Helga Fasciano2017 State Supervisor of the Year
Helga Fasciano, Special Assistant for Global Education with the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, has been named the 2017 State Supervisor of the Year by the National Council of State Supervisors for Languages (NCSSFL) in Nashville, on November 15, 2017. Since 2003, the NCSSFL State Supervisor of the Year award has been awarded to acknowledge an outstanding world language state supervisor whose leadership has had a profound impact at the state level and beyond. The award was sponsored this year by Middlebury Interactive Languages.
Helga Fasciano served as the vice-president of NCSSFL from 2006-2009, represented NCSSFL on the ACTFL-CEFR symposiums from 2010-2012, and served as the NCSSFL delegate to JNCL from 2014 – 2018. She was elected for a three-year term from 2016 to 2018 to serve on the ACTFL Board of Directors.
After serving as a French/German teacher in North Carolina for 12 years, Helga was hired by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction in 2003 as the World Languages Consultant, where she led the World Language Standards, Policy, and Professional Development initiatives. In addition, she collaborated with other states and national organizations to develop LinguaFolio for student formative assessment. During this time, she also wrote FLAP grant applications and received and managed 2 grants for state-level support of dual language/immersion programs and to develop online Chinese Levels 1-5 adding the unique component of language coaches in addition to the online instructor. In 2007 she became the Section Chief for K-12 Programs and supervised Arts Education, ESL, Healthful Living, Student Support Services, and World Languages and standards development. She also helped to establish a state level database to strengthen statewide management of service to English learners, and working with content consultants, established content support teams with teacher leaders and district supervisors for the Arts, ESL and World Languages.
In 2010 the North Carolina State Board of Education established a Task Force on Global Education, and Helga was appointed as the NCDPI staff to the Board as they held listen-and-learn meetings and developed recommendations to ensure that North Carolina was graduating globally-engaged and productive citizens. Since 2013 when she was appointed as the Special Assistant for Global Education, Helga has been overseeing the implementation of the State Board Global Education Strategic Plan. Included in that Strategic Plan is the Commitment to Leading-Edge Language Instruction which includes: expansion of K-12 dual language/immersion programs statewide; development of World Language teachers and dual language/immersion teachers; Global Educator Digital Badge; and Global-Ready School and District recognitions, which incorporates an articulated, proficiency-based world languages program and/or dual language/immersion program.
