NC SIS Weekly Email Bulletin

North Carolina Public Schools sent this bulletin at 04/01/2021 04:00 PM EDT

Having trouble viewing this email? View it as a Web page.

April 1, 2021

Digital Teaching and Learning

DISTRICT SUPPORT

NC SIS Weekly Email Bulletin

Topics in this issue:

1. 2021-22 Instructional School Start and End Dates Pulled After Today!
2. The Spring Legislative Class Size Report Window is Open

3. Legal/Preferred Guidance Document - Update

4. 2021-2022 Home Base Opt-in Process is Scheduled to Begin in May

5. Updated Dual Credit Allowances Chart

6. Plan A Attendance Question

7. EOY Pre-Validation (EPV) Reports

8. Self Care: Meeting the SEL Needs of Adults through the Arts

9. Home Base Webinars

10. Friday Wrap Up

11. Follow Us on Social Media

12. NCDPI Technology Support Center

2021-22 Instructional School Start and End Dates Pulled After Today!

G.S. 115C-84.2(a2) specifies that a report on the start and end dates of the instructional calendar for students for the next academic year be provided to the Superintendent of Public Instruction and the State Board of education by April 1 of each year. To make this deadline, the start and end dates of the instructional calendar for students for each school must be in PowerSchool before April 1.

School Start and End Dates for 2021-22 will be pulled immediately after April 1, 2021.

The Spring Legislative Class Size Report Window is Open

The Spring Legislative Class Size (LCS) reporting window is open. Pursuant to §GS115C-301 this data is collected two times a year and captures data from the end of October and end of February of each school year. Each local board of education, through the superintendent, shall file a report, based on information provided by the principal, for each school within the local school administrative unit with the Superintendent of Public Instruction.

The due date for the approval of the Spring LCS Report and affidavit submission is April 30, 2021.

There are two parts to complete this process:

Reporting the legislative class size in PowerSchool

In PowerSchool, the submission window for the report will remain open through April 30, 2021.

Submitting a signed affidavit

Each local superintendent completes a sworn affidavit (form) attesting that the superintendent has complied with the maximum class size requirements and the reporting requirements. Affidavits should be sent to classsize@dpi.nc.gov.
Class size AFFIDAVIT 2020 Update.pdf

If there is a need to also submit an individual class size exception waiver use the form supplied by the Division of School Business. Waivers should be sent to StudentAccounting@dpi.nc.gov.

PSUs should begin running these reports as soon as possible to allow ample time to have discrepancies reviewed by the PowerSchool Support team. Cases submitted to PowerSchool Support will be escalated and reviewed on a daily basis with the Home Base team.

Again, the window to complete this process ends April 30, 2021.

Legal/Preferred Guidance Document Update

There has been an update to the Legal/Preferred Guidance document. The Definition and Guidance section has been updated to include that students may also request to update their preferred name.

2021-2022 Home Base Opt-in Process is Scheduled to Begin in May

Please share with District Finance Officers and Charter School Directors/Principals

The NC DTL Home Base team is preparing to open the 2021-22 Home Base Opt-in Process during the month of May. District finance officers and charter school directors will receive further information as to when the system will be taken offline and returned to service for the opt-in process to begin. Please ensure all finance officer and charter principal information in EDDIE is up to date. This information is used to identify who is eligible to opt in for the districts and charter schools.

Updated Dual Credit Allowances Chart

The Dual Credit Allowances Chart has been updated as of March 2021. The updates reflect changes made due to the social studies standards adoption and the policy change of GRAD-004 that resulted. There are updates on both versions of Dual Credit Allowances information. One chart is from the perspective of the UGETC courses with the new information noted on page 6 and the other chart is from the perspective of high school graduation requirements with the new information noted on page 9. The Dual Credit Allowances Chart specifies community college CCP courses that satisfy high school course requirements.

The updated Dual Credit Allowances Chart is located on the Career and College Promise webpage under "What courses may be used to fulfill high school graduation requirements?"

Plan A Attendance Question:

Please see the question below that have been asked frequently concerning students returning for Plan A and taking attendance.

