Office of Teaching and Learning
The primary purpose of the Office of Teaching and Learning is to serve as the authoritative source for the review, revision, and support for the implementation of state content standards in the North Carolina Standard Course of Study. The Office of Teaching and Learning additionally supports multiple legislative and grant-related programs, initiatives, and reporting requirements. Please visit the webpages on the side-rail as well as the links below to access information, materials, and resources across areas and programs.
All About the Office of Teaching and Learning
All About the OTL is designed to outline the roles and functions of the Office of Teaching and Learning at NCDPI through a series of one-pagers, emphasizing our efforts in supporting student academic standards, grants, and other initiatives. This document details our office's organizational structure, key programs and initiatives, and student academic standards, as well as the resources provided to enhance instruction and promote student success. For questions, please contact Dr. Kristi Day at kristi.day@dpi.nc.gov.
External Implementation Guide (EIG)
To view resources for supporting administrators, educators, and parents during the implementation of the current Standard Course of Study for each content area, view the External Implementation Guide (EIG).
24-25 Office of Teaching and Learning Statewide Supports
North Carolina Standard Course of Study (SCOS) Internal Procedures Manual
In April 2023, the State Board of Education approved the updated internal procedures' manual for reviewing, revising, and implementing content standards.
The purpose of this manual is to provide explanation of and guidance on:
- the process to be followed when developing or revising a section of the North Carolina Standard Course of Study (NCSCOS),
- the topics, categories, and minimum supporting materials to be included in the contents of a standard course of study, and
- the considerations that must be made as standards are being reviewed/revised/implemented.
The manual is designed to assist with the task of revising or developing a content area of the NCSCOS. It is not intended to guide the development and/or revision of local curriculum guides or other curriculum support documents.
Download the manual at the bottom of the page.
Standards Review and Revision Updates
The Office of Teaching and Learning is proud to announce the approval of the 2024 North Carolina Standard Course of Study for K-12 Arts Education. The newly approved K-12 Arts standards aim to provide a Comprehensive Arts Education while developing students as artists in the fields of Dance, Music, Theatre, and Visual Arts.
Key features of the 2024 North Carolina Standard Course of Study for K-12 Arts:
- ALL four arts disciplines are now aligned to the National Arts Standards strands of Connect, Create, Present, and Respond
- Continuous Throughlines ensuring vertical alignment of K-12 objectives
- To remove confusion about the “Proficient” level of the proficiency based standards and align with the National Standards this level has been renamed “Accomplished”
- In Theatre Arts, Technical Theatre Courses have been added in both non-honors and honors levels
- K-8 General Music standards are extended into high school in both non-honors and honors levels
- Five proficiency levels of Vocal and Instrumental Music have been created for students exploring band, choir, orchestra, piano, ukulele, guitar, or other instruments and ensembles
Note: The current 2010 Arts Standard Course of Study will remain in place for classroom instruction and assessment for the 2024-2025 school year.
Please see the Arts Crosswalks for Dance, Music, Theatre, and Visual Arts located on the Arts Education resource hub for a general comparison of the current and newly adopted Standard Course of Study. They provide initial insight into similarities and differences between these sets of standards.
Public School Units (PSUs) are expected to implement the 2024 North Carolina Standard Course of Study for Arts starting in the 2025-2026 school year. Professional learning and resources to support PSU implementation will begin to be shared in fall 2024.
The NCDPI Arts Team expresses their gratitude to the educators, language experts, and community members who contributed to the development of these standards. Their collaboration and expertise have been crucial to ensure the standards set expectations that will allow students to be innovative thinkers.
For resources and more information about K-12 arts, please visit the NCDPI Arts Education webpage and resource hub or contact Brandon Roeder or Dr. Laura Stauderman, Arts Education Consultants.
