NC SIS Weekly Email Bulletin
Topics in this issue:
- Regional Chats*
- ALOT Report*
- PowerSchool November State Reporting Reminders*
- Student Contact Transfers*
- Powerschool Upgrade 23.8*
- Admin Staff Username and Password Issue - RESOLVED*
- X & Y Course Code Needs*
- Guarding Privacy: Why PII Should Never Be Shared via Email
- Enhanced Health Module
- Discipline Code Updates
- Special Programs Enrollment Now Available for PRC 188 and 189
- SparkNC Module Course Coding
- Save the Date! - SIS Conference 2024
- Has your PSU Opted into Home Base?
- PSU Home Base Contact Updates for the 2023-2024 SY
- 2023-24 Home Base Maintenance Periods
Always available:
1. Webinars, Recordings and Trainings
New Self-Paced PD Courses for Canvas
Schoolnet Self-Paced PD Course
Home Base Admin Course
2. NCDPI Technology Support Center
3. Follow Us on Social Media
*indicates new article this week
 |
|
Regional Chats
Mark your calendars. Regional Chats are back starting Nov. 6!
Join Tessa and the Home Base SIS team for Tea with Tessa.
A series of regional open forum virtual sessions for SIS Coordinators to join and receive updates, as well as openly share feedback, concerns, and network with other SIS Coordinators in your regions.
Please bookmark the below link and join us during the time designated for your region. Information for the chats is listed under the “PowerSchool” tab. Registration is not necessary. Follow the link below to join the Teams meeting on the designated date and time.
https://www.dpi.nc.gov/educators/home-base/current-professional-learning#powerschool
If you are unsure of your region, you can view a map of the regions here:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1TIAChi3cO4dJSWNPRUViLCliID9gGn1C/view?usp=sharing
|
ALOT Report
School Allotment Child Count Transfer (ALOT) Due November 10
This report is to track the movement of EC students transferring from an LEA to a Charter or vice versa or Charter to Charter. Transfers are counted during the first 60 days of school including holidays and weekends. The report should include any students that have transferred during the interval collection period.
Please submit a case to PowerSchool support if you are experiencing any technical issues with running the report.
The NCDPI business owner and contact for School Allotment Child Count Transfer (ALOT) is Kristie Weber Kristie.Weber@dpi.nc.gov Please reach out to Kristie for any policy questions.
Coming soon: Allotment Report FAQ from the business
PowerSchool November State Reporting Reminders
Navigate to Reports > State Reports (run and approve at school level and final approval at district level)
 |
|
Student Contact Transfers
After further investigation and discussion with PowerSchool support, NCDPI has determined the optional function for a PSU to choose whether Student Contacts transfer or not is still broken. NCDPI is continuing to test this functionality and work with the vendor on a resolution.
|
PowerSchool Upgrade 23.8
SIS Upgrade Updates
Reminder: Please review the following resources regarding updates to the SIS.
- September SIS Digital Leader Exchange slides. http://bit.ly/SIS_Sept2023
- PowerSchool Insider videos: https://help.powerschool.com/t5/Insider-Videos/Insider-Index/ta-p/58564
- The PowerSchool Release notes for versions 22.12.x - 23.8 are available in your PowerSchool instance under the System Help icon in the upper right corner.
- Click the ? icon in the upper right corner of the page
- Click the version selection menu and select 23.8
- From the left menu, expand the release notes for 22.x and 23.x
|
|
 |
 Disregard any release notes that reference the new PowerSchool UI (User Interface) as NC will not be enabling it at this time due to the testing and modifications that will need to be made to NC customizations.
NCDPI is aware of the following post-upgrade issues:
- Admin Username and Password updates not saving - Fix in QA (see message below)
- Issue with Destiny/Follett Remote Connection - Resolved
- Final Grade/Reporting Term screen does not appear correctly after the upgrade - Resolved
If your PSU is experiencing PowerSchool issues, submit a case to PowerSchool support
Admin Staff Username and Password Issue - RESOLVED
Admin Username and Password Updates in PowerSchool
After the PowerSchool upgrade to 23.8, NCDPI was made aware that updates to the Admin Username and Password on the Admin Access and Roles tab would not save.
Navigation: Select Staff > Security Settings > Admin Access and Roles tab.
The resolution for this is currently being tested and we hope to have the fix implemented in production by the end of this week.
Once we implement the fix, the custom User Credentials screen will remain in production temporarily - for about a week.
We will send out a communication with further details once this fix has been implemented in all instances.
X and Y Course Code Needs
Proper Course Code Usage - Middle School and High School
PSUs need to ensure that students enrolled in middle school courses that count toward a high school graduation requirement must have a "Y" in the course code not an "X" in the sixth digit. The "Y" in the sixth digit signifies the course is offered in middle school and is the proper code to use. Middle school courses that count toward a high school graduation requirement per SBE policy, CCRE-001, do not count in class rank or GPA.
The NCDPI Course Code Committee, which comprises staff from across the agency, has developed a comprehensive resource for the field, NCDPI Course Code Manual. This manual, loaded with detailed course information, combines the Course Code Guidance document with many of the other available resources regarding course codes.
If you have questions or comments regarding any information in the NCDPI Course Code Manual, please contact the Home Base Team at Home_Base@dpi.nc.gov.
Guarding Privacy: Why PII Should Never Be Shared via Email
Please be cognizant when sending emails and attachments that contain student PII. Attachments and screenshots of student records in emails should have identifiable information blurred out.
