System Maintenance Scheduled for this Weekend

The next Home Base maintenance weekend is scheduled to begin tomorrow evening and continue through Sunday. Currently, PowerSchool and Schoolnet are both scheduled for maintenance.

Both applications will be brought down on Friday at 5 p.m. and returned to service no later than Monday at 6 a.m. Once maintenance is completed, a message will be sent to notify users that the system is up and available for use. If there is a delay in bringing up either application, users will be notified.

PowerTeacher Pro

PowerTeacher Pro/Canvas Grade Passback

The much anticipated PowerTeacher Pro and Canvas Grade Passback feature is here! 

This new functionality has been enabled for all of the NC PowerTeacher Pro Early Adopters (Cohort I). Grading categories from PowerTeacher Pro can now be imported into Canvas as assignment groups, and assignment scores can be synced back to PowerTeacher Pro with the correct grading category designation.
 
A free training video resource for this exciting new feature can be found at: http://www.nc-sis.org/PTP.html. If you are having trouble with the feature, please submit a NCDPI Support Center ticket at: https://nc-myit.us.onbmc.com.

Grade Verification Information

The PowerTeacher Pro Gradebook feature, Final Grade Status (used by teachers to verify grades are complete and ready for report cards at the end of each term), is not available in PowerSchool 10.  This component will be implemented with PowerSchool 11.  Teachers should contact their administrators for grade verification guidance.  

While it is a school level decision as to the process they want their teachers to follow, below is a suggestion:

A  'Comment Verification' can be printed and handed in as an alternative. Steps for printing in PTP are as follows:

1. Click A+ Grading charm.
2. Under Grades, click Comment Verification.
3. With the Comment Verification screen showing, click Ctrl-P and send to the printer of your choice.
4. Repeat these steps for each class as necessary.

PowerSchool leads can also assist teachers with running reports to verify completion of grades prior to storing and running report cards.  To view your school’s contact leads, visit the NCDPI Home Base Support page.

Schoolnet-Canvas Integration

Will Allow Testing Through Canvas

Schoolnet is in the process of rolling out the Schoolnet-Canvas integration over the next two weeks.  This integration will allow a teacher to create a My Classroom assessment in Schoolnet and link the assessment to an assignment in Canvas. 

The student will then be able to test through Canvas, thereby eliminating the need for the student to log into Schoolnet and enter a passcode to take a test.

A direct communication to Schoolnet leads for Canvas districts and charters will be sent with the full instruction set for this configuration as well as the district/charter specific IDs and links that are generated from Schoolnet. 

NCEES - Truenorthlogic

Presentation Proposals Sought for DPI’s NEW Connecting Communities of Education Stakeholders (CCES) Conference

The Conference Planning Committee seeks proposals for the CCES 2018 Conference.  Preference will be given to proposals that address this year’s conference theme, “Fostering Innovation Across Our State” as well as highlighting conference goals and strands.

This year the conference will feature three types of sessions: Operational {45 minutes}, Concurrent {75 minutes}, and Poster {75 minutes}. 

Exemplary proposals demonstrate clarity in content, processes, and solutions.  Proposals may only be submitted through our online proposal system.  The proposal window is open through Oct. 31.  See the CCES webpage for more information.  Please click the link at the bottom of the CCES Proposal webpage to access the proposal submission form.

Seats Available for Fall Principal READY Series

Join Principals in your area for the Fall Principal READY Session, as we kick off the 2017-18 NCEES Professional Learning Series.

This series of professional learning events is designed to utilize the teacher observation and evaluation process to support school improvement. Using the N.C. Educator Evaluation System (NCEES), during the fall PREADY, we will be taking a deep dive into the teacher leadership expectations of standard 1, and exploring a coaching protocol to create more robust post-observation conferences that offer tools and strategies (including teacher directed feedback conversations) to support teacher growth and instructional improvement.

The fall session will be the first presentation in a series of learning events designed to support school leaders to deploy the evaluation process with greater fidelity to the performance expectations of the NCEES rubric.

Click here to reserve your seat today. Only seven sessions remain. Please contact NCEES consultant Robert Sox at robert.sox@dpi.nc.gov with specific questions.

Tuesday Topics—Webinar Series

Whether it's support for the new administrators using the NCEES tool, a flipped learning experience on teaching standard/executive standard I and II, or the much-anticipated webinar on professional standards for school counselors, we have you covered.

For a detailed description of all webinars or the link to register for each webinar, please click here or use this link:  http://ncees.ncdpi.wikispaces.net/Upcoming+Webinars . All webinars are archived and stored on the NCEES wiki for your convenience.

Certificates of participation will be available for those who participate in our flipped learning webinars. For specific questions about the webinar series, feel free to contact Cynthia Martin at cynthia.martin@dpi.nc.gov

Two TNL/NCEES System Updates in Testing Process

Salary Object/Purpose Codes

Districts have requested and NCDPI has recognized the need for additional salary purpose codes used in conjunction with salary object code 131 that will allow instructional support staff access in the TNL/NCEES Evaluation/PD System.

Five additional codes have been approved for use and are currently undergoing testing with a goal to be placed into production within two weeks.

The approved codes are named as follows:

1315120 - Instructional Role - Teacher Leader-CTE

1315330 - Instructional Role - Teacher Leader-Remedial Support

1316110 - Instructional Role - Teacher Leader-Curricular Support

1316200 - Instructional Role - Teacher Leader-Special Populations

1316620 - Instructional Role - Teacher Leader-Support Coach

This update affects only staff/teacher demographics in NCEES. It will not affect any set evaluation plan types. These codes will allow setting staff as mentors or observers, etc., and should districts determine a staff evaluation is required for any of the above, the Teacher Plan type recommended for these demographics is "Teacher Leadership Specialist Evaluation."

Teacher Licensure Cycle Year Fix 

NCDPI is in process of testing a potential fix for the script that calculates the field for Licensure Cycle Year. Currently, the calculation is based on calendar year (Jan-Dec), which is calculating  staff’s Licensure Cycle Year one year behind, as it is looking at Calendar Year 2017.

Districts that have an immediate need for creating a report that this field prints on; your District Administrator may manually correct the demographic field for Licensure Cycle. Note that the system overnight processing may revert manually set values back to the original calculation.

NCDPI will send out a communication after the QA process is complete and the changes are implemented into production. We anticipate that timeline to be two weeks.