NC SIS Weekly Email Bulletin

Topics in this issue:

1.     Reading Retained Reporting Changes*

2.     Section Attributes Updates*

3.     QRD Updates*

4.     SIS Charter Connect

5.     Student Ticket Process for Duplicates found in ECATS

6.     Pre-Registering Students  

7.     Adding Grade Levels in PowerSchool

8.     Student Accounting and School Business 

9.     April Canvas Statewide Call*

10.   NEW SIS Escalation Workflow Field Admin Console*   

11.   Prep for On-Line Assessments*

12.   OCR/CRDC SY2021-2022 - Letter to Superintendents and Next Steps Due April 01, 2023

13.   Webinars, Recordings and Trainings

          New Self-Paced PD Courses for Canvas

          Schoolnet Self-Paced PD Course

          Home Base Admin Course

14.   Subscribe to Major Events Status Alerts

15.   NCDPI Technology Support Center

16.   Follow Us on Social Media

*indicates new article this week

Reading Retained Reporting Changes Applicable for the 2022-2023 school year, G.S.115C-83.10. (b2) states each local board of education shall report annually in writing to the State Board of Education by November 15 of each year the number and percentage of retained third grade students placed in an accelerated reading class or transitional third and fourth class combination under G.S. 115C-83.8(b) in the prior school year who were:     (i) promoted mid-year as provided in G.S. 115C-83.8(c) or    (ii) promoted directly to fifth grade for the school year following the retention.   This updated legislation requires the following data be collected: The number of students that started the school year with a Reading Retained label in PowerSchool and had the label removed by November 1st (mid-year promotion). The number of Reading Retained students that had a reading retained label in PowerSchool after November 1st and demonstrated third grade reading proficiency by the end of school year and were promoted to fifth grade.  To assist with gathering the required data, DPI has added two new codes in PowerSchool for PSUs to document the progress of third grade reading retained students beginning this school year. Mid-Year Removal - RtA (By Nov 1) For any student who begins the school year with a Reading Retained label in PowerSchool and demonstrates third grade reading proficiency by November 1st, remove the Reading Retained label and add the new Mid-Year Removal - RtA (By Nov 1) label in PowerSchool.

Removal - RtA (After Nov 1)

For any student who has a Reading Retained label in PowerSchool after November 1st and demonstrates third-grade reading proficiency anytime by the End of Year and is being promoted directly to the fifth grade, remove the Reading Retained label and add the new Removal - RtA (After Nov 1) label in PowerSchool.

All PSUs should go back and add the Mid-Year Removal - RtA (MYRR) in PowerSchool for any student who had the Reading Retained label removed by November 7, 2022.

All PSUs should add the Removal - RtA (RRTA) label to any student that still had a Reading Retained label after November 7, 2022 and demonstrates reading proficiency by the end of the 2022-2023 school year and is promoted to fifth grade. The Removal - RtA (RRTA) label should be added no later than June 16, 2023.  

For a student who has the Reading Retained label and does not demonstrate proficiency by the end of the 2022-2023 school year, leave the Reading Retained label in PowerSchool. DPI will remove these labels using a script.

For a student who transfers from one PSU to another with the Reading Retained label still attached, the receiving PSU should update the label when the student becomes proficient.

Reminder - Pathways to Proficiency for Reading Retained Students Pass the RtA Test at Mid-Year Promotion (November 1) Obtain a 725 Lexile on DIBELS 8 during a benchmark (BOY, MOY, EOY) Successful completion of the RtA Portfolio

2023-2024 Twice Retained Funding Twice Retained allotments will be determined using PowerSchool data.  It is important that PSUs code students correctly to ensure accurate Twice Retained funding. In the 2023-2024 school year, PSUs will receive Twice Retained funding to provide supplemental tutoring for any students who: have been retained once in first grade, second grade or third grade AND retained again in the third grade either by placement in a third-grade class or given the reading retained label and placed in a transitional 3/4 class combination or accelerated reading class. Questions may be directed to the Office of Early Learning Dan Tetreault or Tonia Parrish.

Section Attributes Updates

QRD Updates An updated QRD for Entering Detailed Incidents has been added to the NC SIS Resources webpage and the Canvas “PowerSchool SIS ADMINS” course.  It now includes a section that addresses the adding and updating of attendance for ISS/OSS Action Types.     PS QRD: Entering Detailed Incidents   PowerSchool EC Data Screen QRD PS QRD: PowerSchool EC Data Screen The admin QRD for the Digital Device Survey data in PowerSchool is now available.   PS QRD: Digital Device Survey Admin

SIS Charter Connect Registration is now open for SIS Charter Connect!   April 17 - Drury Inn & Suites Burlington, 1767 Glidewell Drive Burlington, NC  April 18 - Fairfield by Marriott Kinston, 667 Sheffield Dr., Kinston, NC 28504 If interested, please register here.

