Nov. 9, 2017 - Home Base Bulletin

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Home Base Bulletin

Nov. 9, 2017

Home Base Gets New and Improved Website

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****** Check it out now *******


Home Base now has a crisp presence online with a new website designed by the NC Department of Public Instruction to provide user-friendly information about the state's suite of digital tools that are helping empower teachers, engage students, support administrators and connect parents to their child’s personalized learning.


The website is a guide to the basic components and features of Home Base and its critical function for the state's Digital Learning Plan Initiative, which is helping drive innovative practice and improve teaching and learning for all students.  Teachers, administrators and parents will find useful information about each application that comprises the whole of Home Base.


Authenticated users will also have easy access to the applications through the Home Base Sign-in link. 


Please bookmark this URL (http://homebase.ncpublicschools.gov/) and use it often!  Questions and feedback concerning the site may be addressed to home_base@dpi.nc.gov.


Home Base

Maintenance Weekend Starts Friday

The next Home Base maintenance weekend is scheduled to run tomorrow through Sunday. Currently, PowerSchool and Schoolnet are both scheduled for maintenance. During this maintenance period, NC State Reporting Release 17.10.0 will be implemented into PowerSchool.  This release includes:  

  • A new AIG record generated for students who transferred in from another NC LEA
  • Update to the Student Current AIG Status Page to allow the re-enrollment of AIG withdrawn students
  • Tracking of school start and release times

Maintenance for Schoolnet entails performing updates on the Certica Item Bank that will require re-indexing.  The re-indexing task will last approximately four to six hours. Both applications will be brought down tomorrow 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 systems are up and available for use. If there is a delay in bringing up either application, users will be notified.


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PowerTeacher Pro News for Cohort 1

We have been hearing valuable feedback from the early adopters. It is information that we are using to update training materials for Cohort II professionals.


Grade passback features from Canvas and Schoolnet into PowerTeacher Pro are now in place. This expands the flexibility teachers have with grade assessment.


First marking period is ending and report cards are being disseminated. Teachers tell us they're very happy with PowerTeacher Pro. They say it's easy to navigate and includes great analysis features. Expect more improvements as we move to version 11.


Grading standards as well as printing standards represent a collaborative effort between curriculum, school/LEA administration, PowerSchool and PowerTeacher Pro. Although there have been some challenges with using Standards, they are being addressed and strategies are being communicated.


Among them, an updated version of the  Standards Import spreadsheet has been posted to the NC-SIS.org site.

 

PowerTeacher Pro Statewide Adoption Coming in 2018-19 


More than 80 school districts and nearly 30 charter schools across the state have adopted PowerTeacher Pro (PTP) for the current school year. While lessons are still being learned to improve the system and implementation, the feedback is clear: TEACHERS LOVE PTP! Additionally, the much-anticipated passback feature between PowerTeacher Pro with both Canvas and Schoolnet is currently in place for all of our early adopters in Cohort 1! 

 

Beginning with the 2018-19 school year, all remaining school districts and charter schools will be migrated over from the legacy PowerTeacher Gradebook (PTG) to PTP. While the state will be providing "just in time" training for administrators and teachers in the spring of 2018, it is never too early to begin planning for your local implementation. 

 

In order to assist school districts and charter schools with their implementation, this online hub has been created with multiple resources, including a common cartridge LMS file (a PTP Canvas course can be accessed via the NC Canvas Commons), implementation guide, an administrator configuration checklist, multiple training videos/QRDs/etc. for teachers and administrators, and more.

 

If you have any questions about the implementation of PTP, please contact Hunter Huffman, special projects manager, hunter.huffman@dpi.nc.gov or 919.807.3633. If you need technical support with PTP, please contact the NCDPI support center.


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Schoolnet News

PowerTeacher Pro Grade Pass-Back from Schoolnet is Here


Teachers, you can now create assessments in Schoolnet and share them back to your PowerTeacher Pro Gradebook.  You can share any of the assessments you created in Schoolnet this year.


Remember, you can choose which assessments to share back to your PowerTeacher Pro Gradebook.  They will not Share automatically.  If you tried to Share a test earlier this year and received an error, you must now select the link that says “Try Again” in order to Share that test to your PowerTeacher Pro Gradebook.


Standards Performance - Enhanced


Schoolnet’s newest report, Standards Performance Report, dashboard page has been enhanced to expand the report’s capabilities.


This report is designed to examine classroom and student standards performance across multiple assessments. Enhancements include improved user experience to expand a standard to see a performance breakdown by sub-standards across the selected tests, interactive standard tree, the golden “M” link searches materials aligned to the corresponding standard, two new standards options, two performance metrics options, and a new optional test category filter.

 

Check all this out by accessing the Standards Performance Report from the navigation sidebar by expanding the Classrooms category and clicking the Standards Performance link or from the Classroom Assessment Monitor page.


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TNL/NCEES News

Professional Development Courses


The TNL/NCEES system offers high-quality, self-paced professional development modules, free of cost to all North Carolina public and charter school educators. 


To enroll, log into the NCEES system using your IAM/NCEdCloud username and password, then click the Professional Development tab. You can then search for a course by title or list all courses. For more information on self-paced Moodle PD, including a glossary of PD types offered, see http://rt3nc.org.


ASW 2016-2017 Final Ratings and Comments - NCEES Quick Report


The "ASW 2016-2017 Final Ratings and Comments" quick report was made available to district administrators this past Monday, Nov. 6.  

Analysis of Student Work results are available to teachers, principals, and district admins until November 14th.


Site administrators do not have rights to run the Final Ratings and Comments Report.  The system is configured to allow only district admins to run that report for the LEA.  If an LEA wishes to release these data to site admins, they may do so at their discretion.  State law prohibits the use of this data in the evaluation process in any way.  

District admins in LEAs that opted out of the state ASW process to complete their own local alternative process do not need to run the report in NCEES because their teacher results will not appear in the statewide system. 


Note: A list of districts that opted out of the State ASW process for 2016-2017 is available on the ASW Wiki on the Requests for Local Flexibility page :(http://ncasw.ncdpi.wikispaces.net/SBE+Approved+ASW+Flexibility+Applications).
If you have questions or concerns, please contact educatoreffectiveness@dpi.nc.gov


Salary Codes updated to allow staff access to NCEES


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:


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 the NCEES system. 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."


NCEES Teacher Licensure Cycle Year calculation fix


NCDPI has implemented a fix for the logic that calculates the field for a Teacher’s Licensure Cycle Year that shows in Demographics in the NCEES system. District and Site admins should  review Teacher Demographics Licensure Cycle years in NCEES. Please review your findings with your district's licensure department to verify correct Licensure Cycle Year for the staff in question.