REMINDER: Read to Achieve Reading Camp Attendance

Districts are required to document daily attendance for all students enrolled in Reading Camp on a digital spreadsheet. We have provided a link to a sample template for use if your district does not have anything in place. This sample template is a forced copy so it can be edited as needed to fit the needs of your district. It is essential that daily attendance is collected accurately for each student to be shared with Reading Camp Administrators at the end of Reading Camp. 

At the end of Reading Camp, Site Administrators will enter each student’s data into a Student Program within PowerSchool including the beginning and ending dates of Reading Camp, as well as the total number of days attended for each student. 

Home Base has provided specific instructions to capture reading camp attendance for Site Administrators below. 

In PowerSchool:

Start Page > Student Selection > Student Program

NC - Summer School - RTA

1. Enter in the beginning date of Reading Camp and enter in the ending date of Reading Camp.

2. Enter in the total number of days students attended in the days present field.

Click here to view the QRD for enrolling students into a Student Program.

Please work with your PS Data Manager/Coordinator in your PSU for assistance or complete a work ticket with PowerSchool.

Join us at NCBOLD!

The division of Digital Teaching and Learning (DTL) is excited to announce its new iteration of NCBOLD for this summer.  Previously NCBOLD had been a virtual professional learning opportunity for public school educators throughout North Carolina.  

Realizing the importance of high quality, face to face professional learning, DTL will offer an all day digital teaching and learning conference in each of the educational regions throughout our state.  NCBOLD has recruited current, practicing educators with a proven track record of delivering high quality and innovative professional learning tied to the Digital Learning Competencies for teachers, education leaders, students, and coaches.  These NCBOLD ambassadors will create and execute innovative sessions that will allow practicing educators to effectively integrate digital teaching and learning in their classrooms.  Attendees can earn up to 0.7 CEUs for each day’s attendance.  A complimentary lunch will be provided each day.

Learn more about the sessions being offered by reviewing our #NCBOLD Guide at https://bit.ly/ncbold23guide.   Registration is open.  Be sure to follow us on social media with #ncbold.  Educators may choose to attend any site and can attend multiple days (please register separately for each site). 

ECATS Beginning-of-Year (BOY) Process

ECATS Beginning-of-Year (BOY) process is in progress. Data for the 2023-2024 school year is being loaded including new students and updated PowerSchool data. Files will return to their normal load schedules once the initial loads take place. 

Please be aware that student data transfers will take longer than usual due to the number of transfers occurring at the beginning of the school year.

In addition, the process to update graduation data in ECATS will occur after the August deadline for entry of graduation data into PowerSchool. Once this file is processed, students who have graduated will be exited in ECATS. After that point, districts will be able to select the Modified Exit Reason in ECATS for the 2022-2023 Exit Count and these students will no longer appear active in ECATS.

Has your PSU Opted into Home Base?

The NC Department of Public Instruction is pleased to announce that the Home Base Opt-in Process is now open.  Finance officers and charter school directors/principals may begin opting into Home Base for their PSU. Click on the following link to see the full announcement and share with the appropriate staff: hb_pricing_memo 2023-24.

Note:  Only finance officers and charter directors/principals should opt-in for their PSU.

This year, PSUs have the option of opting into Navvy, a Pearson computer-adaptive interim assessment add-on for Schoolnet.  Navvy both formatively assesses and tracks standard-by-standard learning to provide immediate, actionable results to correctly inform personalized instruction. Navvy is made available to grades 3 – 8 for Reading and Math at an additional cost of $8 per ADM. If you have any questions about Navvy, please contact Rebecca Stokes.

Please visit the NCDPI Home Base Opt-in Website for detailed information concerning the Home Base Opt-in Process.  Questions may be directed to home_base@dpi.nc.gov or Jennifer Causey

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.

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
• **Click on the new SIS Conference icon on the home page to access the SIS Conference 2022 Presentations.

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.

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