Change:  Next Home Base Maintenance Window - January 29, 2021

Our next Home Base maintenance window is scheduled to begin Friday, January 29.  This change in date was made to avoid the end of the semester grading that will take place on the third week of January.  PowerSchool is the only application currently scheduled to undergo maintenance.  All other Home Base applications will remain available.

During this maintenance window, the NC Contacts screen in PowerSchool will be retired in favor of the new Core Contacts screen.  Please refer to the "NC Contact Page" article below for full details.

Note: Each year, a list of scheduled maintenance windows are published by NCDPI.  This is published in advance to help teachers and administrators better prepare for temporary outages and loss of access.  Please review the 2020-2021 maintenance schedule and put these dates on your calendar. In most cases, the entire maintenance window is not necessary and we can return systems to service earlier than listed. If an emergency maintenance is required in addition to these scheduled dates, all users will be notified in advance. 

If you have any questions pertaining to this maintenance, please contact the Home Base Team at home_base@dpi.nc.gov.

OCR/CRDC – PowerSchool CRDC Preview Report 

Dear Office of Civil Rights Coordinators and PowerSchool Coordinators,

Please inform other staff of the following as appropriate.

The Civil Rights Data Collection will begin in School Year 2021-2022

To those who may not be aware, the Office of Civil Rights has postponed the official CRDC collection until the 2021-2022 school year. The data that will be collected will be from school year 2020-2021. Districts and charter schools may hide the current PowerSchool Preview Report from Schools as needed.

Welcome New Coordinators!

To those who are new to the task of collecting data for the CRDC, welcome! My name is Terra Dominguez, and I will be happy to answer any questions you may have to the best of my ability. Feel free to contact me at terra.dominguez@dpi.nc.gov.

To receive communications directly from me, please make sure contact information for the Student Information Coordinator and Office of Civil Rights Coordinator Contacts are updated in the EDDIE system.

Request for Pilot Testers –Volunteer Sign Up by January 29, 2021

The NC DPI is looking for CRDC veterans who may be interested in pilot testing the PowerSchool CRDC Preview report. Discussions will begin in February.

Based on the previous CRDC requirements, the NC DPI began making changes to the PowerSchool report in advance to any future collections. The NC DPI would like to share them with you to continue to improve the data and collection process.

The report in your production system will open January 15th. The NC DPI is asking for volunteers to review the new report(s) and help identify possible data issues prior to a formal collection. Suggestions for process improvement and additional validation reports that will assist your staff are welcome.

The units as listed in the table are data groups defined in the most recent federal requirements forms. Use the table of contents in the federal forms to find the detailed information on the data groups.

If you would like to participate, please make your selections by January 29, 2021 at: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfwcaziJVKvzUDSVVl42rGYdssSDxgHrMe5dcaUa-LGMleWbA/viewform?usp=sf_link 

XG Grade Level, Correction May Be Required

The XG grade level was implemented at the end of the 2019-2020 school year specifically to Promote students who fit the following criteria: 

• The student has a disability that requires special education and related services.
• The student has completed grade 12 and still has not yet met graduation requirements or reached the age of 22.

The XG grade level should be used for any student with an IEP who meets all of the above criteria. These students often remain in high school beyond four years and typically fall between the age range of 17-22.  They are likely following the Extended Content Standards and participating in the Alternate Assessment or following the Occupational Course of Study.  

Most users are using the XG correctly; however, correction may be required.  Below are examples of inappropriate uses of the Extra Grade (XG) grade level. 

• Students who were in grades 9-11 last school year and were moved to XG this school year.
• Students identified as XG whose age does not fall into an acceptable range to be considered a potential grade 12 student. 
• Schools that have added the XG grade level that do not also contain grade 12.  For example, if you are an elementary or middle school, the XG grade level is not for your campus. 
• Students who are not receiving EC Services but are being shown as XG. 

To find and correct these student records in PowerSchool, you can: 

• Click on -9 on the Start Page of PowerSchool 
• Search for Grade_Level = -9 on the start page

Once you have the list of students, you can export out their information and review it for accuracy.

Remember to also review the program schools (Homeless, Migrant, EC) for the appropriate age-grade and EC combination. 
 

Note:  It is important that these students show as promoted and not retained or demoted in PowerSchool.
  

Questions about -9(XG) may be addressed to home_base@dpi.nc.gov.

Reminder:  Uncheck COVID 19 Codes in Special Codes Scale

Now that the 2020-2021 school year has begun, and the end of the 45-day period where students can decide whether they want a numeric grade or PC19/WC19 based on the COVID-19 grading policy has passed, corrections to the grade scale should be made to ensure COVID grading from 2019-2020 school year is not utilized moving forward. 

All PSU's should navigate to their Special Codes scale that's attached to their NC 10-Point Grading Scale and remove the checkbox next to the COVID 19 codes for Use As a Final Grade to prevent teachers from erroneously assigning these codes. See navigation and screenshot below.
 