Question: If a district moves to Plan A for 4 or 5 days a week, must they accept a student as present who has signed up for Plan A but decides to stay home and then joins remotely with no quarantine requirement or verifiable requirement to be home on instructional days?

Response: Local policy will need to address absences and virtual participation for students who are not on an approved virtual plan. Establish the local policy and procedures, and communicate it to students/families as soon as it is applicable.

EOY Pre-Validation (EPV) Reports

During the last maintenance window, a new set of reports were added to the North Carolina state reporting dashboard. These EOY Pre-Validation (EPV) reports are to assist users identify items that need corrected or reviewed prior to running EOY. Schools will have the ability to run these reports through June 28. Districts should continuously run these reports throughout the reporting window to capture any erroneous records that have been created since the last run date. These reports can be unapproved and rerun at any time to ensure the schools are ready for EOY.

PowerSchool is developing a second series of reports that will be considered as the “Final EPV Report” and will have a submission window of June 28 – June 30. Once that report is moved to production, the existing reports will be renamed to “Preliminary EPV Report”. The Final EPV will be an exact copy of the Preliminary EPV, but will only be available at the district level, not at the schools. The purpose of the Final EPV is to capture any last minute errors that exist on the day of EOY. More details will be released once the final package is ready for production.

Self Care: Meeting the SEL Needs of Adults Through the Arts

We all know that we cannot serve students from an empty cup. Every educator has been repeatedly told to put on their own oxygen mask first but for most, virtual, hybrid, and in-person teaching during the COVID-19 Pandemic has been overwhelmingly stressful. Many adults do not know where or how to begin to address their own SEL needs but are charged with leading these efforts for children. We are here to help! ALL educators are welcome to join in this 8-session series to learn practical techniques to manage stress, rekindle daily joy through the arts, and explore how to apply lessons learned in this series to the classroom through Arts Integrated SEL lessons for students. We look forward to sharing this valuable content with you and know that your students will be better served when you engage in a little SELf Care!

In 2015, our amazing predecessors created the ArtsR4Life conference to meet the social and emotional needs of adult educators of every content while simultaneously providing arts integration, arts education, and arts exposure through meaningful experiences. In this series, specifically meant to overcome the challenges associated with social distancing and a year of change, you will be able to:

Renew yourself with small shifts to “Teach Happier”
Rekindle your passion for joy, creating, and education with a variety of sessions offered in different arts disciplines
Reflect on how meeting your SELf Care needs helps you teach better
Reconnect with your peers, your content, and the SEL Competencies to empower your students to have their SEL needs met
Rediscover the joy of education

OPEN TO ALL EDUCATORS OF ANY SUBJECT!

Sessions include:

TEACH Happier with Suzanne Dailey April 20 @ 4-5pm
Life-Hacks for Grounding Yourself co-presented with the NC Symphony April 27 @ 4-5:30pm
Mindful Moving with Sayward Grindley May 4 @ 4-5pm
Mindful Meter with Brandon Roeder May 6 @ 4-5pm
Mindful Making with Michelle Harrell and Ophelia Staton May 11 @ 4-5pm
Mindful M-agination with Triad Stage Learning Programs May 13 @ 4-5pm
NC Museum of Art (NCMA) Virtual Teacher Workshop: Roots and Leaves Expressive Arts Experience May 18 @ 4-5pm (Registration Coming Soon!)
The Mindful Classroom with Elizabeth Peterson May 20 @ 4-5pm
A+ U Elective Videos created by the A+ Schools of North Carolina Self-Paced

https://drive.google.com/file/d/12WNd_P4JCGmFi7l1ENAiAFA87biH65Z5/view?usp=sharing

Read session descriptions and find registration links HERE.

Please forward this information to any educator who might be interested in learning more about SELf Care and how to empower themselves and their students to meet their SEL needs!