Student Ticket Process for Duplicates found in ECATS

A student in ECATS that has two different Student ID numbers identifying the student must be corrected in the State Student UID system and PowerSchool before he or she can be merged in ECATS.

Two different students with the same ID number must be corrected in the State Student UID System and PowerSchool to ensure all downstream systems, including ECATS, are corrected.

If you locate a student in ECATS that meets either of the above examples, contact your PowerSchool LEA Coordinator, and provide them with the Student ID number(s) and/or name(s).  They will then submit a ticket to the PowerSchool service desk with the description, “EC Duplicate Student Numbers”.  Once the ticket has been submitted to PowerSchool, request the PowerSchool ticket number, and include it on a ZenDesk ticket filed for this duplicate.

This description and process will allow the PowerSchool Service desk to know it is an EC Student, and to prioritize these tickets so Federal Reporting and Child Counts can be completed on time. This also will allow DPI to follow the ticket, and when resolved in the State Student UID system and in PowerSchool, DPI can then have the data merged in ECATS keeping the correct student ID number. 

Please follow this same process for non-EC students with the exception that no ZenDesk ticket is created, and the description for the PowerSchool ticket should just read “Duplicate Student Numbers”.

Pre-Registering Students

Reminder: Students should only be pre-registered if they are not currently active in any other NC PSU. Typically, only a subset of Kindergarten students will meet this definition — many Kindergarteners already have active NC PSU records due to public preschool services. Pre-registering students for the next school year who are active NC students during the current school year has negative impacts on the NCEdCloud IAM service, accountability, and ECATS.

Pre-registered students must have the scheduling setup page appropriately populated with the student’s next year grade and next school indicator. For pre-registered students, the next year grade must be the grade level that the student will be enrolled for the upcoming school year. For example, if a Kindergarten student is pre-registered for the next school year before running the End of Year process for the current school year, the next year grade for the student on the Scheduling Setup page should be 0 (Kindergarten).

Adding Grade Levels in PowerSchool

Reminder:  PSUs Can Now Add New Grades in PowerSchool SIS

The EDDIE process has been modified to allow PSUs to begin adding new grade levels without the EDDIE feed being disabled. This process temporarily pauses the feed to only the grade level fields located on the Schools/School setup page. 

PSUs who need to add new grade levels for the 2023-24 school year may now do so in PowerSchool. Prior to adding these grade levels to PowerSchool, your EDDIE administrator must first ensure that the EDDIE “Approved” grade levels include the grades being added to the SIS. It is important that you remember to add these new grade levels to EDDIE “Current” grade levels after EOY. EDDIE “Current” grade level changes should not take place until then.

For assistance, please visit the PowerSchool SIS Administrator - School Information.

Student Accounting and School Business Reminder: For questions related to the SASA Manual and student accounting, please contact the Student Accounting team in the School Business division at the following email. StudentAccounting@dpi.nc.gov

April Canvas Statewide Call As a reminder, the April North Carolina Canvas Admin meeting is on April 3rd at 2:00 pm EST. If you haven't already registered for this meeting, please be sure to do so using the link below.   North Carolina | April Canvas Statewide Call   We look forward to seeing you there!

NEW SIS Escalation Workflow Field Admin Console The Canvas Support team has added a SIS Escalation option in the Admin Console for Admins. This button will allow Field Admins to open a ticket directly with the SIS Team instead of it hitting the L1 team first and will include a template to fill out with some of the critical components we need for SIS Escalations. Some important things to be aware of: Tickets escalated directly to the SIS Team do not have targeted SLAs, as the SIS Team counts as an advanced team (L2). You can also escalate an existing case that you have assigned to you or to the L1 Queue.  This was enabled earlier this week.

Prep for On-Line Assessments Many districts and schools have been using online assessments for years, but students are struggling with how to complete the assessments online. Enter Prep for Online Assessments Unit where students will receive instruction on valuable digital literacy skills that take the “technology” out of the assessment equation.   Key Points: Prep for Online Assessment Unit contains skill lessons focused on the types of skills students need to answer questions on an online assessment including keyboarding. Prep for Online Assessments Skills Practice provides practice on the types of questions students might encounter. Question types include clicking, dragging, selecting, typing, plotting, highlighting, and more.  Adaptive Keyboarding is an ongoing recommendation. To see an increase in accuracy and WPM, we recommend 10 - 15 mins at least 2-3 times per week. And remember, this can be done at school, home or anywhere the student can access the internet. 2 Strategies to Remove Digital Barriers from Online Assessments   Prep for Online Assessment Unit (see Prep for Online Assessments Units attachment for a closer look) Open the Prep for Online Assessment unit and open the grade level needed Assign all or select items from the curriculum listed Students may have completed these items earlier in the year, so they would be a review Have all students complete the Online Assessment Skills Practice  Adaptive Keyboarding for everyone. Assign Adaptive Keyboarding to all students K-8 even if they are not in a technology class OR have them complete it from their TechQuest pathway Encourage students to practice their keyboarding skills at least 3 times per week for 15-20 minutes per session Consider a district wide keyboarding contest. Prep for Online Assessments in the EasyTech Library for Grades K-8   Please contact Tiffany Kinney with any questions.

