Next Home Base Maintenance Window - January 29, 2021

Our next Home Base maintenance window is scheduled to begin tonight, January 29.  This change in date was made to avoid the end of the semester grading that took 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.

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.

TIMS Update

PowerSchool and NCDPI have determined that adding quotes in fields throws off the alignment of data within the TIMS Report. Please do not add quotes in any PowerSchool fields.  Prior to exporting the TIMS report, please verify and remove quotes from all contact and transportation fields within your PowerSchool instance. Before importing into TIMS, please verify that the exported file has no lines which begin and end with quotes. If quotes exist the student records must be corrected and the file exported again.

Also, please ensure the CR/LF line delimiter is used when creating files.

Spring 2021 Course Code Webinar Series

Please join the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (NCDPI) for a Spring 2021 course code webinar series. PowerSchool Data Managers, PowerSchool Coordinators, School Counselors, Career and Technical Education Directors, Career Development Coordinators, CCP Coordinators, and  Curriculum and Instruction/Academic Leaders are encouraged to join the conversations. Please see details below and we look forward to seeing you (virtually) soon! 

SAVE THE DATES! 

Time:  2 - 3 pm EST

Platform:  Webex

Dates and Registration Information:

• February 12th:  Course Codes General Overview - Part A (Join the Webinar Here)
• February 19th:  Course Codes General Overview - Part B (Join the Webinar Here)
• March 5th:  CAA vs. Non-CAA Courses (Join the Webinar Here)
• March 19th:  Graduation Plans, Transcripts, and Endorsements (Join the Webinar Here)
• April 16th:  Generic CTE Course Code Implementation (Join the Webinar Here)
• April 30th:  Generic Course Code Scheduling (Join the Webinar Here)

Questions? Please enter your questions in the Question Collection Form.

Reminder:  DAT Tags Causing Performance Issues

PowerSchool has identified DAT tags that will cause performance issues with your instance if they are used incorrectly.  The DAT tags mentioned in this message specifically address the GPA Student Screen. 

A PSU used the ~(att;rar;S1) DAT under GPA Student Screens and it caused performance issues. Because the GPA / Quick Lookup page options are not CC specific, but rather Student record specific, this tag is invalid as an entry on the GPA Student Screens.  Once the DAT was removed, system performance returned to normal. 

Please be reminded that DAT tags have a specific use — usually within the reporting functions of PowerSchool. The best examples are using them for Class Rosters, Form Letters, or Report Cards. There are certain DAT tags that may not work anywhere else within PowerSchool, e.g., Object Reports or Quick Export.

For more information, please review the following article:

https://help.powerschool.com/t5/PowerSchool-SIS-Administrator/Class-Roster-Report-PDF-DAT-Codes/ta-p/12295

For questions or concerns regarding the use of DAT tags within your instance, please submit a case to PowerSchool support.

Reminder:  P-EBT Clarification

On 1/21/2021, there was a presentation to Superintendents and Charter Schools discussing the P-EBT project. In the presentation, there was a slide about Expectations of PSUs; these expectations included (1) the formation of a Team of Stakeholders to inform community partners and (2) the designation of a Point of Contact to oversee data issues at the local level.  The content of the slide is shown below:: 

• Establish a local P-EBT Team of Stakeholders to inform community partners and state agencies (Administrator, School Nutrition Director, Social Worker, Guidance counselor, Public Information Officers, Principal Representative, etc.); provide contact information to DPI to streamline communications with team members 
• Designate a Point of Contact to oversee P-EBT data administration; this role will ideally be the PowerSchool Coordinator 
• Identify this person by name and share the contact via a Google form that DPI will send out in the coming days 
• Continue to prepare student attendance data ahead of submission to DPI 
• Continue to confirm or correct student guardian and address information

It was suggested that the SIS coordinator would ideally fit the role of Point of Contact due to their having access to all the necessary information. This was not a statement that the SIS Coordinator needed to be that person just a suggestion. A PSU has the ability to form their own team and Point of Contact with the people of their choice. The Point of Contact’s purpose is to help investigate any anomalies that are produced once NCDPI pulls the data, e.g., incorrect address or phone number. 

The P-EBT state monthly data pull from DPI will be looking at the following information from the student record: 

• Mother/Father 
• Address 
• Phone Number 
• Attendance
• Entry/Exit Dates

It is very important that this data is accurate to ensure that students are receiving their benefits. In PowerSchool’s SQL reports 5 tab, DPI created several reports for you to find those students who have no information in the address, mother, and father fields. These reports can be found under the Data Audits report section Null Address and Null Mother and Father. 