Check out the NCDPI SEL Resources

Share out on Social Media with the hashtag #NCSEL

Pre-Recorded Webinars

https://youtu.be/wyH4sSdmn6g

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 p.m. EST

Platform: Webex

Dates and Registration Information:

April 16th: Generic CTE Course Code Implementation (Join the Webinar Here)
April 30th: Generic Course Code Scheduling (Join the Webinar Here)

Completed Webinars and Slides can be viewed at SIS Resources

Course Codes General Overview - Part A
Course Codes General Overview - Part B
CAA vs. Non-CAA Courses

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

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!

New Collections Available in #GoOpenNC

The #GoOpenNC team is excited to launch a new learning hub on the platform for Advanced Learning. On the hub, you will find over 200 lesson plans for Academically and Intellectually Gifted learners!

NEW! Completing the Peer Observation Webinar

New for NC Educators with a focus on Peer Observers! "NC Teacher Evaluation: Completing the Peer Observation" webinar on Tuesday, April 13 from 4-5 PM.

Effective Peer Observation, including feedback and reflection, is a core component of creating a professional community and building collective efficacy.

Peer Observations are about teachers observing each other's practice and learning from one another. Sharing best practices support teachers’ ongoing efforts to improve their practice in ways that better promote student learning.

This webinar will review the 5 W’s of Peer Observation:

Who are Peer Observers?
What are Peer Observations?
When should Peer Observations happen?
Where do Peer Observations occur including the post observation?
Why are Peer Observations important?

And a Refresh on:

How to complete the Peer Observation

The Goal is Always Growth

Ways to ensure accurate and reliable feedback

Click "NC Teacher Evaluation: Completing the Peer Observation" to register.

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

The Friday Wrap Up contains quick "Did You Know" tips that were shared with our social media audience during the week. Would you like to get these in real-time? See our next article below on how to join us on social media.

#GoOpenNC

#GoOpenNC has a new HUB for our At-Home Learning Lessons - a partnership between the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, PBS North Carolina, and the William and Ida Friday Institute for Educational Innovation. This hub has a YouTube Playlist of instructional videos and accompanying lesson plans and extension activities for grades PreK-5 Math and Literacy. New lessons will be added as they are shown on PBS North Carolina over the next two months.

Check out the hub at: https://goopennc.oercommons.org/hubs/ahl

Canvas

In #CanvasLMS, you can restore deleted items by adding the word undelete to the end of your course homepage URL. The user who deleted the item must be the one to restore it.

NCEES

When working in an Evaluation or PDP, staff can email each other!

Navigate to the Plan and open a main activity, such as an Evaluation Observation or a Professional Development Plan Review, and look to the right for the email icon.
Select who to send the email to. You can edit both Subject and Text and click Send Email(s).

You can view a Snapshot of Eval Summaries, CEUs and Logins in NCEES!

The view includes:

Professional Development Summary of CEUs earned or entered into NCEES by credit type.
Your System Usage (Logins) and
Teacher Summary Evaluation Ratings in the current district.

Navigate to your Manage Profile > Snapshot tab > and choose a snapshot range to view.

#NCNCEES, @NCHomeBase, @nchbase, @ncdpiDTL, @ncpublicschools

Learning.com

Learning.com has Co-Teacher capabilities allowing multiple educators to monitor student progress. From the Teacher Center home page, view a class:

Select the Class Settings tab
Click the Add Co-Teacher button
Scroll through or search for an educator by name and select

NOTE: Co-teachers can manage students, grades, and assignments just like the primary teacher.

The EasyCode Content area in Learning.com covers 6 areas.

Computational Thinking
Block-based Coding
Coffeescript
Python
- Python 1: variables, text, user input loops basic conditionals, sequencing, and dot notation.
- Python 2: functions, indexes, events data types, evet handlers, variable scope, program design and game mechanics.
- Python 3: Booleans, nested conditionals, nested loops, lists, dictionaries, error, and exception handling, importing modules and writing to files.
Virtual Robotics
Intro to Game Design

Mini-courses apply basics from coding challenges to develop games in mini-courses. It allows students to create their own games to share with classmates, family, and friends.

Go to https://www.learning.com/easycode/ to learn more and to request a DEMO of EasyCode.

Follow Us on Social Media!

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