OCR/CRDC SY2021-2022: Letter to Superintendents and Next Steps Due April 01, 2023

Dear Coordinators,

Please share with other staff as appropriate.  Read this message carefully.

On February 28, 2023, the Office of Civil Rights messaged the public-school Superintendents and Charter School Directors across the nation regarding the SY 2021-2022 CRDC collection.  For your convenience, the message is attached to this email.  If you are unable to receive attachments, visit the recently updated Civil Rights Data Collection page on the NCDPI website.

The letter states that while there is no due date set at this time and no requirements published, we are encouraged to prepare for the upcoming collection.  Also within the letter are instructions to contact CRDC Partner Support with updated CRDC Coordinator contact information. 

There is no need to contact CRDC Partner Support.  NCDPI will prepare the CRDC Coordinator Contact file and the CRDC Universe files for the collection.

Please ensure the following two tasks are complete by April 1, 2023:

• Verifying or updating the CRDC Coordinator contacts are recorded in EDDIE
• As a reminder, all PSUs must have at least one CRDC Coordinator contact in EDDIE.

• Ensuring Section 504 data for SY 2021-2022 been recorded in the Special Programs section of PowerSchool.
• Use the Enrolling Students in a Special Program guide to add student records. 
• PSUs using third party applications for Section 504 will be required submit Section 504 data to the CRDC on their own if a record is not added to PowerSchool.
• Section 504 Designation guidance is provided at the local level.  Please contact the PSU 504 Coordinator with any questions. 

There is no need to run the PowerSchool CRDC Preview Report for this collection.

There is no need to complete the CRDC setup screens in Power School for this collection.

More information will be provided on the collection as it is made available.   

Want information about the CRDC, but are not the CRDC Coordinator contact?  Add your information here:  2122 CRDC – Info Only Contacts List

Please email nc.ocr.crdc@dpi.nc.gov with any questions you may have. 

New Self-Paced PD Courses for Canvas Digital Teaching and Learning is excited to share two new self-paced professional development courses on the LMS, Canvas.   Growing with Canvas - The Growing with Canvas course is a “Level 1” introduction to all things Canvas. Diving Deeper with Canvas - Educators more familiar with the LMS can utilize the Diving Deeper with Canvas course for specific training on personalized learning, feedback, and course design. If you are interested in these PD opportunities, enrollment information can be found in the NCEES Self-Paced PD Guide.

Schoolnet Self-Paced PD Course

The Continuing to Keep It Simple in Schoolnet 24 course is a “Level 1” introduction to all things Schoolnet. If you are interested in this PD opportunity, enrollment information can be found in the NCEES Self-Paced PD Guide. 

Home Base Admin Course  Feedback from PSUs identified a need for resource hubs for the Home Base products. The product managers have created Admin Resource Courses for each area. These resource courses are located in the NCDPI Canvas instance. Please visit these courses.  Below are the steps to enroll:   How to access these resources: Sign in to the Blue Canvas icon within NCEdCloud Using the Global Navigation (on the left), click the Home Base Resources button On the menu that opens, select the course(s) you would like to enroll into After enrolling, the course will appear on your Canvas Dashboard

Access for PSU PowerSchool SIS Admins Any PSU PowerSchool SIS admin who does not have access to the NCDPI “Blue” Canvas located in the NCEdCloud portal and would like to have access or grant access to data managers within their PSU, please complete the form below.  In this form, you can enter up to 5 accounts manually or upload a CSV/Excel file if you have more than 5 account requests.  If you have any questions, please get in touch with Corey McNeill.   Link to Form     Other Information: Feel free to provide feedback on these courses. They all contain a feedback button on their homepage. We will continue to update these courses as more product information becomes available

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Subscribe to Major Events Status Alerts  Click the following link to subscribe to the Major Events Status Alerts and receive notifications of outages, wide-spread performance issues, downtime for maintenance, and high impact application issues that affect all instances. Note:  Notifications will be received for all PSUs in the state and cannot be limited to a single PSU.

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. 

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

Remember to visit the NC SIS website for additional information including webinars and training documentation.  Follow us on twitter @NCHomeBase. 

 NC SIS

 NC Department of Public Instruction

 Education Building, 7th Floor North

 301 North Wilmington Street

 Raleigh, NC 27601

 Email:  home_base@dpi.nc.gov