Home Base Maintenance Set for this Weekend

PowerSchool Getting a Major Upgrade

The next Home Base maintenance weekend is set to run from today, Friday, Aug. 16,  to Monday, Aug. 19. This maintenance will include a major PowerSchool Upgrade. 

PowerSchool will be brought down at 5 p.m. today and returned to service no later than Monday at 6 a.m.  A message will be sent to PowerSchool administrators once DPI receives word that the maintenance page has been removed. Please be sure to notify your entire staff once you receive the completion message. DPI has been contacted frequently by teachers saying they are not made aware when the system becomes available. Please help us with this communication.

Also note that the nightly NCEES Person Import File will not process during this upgrade weekend. DPI's ODS (Operating Data System) may be out of sync during this process. Any staff updates in HR/Payroll to NCDPI Staff UID on Friday, Aug. 16, will not be processed in a NCEES Person Import File until the ODS data is verified to be in sync. This is to prevent staff and staff plan deactivation in NCEES. Once the ODS is back in sync a communication will be sent out with the date that the NCEES Person Import and location files will be back on regular nightly schedule.

Digital Teaching & Learning Gets New Leader

Vanessa Wrenn brings long experience as educator and administrator

Vanessa Wrenn has joined the Department of Public Instruction as the new director of the Division of Digital Teaching and Learning (DTL) after 22 years of experience working as an educator and administrator. She is focused on innovative approaches to teaching and learning in the digital age, especially broadening equitable access to quality digital resources, blended instruction and personalized learning.

Prior to joining DPI, Wrenn served in Granville County Public Schools as the director of digital teaching and learning, chief technology officer, director of career and technical education, and online learning. During her time as director of digital teaching and learning with Granville schools, Wrenn led the implementation of the digital learning plan, device equity, infrastructure expansion, and the development of digital learning competencies for teachers and administrators. She has earned CETL and CeCTO certifications and maintains National Board for Professional Teaching Standards certification in career and technical education. Wrenn engaged educators at all levels in innovative models of professional learning and strategic planning to support digital age teaching and learning.

“I am honored to have the opportunity to lead Digital Teaching and Learning,” Wrenn said “I'm truly excited about the impact of the DTL community, serving the state, expanding the value of personalized learning and showcasing the importance of the digital age learning voice on important issues facing public education."

A North Carolina native, Wrenn began her career as a career and technical education teacher, where she was awarded NCACTE Marketing Teacher-of- the-Year. She earned a bachelor’s begree and a master of science in curriculum and instruction from North Carolina State University, and she holds a doctorate in education from Liberty University. Wrenn has developed and directed blended and online schools, which leverage innovative practices in digital-age learning. Wrenn said she is committed to superior customer service to all public schools and school transformation through digital teaching and learning

New Trainer Joins DTL Team

Tessa Parker Hine, a professional learning specialist, comes to the Digital Teaching and Learning team with 13 years of customer service and IT experience, six years of PowerSchool experience, and an associate of applied science in computer information technology.

Hine previously worked on the DPI service desk, supporting many applications, including PowerSchool, NCEES, NCID, UID, IAM, and others. She is PowerSchool, PowerScheduler, PowerTeacher Pro, and Frameworks certified.

She has also obtained several IT certifications from A+ to Microsoft certifications, and is currently working on a Google for Education certification. During her six years on the DPI service desk, she progressed through the ranks from tier 1 to tier 2, and most recently Technical Team lead. 

2019-2020 Canvas Webinar Schedule

Monthly webinars for Canvas are NEW for 2019-2020 and start next week. Please check out our printable webinar calendar and visit bit.ly/nccanvaswebinars to register and view links to webinar recordings.

August Home Base Meet-Up Update

Thank you to Johnston, Cumberland, Wilkes, and Rutherford Counties for hosting our beginning of the year Home Base Meet-Ups! For Canvas specific updates, please view our product presentation.

Starting the Year with Schoolnet 21.0

Over the summer, Schoolnet was upgraded to version 21.0. New in this version is an easier search process to find assessment items and create answer key only tests. More information about the new version can be found in the release notes.

2019-2020 Schoolnet Webinar Schedule

Monthly webinars for Schoolnet resumed this week. Please check out our printable webinar calendar and visit bit.ly/ncschoolnetresources for more information and links to webinar recordings.

August Home Base Meet-Up Update

Thank you to Johnston, Cumberland, Wilkes, and Rutherford Counties for hosting our beginning of the year Home Base Meet-Ups! For Schoolnet specific updates, please view our product presentation.

Welcome to NCEES 2019-20

NCEES provides a platform for Professional Development including evaluations, observations and improvement plans. This tool runs our North Carolina Educator Effectiveness System, which is composed of two components: Educator Evaluation and Professional Development. Public School Units (LEAs & Charters) that have opted into Home Base can also utilize a PD Office in NCEES to build out and track PD Opportunities locally.

To grant access for your staff members to the system, please update the Staff UID system and HR Systems.  Please review the the “NCEES Data v6” document for more information about how accounts are provisioned for accessing  the NCEES application. Please ensure your users have appropriate budget/salary codes in UID Staff System from the list in NCEES Data v6.

Principals should check Staff Lists and Assign Evaluation/PDP Plans

Principals should check their staff list (My Staff tab) to ensure it is updated and assign both the evaluation Teacher Plan Type (Comprehensive, Abbreviated, or Standard, Late Hire plan use is determined by the LEA/Charter) and the (PDP) Professional Development Plan Type (Individual, Monitored, or Directed). Principal/AP plan types are assigned by the system and Principals should not be assigned a PDP Type.

Once plan types are set, principals may begin assigning Access Rights in Administration Staff Management.

These rights of Evaluator, Observer, Mentor, Peer Observer, etc. must be assigned to the Evaluation/PDP Plans for completion.  ALL comprehensive plans are required to have a Peer Observer, so it is important to complete this step. Lead principals (salary code 114) are system assigned evaluator rights to all staff in their location. New last year was that District Administrators set the Evaluator of the Lead Principals in Staff Evaluations.

Click on the Help Guides tab in NCEES for documented step by step information with screenshots.

NCEES Beginning of Year Orientation Support Resources

NCDPI has added a Beginning of Year Orientation page on the NCEES Google Site.This page should be used as a supplemental resource for the orientation meeting, not in place of the meeting.

Staff should have a face-to-face orientation meeting to openly discuss questions and gain clarification regarding NCEES. We recommend staff view the NC Teacher Orientation recorded webinar presentation together.

Click here to view support resources for Beginning of Year Orientation.

NCEES August Webinars

Mark your calendars for the NCEES August webinars. All webinars will be recorded and posted to the Webinar Series document located on http://bit.ly/ncees-support.

Please click here to review the full list:  NCEES 2019-2020 Webinars . Check out New User NCEES Basics this week and a New Series for New Assistant Principals starting Aug. 27th!