A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to provide for additional goals for the IMPLEMENTATION of the digital learning plan to support North Carolina public schools and to direct that certain funds be used for this purpose.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.(a)  As part of continuing the implementation of the Digital Learning Plan in North Carolina in accordance with Section 8.23 of S.L. 2016‑94, the State Board of Education, the Department of Public Instruction, the Friday Institute for Educational Innovation at North Carolina State University (Friday Institute), and The University of North Carolina educator preparation programs shall collaborate with an experienced provider to develop and implement a comprehensive professional development strategy and solution for teachers and for students in UNC educator preparation programs for the use of technology and digital resources as teaching tools for K‑12 students. Selection of an experienced provider shall be determined through a competitive process. The professional development strategy and solution may include the following:
(1)	Measurement of the technological and pedagogical skills of each teacher or teacher candidate, including a detailed individual teacher skills proficiency report that identifies strengths and gaps according to the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) standards for teachers.
(2)	Utilization of the individual teacher skills proficiency reports to create a personalized professional development plan that will promote understanding, leverage varied instructional strategies, and hone teacher technical and pedagogical skills.
(3)	Delivery of professional development that is flexible and allows teachers to engage in an "anytime, anyplace" professional development experience utilizing various modalities, including face‑to‑face, Web‑based, and pre‑recorded on‑demand videos and content to ensure the greatest possible coverage and convenience for teachers and teacher candidates. Each professional development session should provide the teacher with a workshop, classroom takeaway or reflection on best practices, and a self‑assessment.
SECTION 1.(b)  The State Board of Education, the Department of Public Instruction, the Friday Institute, UNC educator preparation programs, and local boards of education of local school administrative units located within counties determined to be the most economically distressed by the Department of Commerce shall collaborate with an experienced provider to implement student digital literacy instruction in kindergarten through eighth grade. Selection of an experienced provider shall be determined through a competitive process. The curriculum shall be aligned with the ISTE and North Carolina digital literacy standards and shall meet all of the following conditions:
(1)	Provide opportunity for students to learn essential digital literacy skills, including computer fundamentals, computational thinking, keyboarding, digital citizenship and online safety, Web browsing, e‑mail and online communication, visual mapping, word processing, spreadsheets, databases, and presentations.
(2)	Provide teachers with the ability to measure student digital literacy growth.
(3)	Be accessible entirely online, require no special software to be installed on an electronic device, and operate on multiple operating systems and hardware platforms, including desktops, laptops, and tablets.
(4)	Support multiple implementation strategies, including self‑paced and teacher‑facilitated approaches.
(5)	Be age appropriate and include automatically scored lessons, quizzes, and games and provide teachers with a complete scope and sequence along with grade‑level pacing calendars.
(6)	Facilitate Project‑Based Learning (PBL), including preassembled projects for K‑8 students so that educators can integrate instruction of digital literacy into core subjects, such as mathematics, English language arts, science, and social studies.
(7)	Be specifically designed with the scope and sequence to prepare students for next generation, online assessments that include preassessment and the ability to auto‑prescribe content to each individual student.
(8)	Enable teachers to assign sequences of instruction to classes, groups of students, or individual students.
(9)	Be capable of implementation in a wide variety of instructional settings, including computer or media labs, or in a classroom setting using various educational technology deployment strategies, such as laptop carts, Bring Your Own Device (BYOD), or 1:1 technology initiatives.
(10)	Provide teachers with instructional support and supplemental and extension options.
(11)	Accommodate English language learners with Spanish language instruction.
SECTION 2.  Of the four million dollars ($4,000,000) in recurring funds appropriated to the Department of Public Instruction to accelerate implementation of the State's Digital Learning Plan pursuant to S.L. 2016‑94, beginning with the 2017‑2018 fiscal year, the Department shall use up to one million eight hundred thousand dollars ($1,800,000) to implement the requirements of this act.
SECTION 3.  This act becomes effective July 1, 2017.