It is important to do frequent audits on attendance data to make sure it is up to date and accurate. 

NCDPI is certainly cognizant of the burden that the Covid virus has placed on all of us.  We, like all of you, are hopeful that these unprecedented times will end soon.  While we do not want to add to the great efforts put forth by those of you on the front lines, we do feel compelled to remind everyone of the importance of accurate, complete, timely data and their submission.  

The maintenance and submission of the data for which you are stewards will be critical in the future to determine the impact of the virus on our students' education.  The data submitted and collected during this trying time will be needed for analysis, decision-making, intervention where appropriate and policy decisions in the coming years. 

We ask that you continually review your data to ensure for accuracy and completeness and verify that all policies and guidance are being followed.  Thank you all for your continued dedication to the students, parents, and teachers of North Carolina.  

OCR/CRDC Reminders

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

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. 

Update Eddie Staff Titles/Contacts

To receive information directly from the SEA CRDC Coordinator, update the EDDIE system with one or more Civil Rights Data Coordinator and Student Information Coordinator contacts.  Remove contacts that are no longer valid.  Adjust as needed when staff member’s roles change.

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. 

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.  For more detailed information, see the NC SIS Weekly Email Bulletin from January 8, 2021.

The NC DPI appreciates you considering this request.  Please contact terra.dominguez@dpi.nc.gov with questions.

Reminder:  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:  Scheduling Training

NCDPI and PowerSchool will be offering virtual PowerScheduler training sessions from February 15-18, 2021.  These sessions will consist of 2 simultaneous Prep to Build sessions on February 15-17, 2021, and 2 simultaneous Load Process sessions on February 18-19, 2021. The training sessions will be held from 8:30 AM - 4 PM on the designated days. 

Descriptions of the PowerScheduler sessions being offered can be found here. PowerSchool agendas may also be found on PowerSource at the following links (note: you must have a PowerSource account to view).

• Prep to Build
• Load Process

Sessions will be open to designated scheduling leads within a PSU who need scheduling training. Due to limited seating availability, only 1 person per PSU will be permitted to register for each training (e.g., One per PSU may attend the Prep to Build, and one per PSU may attend the Load Process Training). Each training is seen as a separate event.

Third-Party Management Companies 𝑫𝑶 𝑵𝑶𝑻 𝑸𝑼𝑨𝑳𝑰𝑭𝒀 for this training. (If your company is contracted by/with a PSU to provide SIS services - e.g. ALS, Acadia Northstar, Charter Success Partners, CSUSA, etc., you will not be able to attend. Management companies may email training@powerschool.com to purchase training.)

These training sessions are not intended to be workshops with live school data. These sessions will use training data on a training server to teach the fundamentals of scheduling.

To register for a training session, please fill out the registration form.

Focus 5

Featuring: Pitt County
by Tim DeCresie

Check out Pitt County and how they have adjusted to virtual learning!

1. Virtual learning has helped fast track teachers into using Canvas.  We have had this platform for 6 years. Until last March, we were struggling to get teachers to use it.
   
   
2. Our district is now 1:1.  Getting teachers to use Canvas was difficult because the devices were not in place to necessitate the need to utilize Canvas.  Now that we have devices and an LMS, training with a purpose can be accomplished.
   
   
3. Staff Development - Teachers are more interested in learning about digital tools and how to implement both tools and pedagogy into a virtual environment. 
   
   
4. Collaboration - Teachers are collaborating more than ever and sharing what they are doing.  Moving so quickly to an online environment, there was a greater need to come together and divide and conquer the workload so quality content and instruction could be provided to our students.  Students that are internally driven are being successful.

5. Students/teachers have been very flexible with the situation.

Please join us in giving a shout out to Pitt County!

January Schoolnet Mini-Course Now Available

We’re excited to announce the first Schoolnet mini-course in NCEES is now available! Like the mini-courses for Canvas and #GoOpenNC, this is designed to replace the monthly Schoolnet webinars and can be completed in about an hour. Within 48 hours of course completion, 0.1 CEU of DLC Credit will be applied to your transcript.

The January 2021 course topic is Keeping It Simple in Schoolnet. In this course, participants will learn to build and analyze a simple quiz in Schoolnet.

Click the link below to register and launch the course via NCEES. If you do not have a NCEES account, the course content can be viewed on YouTube as well; however, you will only receive the 0.1 CEUs if you complete the course via NCEES.

Join the Course on NCEES: http://bit.ly/kisSNr21

View the YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkLjJihMm-w

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 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

Follow Us on Social Media!

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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.