Sharing personally identifiable information (PII) in email poses a significant privacy risk, as emails can be intercepted or hacked, leading to unauthorized access to sensitive data. Moreover, email recipients can inadvertently forward or share these messages, potentially exposing the information to a wider audience. To protect students’ privacy and comply with FERPA requirements, it's crucial to collect, share, and store personal information securely, outside of email communication. For information about how to share PII securely, please see the Best Practices for Handling Personally Identifiable Information document on the NCDPI Research Data Request site.
|
Enhanced Health Module
The New Enhanced Health Module is live in PowerSchool!
SIS coordinators, school nurses, counselors, social workers, and psychologists will be able to access the new NC customized electronic health record system within the Statewide Student Information System (SIS).
Please remember access to this module should be limited and controlled. SIS coordinators will need to modify security group settings to ensure only the necessary staff have access to this module within the SIS.
Please see the attached education documents, created by the PowerSchool training team, which provide instructions on setup and recording student information in the Health Management Module.
Security and Access to the Health Module in PowerSchool was also covered in the SIS presentation at the NC Digital Leader Exchange, September 12 - 21, 2023. Legal and policy resources are also linked in the slides.
The SIS DLE slide deck is linked below for review. Slides 28 - 37 are specific to EHR.
SIS DLE Slide Deck http://bit.ly/SIS_Sept2023
Recorded training sessions will also be made available in the coming weeks in addition to an FAQ with responses to frequent questions from the live training sessions.
SIS coordinators will be the first line of support for functionality issues with the module. Please submit a PowerSchool case should there be any unresolvable functional issues.
For questions regarding nursing documentation standards, please reach out to your regional school health nurse consultant. Regional school health nurse consultant
Note: Some values for Vision Screening are missing. These values will be loaded September 29, 2023, and available in instances no later than Monday October 2, 2023.
Discipline Code Updates
New Behavior and Action Codes
New behavior and action codes for reporting incidents are now available in the PS Incident Management Module. Definitions and guidance on the use of these codes can be found in the 2023-2024 Discipline Data Manual.
Behavior Codes:
- 123: Non-School Related Offense
- 124-UB: Pornographic and/or profane material
- 125-UB: Possession of graphically violent material
- 126-UB: Threat of mass violence
- 127-UB: False threat of mass violence
- 128-Threat of harm to self – Suicide
- 129-Threat of harm to self or others
- 130-Nearby Neighborhood/Community Threat
- 131-RO: Possession of vaping device - CS/THC
- 132-RO: Use of vaping device - CS/THC
- 133-UB: Possession of vaping device – Tobacco
- 134-UB: Use of vaping device - Tobacco
- 135-UB: Possession of vaping device - Cannabinoid
- 136-UB: Use of vaping device - Cannabinoid
- 137-UB: Harassment – Gender identity
Actions Codes:
- 145 Concurrent Incident/Duplicative Action
- 146 School Safety Response Protocol - Hold
- 147 School Safety Response Protocol - Secure
- 148 School Safety Response Protocol - Lockdown
- 149 School Safety Response Protocol - Evacuate
- 150 School Safety Response Protocol - Shelter
Special Programs Enrollment Now Available for PRC 188 and 189
For 2023-2024, we are transitioning to data collection for PRC 188 and 189 within PowerSchool.
As a reminder, you will now input all student participation and attendance for these programs into PowerSchool. You will no longer need to turn in the Student and Staff Participation and Attendance Spreadsheet to the eMFTS server. Please use the following Quick Reference Document for further information.
PRC 189 programs are academic year programs. Therefore, all student data must be entered by June 30, 2024. All data for PRC 188 (Summer Career Accelerator) Programs must be entered by September 30, 2024.
Please Note: If you ran PRC 189 programs during SY22-23, you must still upload your student and staff participation survey to the eMFTS survey by NOVEMBER 2, 2023. Please refer to the guidance document for more information.
If you have questions, please reach out to ARP Administrator, Richard Lewis at Richard.lewis@dpi.nc.gov.
SparkNC Module Course Coding
Public School Units (PSUs) who are using SparkNC modules are to use the course code for local elective credit (96102X0) and title it locally as High-Tech Learning Accelerator.
- It is up to the PSU to determine how and when to schedule the course.
- When a student successfully completes enough modules to earn an elective credit, it is to be entered into the SIS as a “Pass” and will not count in a student’s GPA.
- It is up to the PSU to determine when the student has passed enough modules with sufficient rigor, breadth, and depth to earn a course credit. This may occur across grade-levels.
|
 |
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
|
PSU Home Base Contact Updates for the 2023-2024 SY
We understand that with each new year, comes new personnel to fill those roles. To ensure the right people within your school are receiving the latest information, please visit our Support and Maintenance web page to see who is listed as your district or charter leads.
Contact us at home_base@dpi.nc.gov or jennifer.causey@dpi.nc.gov with needed changes.
|
|
 |
 |
|
2023-24 Home Base Maintenance Periods
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 2023-2024 maintenance schedule and put these dates on your calendar. In most cases, the entire window is not necessary and we can return systems to service earlier than listed. If emergency maintenance is required in addition to these scheduled dates, all users will be notified in advance.
|
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
- **Click on the new SIS Conference icon on the home page to access the SIS Conference 2022 Presentations.
|
.
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)
Submitting a ServiceNow Ticket How to Document
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: @ncdpidtl Facebook: @ndpidtl Twitter: @ncdpidtl
|
NC Department of Public Instruction
Education Building, 3rd Floor North
301 North Wilmington Street
Raleigh, NC 27601
Email: home_base@dpi.nc.gov
|