Draft 2
Draft 1 survey data was compiled by a third party for analysis by the English Language Arts Data Review Committee (DRC). The DRC reconvened on February 4, 2025 to review the quantitative and qualitative findings and trends indicated by responses to each survey. The DRC's Data Report for Draft 1, with their recommendations, informed further revisions to the proposed standards. The ELA Standards Writing Team (SWT) reconvened on March 10, 2025 to continue revision to Draft 2, which is now available.
State Board of Education policy specifies that the NC Department of Public Instruction will formally collect feedback on the draft revised standards from educators, administrators, parents, students, institutions of higher education, business/industry representatives, and other education agencies.The Draft 2 General Survey was open through April 18, 2025, to obtain input from educators and stakeholders familiar with the English Language Arts (ELA) Standard Course of Study in order to inform further revision decisions for Draft 3.
The Survey Companion Document provides context for revisions made to Drafts 1 and 2 of the Proposed 2025 ELA SCOS. The Survey Companion Document has been updated to explain in detail key changes and updates made within Draft 2 of the Proposed 2025 ELA SCOS. Based on data compiled and analyzed from standard-by-standard surveys for Draft 1, the ELA DRC made the following suggestions for revisions:
Provide more specificity within the standards and objectives and clarify terminology where possible;
Create supporting resources to clarify expectations and provide guidance, especially for fluency with secondary grades;
Confirm developmental and grade-appropriateness of skills;
Confirm vertical progression of skills across grade-bands;
Clarify mentioning of the Holocaust/genocide in secondary grade-bands; and
Revisit grade banding for high school.
To view the current draft and companion document, use the links below.
Draft 2 (Released March 2025)
Draft 2 general survey data is currently being compiled and analyzed by a third party; the ELA DRC and SWT will use this feedback to recommend changes for Draft 3. These teams will meet in May, 2025.
To stay updated on ELA Standards revision, please subscribe to our listserv.
On May 5, 2022, the NC State Board of Education granted permission for NCDPI to move forward with the review and revision of the K-12 Healthful Living Standards, per SCOS-012.
The Office of Teaching and Learning’s Healthful Living team is excited to announce that the 2024 K-12 Healthful Living Standards were approved by the State Board of Education at their June 6th, 2024, meeting. The work was completed under the processes and protocols outlined in the NC Standard Course of Study Manual. The process included feedback from focus groups in each State Board region, one-on-one interviews and responses to multiple surveys. Professional educators from across NC districts, charter schools, and institutions of higher education helped review the response data and revise the standards. Thank you to everyone who participated in the review and revision process.
The adoption of the 2024 K-12 Healthful Living Standards is the end of the first stage in the process, with the focus now moving to the “installation” stage. Over the 2024-2025 school year, NCDPI will be working alongside leaders from PSUs to ensure all stakeholders are aware of the new standards, have opportunities to review changes from the 2011 standards, and prepare for the new standards to be implemented beginning with the 2025-2026 school year. Please note, the current 2011 Healthful Living Standards will remain in place for classroom instruction and assessment for the 2024-2025 school year.
To support the start of the installation stage, the Healthful Living Team is preparing several documents to support school and district leaders.
The Healthful Living Team looks forward to working closely with PSU leaders over the coming months to support all stakeholders in preparing to implement the 2024 K-12 Healthful Living Standards beginning with the 2025-2026 school year.
Please be on the lookout for more information and details in the near future. Be sure to join the Healthful Living listserv to receive updates.
In March 2024, the Office of Teaching and Learning announced the kickoff of the review phase for the K-12 Mathematics Standards. This process is guided by State Board policy as outlined in the Internal Standards Manual. The review phase involved research, data collection, and analysis. During the summer and fall of 2025, the K-12 Math team prepared and distributed various surveys, conducted focus groups and interviews, gathered research from other states, as well as national and international standards, and reviewed current legislation and policies.
The K-12 Math team is excited to announce that during the meeting, the Board voted to begin the revision process for the NC K-12 Math Standards. One of the first steps is establishing a Standards Writing Team (SWT), tasked with revising the current K-12 Math standards based on research and recommendations from the Data Review Committee (DRC), which were compiled from feedback collected during the review phase.
