This project supports the effective implementation of Innovative Partnership Grants (IPGs) awarded to CSI schools in North Carolina by assisting the SEA in providing strategic professional development and guidance to school coaches, principals, and district liaisons working with schools receiving IPGs. The problem addressed by this project is the high number of CSI and TSI schools in the state and the reduction in support from the SEA for these identified low-performing schools. That is, NCDPI experienced a legislated reduction of staff who previously provided direct support from the SEA to the lowest-performing schools. In response to these changes, the SEA is implementing a redesigned system of regional support, which relies on the coordination of services provided across the agency. Year 3 of this RC6 project supports the SEA in implementing a Community of Practice (CoP) among the CSI schools with IPG awards. The CoP focuses on building capacity in three areas:

1. Human Capacity involves exploring the consistency of roles across the IPG school coaches and principals in the 35 IPGs and supporting their effective use of school improvement strategies and a common knowledge base (e.g., relative to strategic planning and use of data and evidence-based practices).
2. Support for Resource/Policy Capacity focuses on developing and modeling the use of data dashboards for various SEA and LEA purposes in managing the IPG grants. For example, data dashboards can assist NCDPI and the LEAs in reflecting on the costs associated with partnering and coaching in IPGs.
3. Support for Organizational Capacity includes attention to the development of standard operating procedures to assist CSI school teams (including the IPG school coaches, principals, and district liaisons for each school) in strengthening their school improvement processes.