Home Base Maintenance Weekend Set to Begin Friday
Only PowerSchool to be Unavailable for Use
Home Base maintenance weekend is set for Friday, Nov. 9, through Sunday, Nov. 11. PowerSchool is the only Home Base application scheduled for maintenance at this time.
Due to the limited activities needing to be completed this weekend, NCDPI anticipates bringing the system down during the regular Friday night restart time (11 p.m.) and returning the system to service much earlier than normal. Once maintenance is completed, a message will be sent to notify users that the application is up and available for use. If there is a delay in bringing up the system, users will be notified.
 PowerSchool Adds Apple School Manager
Apple School Manager (https://school.apple.com) has become a PowerSchool approved third party vendor. For a view of other PowerSchool approved third party vendors, visit our Approved Vendor Integrations list on the NC SIS website.
Coordinator's Update
Our first PowerSchool Coordinators Update webinar was held on Oct. 25. We are pleased with the number of attendees who participated and have heard lots of positive feedback. Access the recorded webinar here. There will be no update this month since users are getting the latest information during this week's Home Base Meetups. Our next webinar will be Thursday, Dec. 6. We encourage LEA and Charter Coordinators to attend!
PowerTeacher Pro Success!
We are excited to share that PowerTeacher Pro has been a successful rollout! During our recent interactions with administrators and staff, we have heard nothing but good news about the product. Be sure to check out the PTPro resources on our NC-SIS site.
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 Canvas Teacher Spotlight
Educators Harness Canvas to Connect with Parents and Support Student Learning
District: Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools
School: Torrence Creek Elementary School
Teachers: Lu Ann Davis-Liseski and Robin Tomei, Speech Pathologists
Grade Level: Pre-K
Project: Language Learning Lab and EC Speech
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Lu Ann Davis-Liseski and Robin Tomei, Speech Pathologists in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, have created an innovative approach to engaging parents and supporting their students’ language development.
They are utilizing Canvas to provide resources for parents to use at home with their children and note that they have seen links to improvements in the language skills of their students. Included in their Canvas modules, designed around thematic units, are videos, songs, printables, skills-based practice activities, and vocabulary resources.
Liseski and Tomei encourage parents to use these resources at home with their children to practice articulation and support language development. Students come to Language Learning Lab singing the songs recommended for practice, evidence that the parents are using the Canvas course to support learning at home.
In addition to accessing the instructional resources, parents can also record their children and submit the videos as assignments, allowing the teachers to provide individualized feedback, resources and suggestions for practice. Canvas supports two-way communication with parents as they can message teachers directly through the comment feature in the assignments as well.
Feedback from parents has been good. They are appreciative that they can access these resources to help their children at home. Liseski and Tomei have conducted both formal training for parents as well as one-on-one training and support. Within the course, they also provide step-by-step directions for parent success.
Liseski and Tomei noted that curating their learning resources in Canvas supports their face-to-face work in the classroom also. They embed repetition in their Canvas course design so students are familiar with procedures and know what to expect as they progress through the units.
They also noted that Canvas increases efficiency by allowing them to quickly access resources and materials in one place and continue moving through the lesson with no down time. As they move forward, they know that they will be able to reuse these resources year after year, making adjustments as student needs change. They also use Announcements to communicate important information with parents, including schedule changes, which they explained, is much easier than emailing or calling parents one by one.
We are happy to celebrate these teachers on their outstanding work and are thankful that they were willing to share their story.
If you know a teacher or school that is doing something innovative to support student learning with Canvas, please email cbarham@instructure.com so we can spotlight them in future newsletters.
Canvas Non-Scoring Rubrics
Did you know that you can create Canvas Rubrics without point values?
When adding a rubric to an assignment, instructors can choose to remove criterion point values to create a non-scoring rubric. This allows instructors to help their students focus on the feedback for an assignment instead of the actual point value and improve learning engagement.
Non-Scoring Rubrics Resources
 Schoolnet News
November Webinars
Collaboration in Schoolnet - Let’s explore how we can connect via Co-Authoring to create assessments, rubrics, and passages. Did you know the student profile has a collaborative space for documenting behavior, goals, and family contact?
- Wednesday, Nov. 14, at 10 a.m. or 3 p.m.
- Wednesday, Nov. 28, at 7 p.m.
Register at: bit.ly/ncschoolnetresources
EOC, EOG, ACT, DIBELS, and TRC Scores Loaded Into Schoolnet
2017-18 scores for EOC, EOG, ACT, DIBELS, and TRC have been loaded into Schoolnet. Teachers can view this information from their Schoolnet homepage or on student profiles. School and district leadership can create reports from the reporting dashboard with this historical performance data.
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 Truenorthlogic Updates
November Webinars: All about Professional Development
Managing Staff Professional Development Using NCEES
Date: Tues., Nov. 13
Time: 4 p.m. to 5 p.m.
Audience: District/Site Administrators, PD Office Administrators
Administrators will explore use of the online NCEES Professional Development (PD) system. Focus will be on using the new PD Playlist feature, a review of DPI-created PD courses and how to create local PD. Use of the light bulb feature in the observation tool, updating staff transcript approved credit types and generating PD reports will also be covered. Does your LEA or Charter host regional PD? New regional offices will be looked at to make it easy to allow staff outside your district to register, attend and complete courses for credit.
Click here to Register
NCEES - Effective Professional Development for Teachers/Support Staff
Date: Tues., Nov. 27
Time: 4 p.m. to 5 p.m.
Audience: Teachers/Support staff
Teachers and Support Staff will explore using NCEES Professional Development (PD) system to facilitate high-quality online professional development, and it's free!
Has your administrator recommended or required PD? We'll focus on searching for, enrolling in and withdrawing from local or NCDPI built PD courses in NCEES, completing recommended or assigned PD, and review staff transcripts for earned credits and certificates in the system.
Click here to Register
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