North Carolina School Improvement and NCStar

School Improvement is not a document. It is the disciplined, intentional work of aligning goals, performance measures, research aligned effective practice, and action steps to improve student outcomes.

Effective School Improvement Planning creates clarity around priorities, strengthens shared ownership among staff, and ensures that daily actions connect directly to measurable results. It is a continuous cycle of examining data, setting focused goals, implementing aligned practices, monitoring progress, and adjusting with purpose. In an increasingly complex educational landscape, intentional and coherent improvement systems are essential to ensuring that every student has access to high quality learning experiences.

NCStar serves as North Carolina’s platform to support this work. It provides a structured framework for organizing goals, selecting research aligned effective practices, documenting action steps, and monitoring implementation. While the platform offers transparency and access to research based indicators, meaningful improvement depends on the quality of the planning, alignment, and execution within each school.

Improvement happens when schools move beyond compliance and fully engage in the substance of the work. NCStar supports that process by providing a centralized space for collaboration, reflection, and progress monitoring across schools and districts.

For more information, please contact your NCDPI Comprehensive Support Specialist.

Suzanne Owen (suzanne.owen@dpi.nc.gov)

School Improvement Content and Leadership Specialist

Natalie Sasser (natalie.sasser@dpi.nc.gov)

NCStar Process Management and Platform Training 

School Improvement and NCStar

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The Next Generation of School Improvement: Goals. Research Aligned Effective Practice. AI Powered Planning.

This professional learning experience is designed for district and school leaders who are ready to strengthen the substance of school improvement planning. Participants will refine goal writing, develop meaningful performance measures, intentionally select research aligned effective practices, and apply newly developed tools, including the Research Aligned Effective Practice Checklists and AI Power Planners, to assess implementation and build aligned, measurable action steps.

This is an active working session, not a traditional presentation. Teams will apply learning directly to their current plans to ensure clarity, coherence, and immediate impact.

This is not an NCStar platform training. The focus is not on system navigation or compliance tasks. This session is intentionally designed to elevate how we design, implement, and monitor school improvement work so that plans translate into measurable student outcomes.

Space is limited. Principals are strongly encouraged to attend with their School Improvement Team Chair and additional team members, if possible, to maximize impact and strengthen shared ownership of the work. District leaders are also strongly encouraged to attend in order to deepen their coaching capacity and better support schools in increasing overall student outcomes.

Please Click Here to Register

North Carolina Schools are required to submit a School Improvement Plan (SIP) to the local board of education for review and approval is required by state regulations, Article 8B School Based Management & Accountability Program; to improve student performance.

Public School Law

 

 

NCSTAR/School Improvement Support Options:

Exemplars:

Recent Presentations:

Planning and Working Templates:

WiseWays:

Checklist of Best Practices:

Indicator Documents:

NCSTAR SBE Strategic Goals Plan:

Feedback Forms:

MTSS Resources:

Needs Assessment Resources:

Federal Programs Resources:

Research Documents:

EVAAS Resources:

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