Broadband Resources for Families

Broadband services are being made available to families with limited or no broadband resources through the Emergency Broadband Benefit Program.

The Emergency Broadband Benefit Program gives low-income households a discount on internet services. The program, administered by the Federal Communications Commission, opens for enrollment on May 12, 2021. 

Please spread the word by sharing this information with staff and others within your school district.  For more information and answers to frequently asked questions visit the Emergency Broadband Benefit Program site at https://www.ncbroadband.gov/assistance/emergency-broadband-benefit-program. 

Upcoming NCEES Maintenance Window May 8-9

NCDPI received a notice from the NCEES vendor stating that the NCEES​ system has upcoming maintenance this weekend, May 8-9, 2021 to update database security.

Maintenance Window

Start Time - Saturday, May 8 @ 11 p.m.

End Time - Sunday, May 9 @ 4 a.m.

The vendor will be performing a database update on the system. During this time PSU's NCEES applications will not be available; therefore, please do not access the NCEES System during the maintenance window.

Note:  This maintenance ONLY affects the NC Educator Effectiveness System (Evaluation and PD components) and will not impact any other Home Base product.

2021-2022 Home Base Opt-in Process Update

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. The opt-in tool has been taken offline and will be returned to service by mid-May.  Finance officers and charter school directors will be notified when the tool is returned to service and available for opting into Home Base.

Questions pertaining to the Home Base Opt-in Process may be addressed to home_base@dpi.nc.gov.

Reminder:  EDDIE Feed Update

Please be reminded that the Educational Directory and Demographical Information Exchange (EDDIE) feed to PowerSchool was disabled as a follow-up to this past weekend's maintenance. PSUs may now begin submitting cases to PowerSchool support to add new schools and grade levels to their PowerSchool instance in preparation for the 2021-2022 school year. All changes made in PowerSchool for the current year, before EOY and after the EDDIE feed is disabled, must be updated in EDDIE manually before the feed to PowerSchool is reenabled. If the data is not accurately reflected in both PowerSchool and EDDIE when the feed is enabled after EOY, these changes will be overwritten by EDDIE since it is the authoritative source.

If you have any questions concerning EOY, please contact the Home Base Team at home_base@dpi.nc.gov.

Reminder:  EOY Pre-Validation (EPV) Reports

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.

GoOpenNC Accessibility Series

Registration is now open for our upcoming Accessibility Series on #GoOpenNC. Designing and procuring accessible digital materials is essential for some but research shows it benefits all learners.

Join us for this free two-part webinar series to learn more about designing accessible digital Open Education Resources (OER) based on the Universal Design for Learning framework. Participants can earn 0.3 CEU credits, recommended for Digital Learning Competency Credit.

Register now at: http://bit.ly/goopenncaccess

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

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!

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, 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 
• 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.