The first step is establishing the Standards Writing Team (SWT). Working in grade-level/content area groups, the SWT considers possible revisions to K-12 Math when and where applicable. This may involve slight modifications, major modifications, deletions, additions, or no changes to current standards. The SWT Scope of Work provides a full explanation of the requirements for the SWT.
All SWT members will be asked to participate in an in-person kick-off event July 29th - 31st in Asheboro, NC. NCDPI will reimburse for any travel costs associated with the training.
SWT applications are due by 8:00am EST, Monday, May 12th, 2025. Applicants will be notified of their selection status between Monday, June 16th, 2025, and Wednesday, July 2nd, 2025.
Please contact Dr. Charles Aiken (charles.aiken@dpi.nc.gov), Section Chief for Math, Science, and STEM, with any questions.
Click here to apply or use the QR below: Math Standards Writing Team Application
In August 2022, the North Carolina State Board of Education granted permission for NCDPI to move forward with the review and revision of the K-12 NC Guidance Essential Standards, per SCOS-012.
The Office of Teaching and Learning is excited to announce that new standards were approved by the State Board of Education at their December 7, 2023 meeting—the adoption of the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) Student Standards: Mindsets and Behaviors. The new name of the standards will be the North Carolina Student Success Standards. The work was completed by processes and protocols outlined in the NC Standard Course of Study Manual. The process included feedback from focus groups from each state board region, one to one interviews, and surveys distributed to the field. A variety of professional educators from across NC districts and institutions of higher education helped review the response data for the standards process. Thank you to everyone who participated in the review.
The adoption of the new NC Student Success Standards will begin its first stage-the installation stage in the 2024-2025 school year. The initial implementation stage will be the next stage in the 2025-2026 school year. The full implementation stage will be in the 2026-2027 school year. Over the remaining 2023-2024 school year, NCDPI will be working alongside with leaders from PSUs to ensure all stakeholders are aware of the new standards and prepare for the new standards to be installed at the beginning of the 2024-2025 school year. Please the note the current NC Guidance Essential Standards, will remain in place until the 2025-2026 academic school year.
Please be on the lookout for more information and details in the near future. Be sure to join the school counseling listserv to receive updates.
The Office of Teaching and Learning’s World Languages Team is proud to announce the approval of the 2024 North Carolina Standard Course of Study for World Languages. The newly approved standards are intended to cultivate proficiency and intercultural competence in a classical, heritage, or modern language and help develop globally collaborative students.
Key features of the 2024 North Carolina Standard Course of Study for World Languages include:
- Objectives organized by proficiency level using the ACTFL proficiency scale
- Streamlined strand structure and objectives, including a new Intercultural and Communities Connections (ICC) strand
- Reordered standards emphasizing target language input and output
- Inclusion of the Advanced High proficiency level increasing the rigor of student outcomes
Note: The current 2010 World Languages Standard Course of Study will remain in place for classroom instruction and assessment for the 2024-2025 school year.
Please see the World Languages Crosswalk for a general comparison of the 2010 World Languages Standard Course of Study and the 2024 World Languages Standard Course of Study. It provides initial insight into similarities and differences between these two sets of standards.
Public School Units (PSUs) are expected to implement the 2024 North Carolina Standard Course of Study for World Languages starting in the 2025-2026 school year. Professional learning and resources to support PSU implementation will begin to be shared in fall 2024, with the finalized Proficiency Outcomes Document coming soon. See the World Languages’ Installation Timeline for more information.
The NCDPI World Languages Team expresses their gratitude to the educators, language experts, and community members who contributed to the development of these standards. Their collaboration and expertise have been crucial to ensure the standards set expectations that will allow students to be competitive in post-secondary pursuits-- college, career, or military-- and throughout their lives.
For resources and more information about World Languages, please visit the NCDPI World Languages webpage and resources hub or contact Dr. Ann Marie Gunter, World Languages Consultant.