LEA Office: Start Page > LEA Setup > Grade Scales > Grade Scale: Special Code Scale

Reminder:  Attendance Expectations for Remote Learning

With learning occurring in remote settings this year, it is important that teachers and administrators maintain and submit accurate attendance records for state reporting and funding purposes. A new attendance code was created for tracking students who are participating in remote instruction. In addition, the default present code description has been modified to specify on-site attendance. 

With the potential for attendance data to be included in analyses, it is important to verify and review frequently for accuracy. Attendance records should be audited every 20 days as part of PMR reporting.

Thank you for your attentiveness to this process.

Reminder:  New Student Learning Preference Page and Student Transfer

The NCDPI Home Base Team has learned that the data on the new Student Learning Preferences page transfers with the student records when a student moves to another district. All PSU staff responsible for transferring students out should clear the data from that page prior to releasing the student.

We are updating our QRDs with this reminder, but until we move to PowerSchool version 20.4 or higher, these records will continue to be included in the transfer process.

Reminder:  NC Contact Page

The Home Base Team would like to remind PSUs that the NC Contacts screen in PowerSchool will be retired in favor of the new Core Contacts screen.

On January 29, 2021, the NC Contacts page will be disabled, and the data will no longer be visible to PSUs.  All NCDPI integrations (see below) that rely upon the NC Contacts page will instead rely on core Contacts. Please also be reminded that third-party integrations installed by PSUs should be reviewed to ensure they are not pulling data from the NC Contacts page any longer — for example, many SchoolMessenger customers are currently pulling data from this custom page. PSUs will need to reach out to their vendors to initiate any changes to their data integration configurations.

The following NCDPI Integrations are affected by this change:

ECATS

*TIMS

*There is an update to the TIMS extract using the core contacts. Further information and documentation will be provided early next week to explain how PSUs will set up the extract via Data Export Manager to pull the necessary transportation data.  

In the 2019-2020 school year, a PowerSchool upgrade deployed the new Core Contacts page into NC PowerSchool instances and migrated data from core Demographics (mother and father) into the new Contacts page. Data from the custom NC Contacts page was not automatically migrated into the new Core Contacts page and must be moved manually.  Information on Core Contacts was provided during the September 2019 Home Base Meet-Ups, and many PSUs have finished manually moving data from NC Contacts to the new Core Contacts page.

Navigation Paths

NC Student Contact Screen

Start Page > Student Selection > NC Information: NC Student Contacts

New Core Contact Screen

Start Page > Student Selection > Information: Contacts

For PSUs who have not completed data migration from NC Contacts to Core Contacts, the resources below from PowerSchool Support may assist in this process. A PowerSchool Community account is required to access the linked resources. 

• Getting started with Contacts Guide: (Includes Importing/Exporting and field mapping information) https://help.powerschool.com/t5/PowerSchool-SIS-Administrator/Getting-Started-with-Student-Contacts/ta-p/79724 

PSUs requiring additional assistance with this data migration process should log a ticket with PowerSchool Support by calling the NC-specific support number 1-855-339-4790 or by visiting https://help.powerschool.com.

Reminder:  PowerSchool IPT Certification in February 2021

The Home Base Team will be offering a virtual IPT certification training from February 1-5, 2021.  This training will span five full days. Participants will have 90 days to take and pass the certification test after training. Each PSU is allowed a certain number of technical contacts based on their ADM. If you are unsure of your current technical contacts, please contact PowerSchool Support at 1-855-339-4790. 

NCDPI has created an IPT FAQ document  to help answer questions you may have. Please review this document for frequently asked questions about the training and certification.

Those who can attend the DPI offered IPT Training include: 

• Anyone replacing a previous technical contact from their allotted number.
• A local charter school employee who is not employed by a data management company. 

Those who cannot attend this training are: 

• Charter school data management company employees
• PSUs wanting additional technical contacts above their desired allocation
• Anyone who has attended training previously and failed the certification test. 

Note: Anyone who is not eligible for this training will need to arrange training and/or certification directly through the vendor, PowerSchool, and cover the cost incurred. To do so, please reach out to the PowerSchool training team, training@powerschool.com.   

Those who are eligible for this training session, please fill out the registration form.

Canvas PD Mini-Course - Crafting High Quality Feedback in Canvas

Our next Canvas mini-course is now open for self-registration in NCEES. Learn all about the different ways you can give high quality feedback in Canvas.

This course is designed to be completed in one hour, and upon course completion, 0.1 CEU of Digital Learning Competency Credit will be applied to your transcript in NCEES (within 48 hours).

Register here (must login to NCEdCloud): https://bit.ly/3nxtogw

New Items in the NCDPI Benchmark and NCDPI Released Banks

Reminder: In December, a total of 7,834 new assessment questions were added to Schoolnet from the NCDPI Accountability team! 4,833 of those items were added to the NCDPI Released bank for use by teachers, and the other 3,001 items were added to the NCDPI Benchmark bank for use by PSU administrators. We hope these are useful to educators building Schoolnet assessments.

January Schoolnet PD Opportunities

We're excited to unveil the first self-paced Schoolnet course in the coming week! The topic for January 2021 is Keeping it Simple in Schoolnet. Course participants will learn to create and analyze a simple quiz in Schoolnet. Stay tuned to the Schoolnet Google Site for additional information as it becomes available, and be sure to check out our YouTube playlist of past sessions in the meantime!

