification increased from 220 at the beginning of the project to 344 at the end of the first phase of NCSIP.
• In the first year of NCSIP II, The UNC Technical Assistance Resource System (UNC TARS) was established. Through this initiative, by the end of the second year of NCSIP II, four IHEs received technical assistance to improve the quality of their program for the preparation of special education teachers.

• At the beginning of the NCSIP project in 2000, there was one school in the state with a school-wide Positive Behavior Supports program. As of the second year of NCSIP II, 25% of the 2,286 school in North Carolina have established school-wide PBS programs and are receiving training and support services.
• Graduation rates of SWD increased from 33% to 40% by the end of the first five years of the project.
• Dropout rates decreased from 30% to 18% by the end of the first five years of the project.
  

• A partnership was established between NCSIP and the North Carolina Exceptional Children Assistance Center in the first year of NCSIP. By the end of the second year of NCSIP II, we added additional partners by creating sub-contracts with the Learning Disabilities Association of North Carolina and the ARC of North Carolina to facilitate communication and discussion meetings in the local chapters of these parent organizations that are located across the state.
• Parent satisfaction with the NCSIP increased from an initial rating of 1.99 to a rating of 2.54 on a three-point satisfaction scale, by the end of the second year of NCSIP II.

NCSIP II Personnel Development Process

The primary work scope of the NCSIP/NCSIP II project is imbedded in the six stage NCSIP II Personnel Development Process. We have utilized this process, with improvements across the years, since the inception of NCSIP to improve the quality of instruction for students with disabilities in reading, writing and mathematics.

• Selection of school-based best practices centers and sites. As of 2006, there are currently 62 Reading/Writing Centers and Sites and 20 Mathematics Centers and Sites across North Carolina.
• Review research and literature to identify instructional principles in the areas of reading, writing and mathematics.
• Staff development, which includes foundation training, instructional model training and training of trainers.
• Annual on-site program reviews, utilizing a formal Developmental Review process and providing analysis and formal feedback to administrators and teachers.
• Three on-site fidelity observations per year, with trained observers that provide feedback and coaching for the implementation of the selected research-based instructional program.
• Annual student progress evaluation, including the collection, analysis and reporting of student progress using the North Carolina AYP data.

Partnerships

In the pursuit of the above-mentioned goals, NCSIP II has entered into several partnerships critical to the success of our project:

The Cooperative Planning Consortium for Special Education (CPC) develops recommendations for improvements in teacher education programs and reports these recommendations to the President of the University of North Carolina. The CPC consists of representatives from a majority of the 29 special education university programs, the community colleges, state agencies and parent associations. The CPC plays a major role in increasing the number of new graduates, upgrading the professional skills of existing teachers, and providing training for lateral entry teachers. For more information, please visit our website at http://www.ncsip.org/tars/cpc.html

Principals’ Executive Program (PEP): Since its creation in 1984 by the N.C. General Assembly, the Principals’ Executive Program (PEP) has been North Carolina’s primary provider of professional development for public school administrators. The mission of PEP is to strengthen and renew the knowledge, skills, and beliefs of public school leaders to improve the conditions for teaching and learning in schools and school districts. For additional information, please visit the PEP website at http://www.ncpep.org/content.php/index.htm

NCTEACH ( North Carolina Teachers of Excellence for all Children): NC TEACH is a rigorous alternative teacher preparation program designed to recruit, train, support, and retain mid-career professionals, as they become licensed teachers in North Carolina. The program is administered by the University of North Carolina in collaboration with the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. Established in 2000, more than 1,100 people have become licensed teachers through the NC TEACH program. NC TEACH teachers currently serve in more than 80 counties and school districts in all regions of the state. In the last two years the NCTEACH program has certified more special education teacher than have been certified by the IHE programs across the state. The purpose of the NCSIP II – NC TEACH partnership will be to increase the quantity and improve the quality of special education teachers in North Carolina. Specific partnership strategies include: (a) inclusion of NC TEACH in the technical assistance process of the State’s teacher education programs, thus assuring alignment with the new state teacher standards in special education, NCLB and IDEA 2004; and (b) the development of a marketing system focused on recruitment in special education, patterned after the very successful marketing system developed by the NCTEACH program. For more information, please visit their website at http://ncteach.ga.unc.edu/

The Exceptional Children Assistance Center, the Learning Disabilities Association of North Carolina and the Arc of North Carolina contribute substantial resources to the project. Local parent association chapters also contribute parent time to assist with parent-to-parent training activities. Please visit their website at http://www.ecac-parentcenter.org/

The UNC Technical Assistance and Resource System (TARS): The TARS component developed and maintains a system for delivering technical assistance and resources to the higher education teacher education programs that prepare teachers to work with students with disabilities. http://www.ncsip.org/tars/index.html

The Early Literacy Network: NCSIP II has developed a partnership with North Carolina’s “More at Four” statewide early literacy program to provide training, demonstration and outreach to public schools in North Carolina interested in establishing early literacy programs for students with disabilities. Three existing early literacy centers have been designated as Early Literacy/NCSIP II regional centers located in the western, central and eastern regions of the state. The Early Literacy Network has been added as an NCSIP II partner because of the scope of the relationship between the two programs.

The North Carolina Positive Behavior Supports Initiative (NCPBS) greatly expanded during the 2005-06 school year. The NCPBS initiative is included as a collaborating partner of NCSIP II and is aligned with the project’s goals, objectives and evaluation system. The NCPBS is a program in the Exceptional Children Division of the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction and has been a prominent official partner in NCSIP I, and continues as a major partner in NCSIP II. The lack of identification of this program in the approved project was an oversight in the application and proposed plan.

For additional information on our project’s background, initiatives and progress, please visit us online at www.ncsip.org . In the “Evaluation and Accountability” section of our website, links are provided to download our Evaluations Reports, as well as our Annual Performance Reports submitted to OSEP

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