New Self-Paced Course on Curating Content in #GoOpenNC

We are so excited to try something new with our monthly webinars for #GoOpenNC. The webinar is now available on-demand in a mini Canvas course (you will need to login to NCEES via NCEdCloud to register).

The course is designed to be completed in one hour and NCEES will apply 0.1 CEU of Digital Learning Competency Credit to your transcript within 48 hours of completing the course.  The course is available until May 31, 2021

New Mini-Course: Remix and Add Your Own Content to #GoOpenNC!

Our next #GoOpenNC mini-course is now available for self-registration on NCEES. Learn how to remix and add your own resources to #GoOpenNC.

Each mini-course is designed to take one hour to complete and within 48 hours of course completion, 0.1 CEU of Digital Learning Competency Credit will be applied to your transcript!

Register here (must login to NCEdCloud): https://bit.ly/3amydp9

NCWiseOwl EBSCO Webinars 2020-2021 

PSUs, please share this message with your teachers.

Want to love and utilize NCWiseOwl even more?  Attend the upcoming webinars available from our database vendors! 

Britannica School: REGISTRATION and RECORDINGS

• Britannica School for Remote Learning 
• Britannica School for Parents 
• Britannica Basics for Elementary Educators 
• Britannica Basics for Secondary Educators 
• Sharing Britannica Content on Google Platforms 
• Preparing Digital Content Sets for Instruction 
• Britannica Tools to Support Reluctant Readers 
• Britannica School - STEAM in Focus 
• Britannica School - Arts & Humanities in Focus 
• Britannica Tools to Support English Language Learners 
  
  

EBSCO: REGISTRATION and RECORDINGS

• EBSCO Reference Center Exploration 
• EBSCO Online Classroom Tools and Integration Tips 
• EBSCO Accessibility and Usability Features within EBSCO Resources
• EBSCO Working with EBSCO eBooks
  
  

Please visit the NCWiseOwl  Toolkit  professional learning section for detailed descriptions and registration links.  www.ncwiseowl.org

Friday Wrap Up

Home Base Highlights 

Happy 2021! The Home Base Team is excited to keep the learning going in 2021 by launching two self-paced mini courses that can be completed in one hour and provide valuable information about our Home Base Applications for North Carolina Public School Educators.

Canvas - Connecting with Observers in Canvas is now available for self-registration in NCEES. This one-hour course will show you how to connect and invite Observers into your Canvas course and build positive relationships with our adult supporters!

Register now at the following link (must be logged into the NCEdCloud for the link to work): https://ncees.homebase.ncpublicschools.gov/.../pres.../29041

#GoOpenNC - An Introduction to OER in the Classroom is now available for self-registration in NCEES. This one hour course will introduce you to Open Education Resources and how to find appropriate resources in #GoOpenNC as well as selecting Creative Commons licensing for your own works.

Register now at the following link (must be logged into the NCEdCloud for the link to work): https://ncees.homebase.ncpublicschools.gov/.../pres.../29042 

DID YOU KNOW WEDNESDAY 1/6/2021 Messages

• In #CanvasLMS you can use announcements as a daily check-in and reminder for course activities. Ask a question of the day, post a funny meme, and allow comments to build community in your virtual classroom. You can schedule announcements in advance, so you don't have to remember each day!  Check out this Canvas Guide to learn more about Announcements! https://community.canvaslms.com/.../How-do-I.../ta-p/1194.  
  
  
• How do I add an announcement in a course?  You can create an announcement to share important information with all users within your course and with users in sections of a course. In your notification preferences, you can choose to receive notifications for announcements created by you as well as replies to announcements you've created.
  
  
• Just launched  - a brand new Advanced Learning hub on #GoOpenNC - you will find hundreds of lessons for Math, English Language Arts, Social Studies, and Science for K-5 advanced learners!  Check it out at: https://goopennc.oercommons.org/hubs/advancedlearning
  
  
• Learning.Com has updated and improved the District Activity Report. They are now accessible from the Reports dropdown menu from the coordinator dashboard. Instant data at your fingertips! Take a quick look today to see Activity by School and Overall District Activity.

Follow Us on Social Media!

Follow us on Facebook and begin receiving "Did You Know" tips featuring each Home Base product. 

These messages will include upcoming changes, tips and even hidden treasures within each product to make your job easier.  If you are not following us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, click on the links below and begin today!  Make sure you share this information with other staff within your school.

Instagram:  @nchomebase         Facebook:  @nchomebase       Twitter:  @nchomebase

NCDPI Technology Support Center

NCDPI's Technology Support Center continues to meet your support needs for:

• Schoolnet 
• NCEES/Unified Talent
• IAM/SSO (NCEdCloud) 
• Staff & Student UID (eScholar)

Support availability:

Web (NEW URL):  https://ncgov.servicenowservices.com/sp_dpi   -  24/7

Phone:  919-716-1840, Monday - Friday, 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. (excluding state holidays)

Technical support for SIS needs is handled directly by PowerSchool support using chat, phone, or by opening a case ticket.