In This Issue:
- Home Base Opt-in Message
- Digital Leaders Exchange - April 2024
- Parent Portal FERPA Opt-Out QRD's
- Tea w/Tessa Updates
- New sqlReports
- PowerSchool State Reporting Updates
- Reminder: Proper Scheduling in PowerSchool
- Reading Retained Policy Reminder
- National Student Privacy & Data Security Spring Webinar Series
- SUN Bucks (Summer EBT Program)
- Save the Date! - SIS Conference 2024
- 2023-24 Home Base Maintenance Periods
*indicates new article this week
Home Base Opt-in Message
2024-2025 Home Base Opt-in Process is Scheduled to Begin in May
Attention: Home Base Leads,
The NC DTL Home Base Team is preparing to open the 2024-25 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 director/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.
Again this year, PSUs will have the option to opt-into Transcend and/or Navvy at an additional cost. Transcend and Navvy can only be selected as an option if the PSU opts into Home Base. The regular fee for opting into Home Base will remain $1 per allotted ADM. If a PSU elects to opt-into Transcend, there will be an additional $4 per allotted ADM for grades 3 - 8 added to the fee. If a PSU elects to opt into Navvy, there will be an additional $8 per allotted ADM for grades 3-8 added to the fee. Finance officers and charter directors/principals may want to speak with their PSU’s Schoolnet leads prior to making the Home Base Opt-in selections to verify if Transcend and/or Navvy is an additional product they would like to include.
For more information on Transcend and Navvy, visit: https://www.dpi.nc.gov/educators/home-base/opt-home-base
If you have questions concerning the Home Base Opt-in process, please contact Jennifer Causey at jennifer.causey@dpi.nc.gov
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 Digital Leaders Exchange - April 2024
Focus: Leadership & Vision and End of Year Processes
Digital Leaders Exchange is a combination of our former Home Base Meetups and Regional Technology Directors Meetings. We will be coming to a location near you soon! In April, there will be 2 tracks: One for SIS Coordinators and one for all other participants with content highlighting Leadership & Vision from the Digital Learning Plan and "exchanging" End of Year Processes:
- Goal 1 – A shared vision for digital teaching and learning is established and communicated with all stakeholders.
- Goal 2 – Effectively plan and implement action steps to carry out the shared vision.
We will meet from 9:00 AM - 4:00 PM and lunch will be catered. Register for a date & location that best fits your schedule.
Visit the DTL Hub to learn more
Registration: http://go.ncdpi.gov/April24DLERegistration
Review our Agenda HERE.
Parent Portal FERPA Opt-Out QRDs
There has been some recent confusion around the parent portal FERPA Opt-Out screen in PowerSchool. This screen was updated last year to lock for parents after submitting answers. This update was due to parents changing answers throughout the year and schools not being notified of these changes. This was previously communicated, but we wanted to share this information again w/the QRDs. Please review the QRDs below to understand better how this screen functions in the admin and parent portals.
This will also be covered in the SIS DLE updates in April.
Parent Portal FERPA Opt-Out Screen QRDs:
Tea w/ Tessa Updates
Tea with Tessa is being restructured
- Meetings will no longer be regional. They will be reformatted to an open forum for all SIS coordinators to ensure everyone gets the same information.
- They will be twice per month. Typically, the first week and the third week of the month.
- Each session will have a registration link. This will help ensure communication with any reschedules or cancellations.
- Dates and times are posted to the DPI site with registration links. https://www.dpi.nc.gov/educators/home-base/current-professional-learning#Tab-PowerSchool-4891
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New sqlReports
New SQL Reports have been added under the Data Audit Reports folder in each PSU. Some are informational; however, you may find incorrect data in those that you need to update. Each PSU should now have the following reports listed under the Data Audits folder in sqlReports in PowerSchool.
Navigation: Start Page > sqlReports > Data Audits
PowerSchool State Reporting Updates
Navigate to Reports > State Reports (run and approve at school level and final approval at PSU level)
- Spring School Start-Time and End-Time Report Due March 1
- Spring LCS - Due April 30
- February payroll file loaded into PS March 6
- Data snapshot as of Feb 29
- Use Unofficial report to review data as of last month
- Spring AIG Headcount - Due April 30
- In-Filed Out-of-Filed (IOF) - This report has been removed from PowerSchool
Reminder: Proper Scheduling in PowerSchool
Student and Teacher schedules in PowerSchool should reflect their real-life schedule as closely as possible. Improper scheduling in PowerSchool can cause errors in reporting numbers on state reports, legislative data, and school report cards (as shown below).
A teacher can only be in one place at a time. Therefore, teachers should only be scheduled into one section during the same period and term. Doing so will skew the class size averages, as shown below.
Note: This is not concerning combo classes.
Reading Retained Policy Reminder
The “Retention - Reading” label should not be used for students at the end of kindergarten, first, or second grade. The “Retained-Reading” label should only be set in PowerSchool in the following circumstances:
- Third graders who were non-proficient in reading only and retained in a third grade class.
- Third graders who were non-proficient in reading only, promoted to the 4th grade through the End-of-Year process, and placed in a 3/4 transition class should have their promotion status updated with the “Retention - Reading” label.
- Third graders who were non-proficient in reading only, promoted to the 4th grade through the End-of-Year process, and placed in a 4th-grade accelerated class should have their promotion status updated with the “Retention - Reading” label.
Students who demonstrate third-grade reading proficiency during summer reading camp should have the “Retention - Reading” label removed at the end of the summer.
Please see the updated Quick Reference Document for the full guidance.
National Student Privacy & Data Security Spring Webinar Series
Register for the National Student Privacy & Data Security Spring Webinar Series!
The Student Privacy Policy Office (SPPO), through its Privacy Technical Assistance Center (PTAC), is pleased to offer a three-day virtual webinar series on student privacy and data security. The webinar series will provide the education community with opportunities to learn more about the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), data security, data breach preparedness and response, transparency, and more. Register at the links below.
· Day 1: FERPA 101 and Data Security Best Practices, April 10, 2024, 2-4pm ET covers the basics of FERPA and provides training on current data security best practices for education data systems.
· Day 2: FERPA 201 and Transparency, April 17, 2024, 2-4pm ET dives into scenarios faced by schools and districts and highlights PTAC’s research on transparency.
· Day 3: Incident Response and Vetting Educational Technology, April 24, 2024, 2-4pm ET leads participants through a simulated data breach and explores how to assess online educational technology for privacy protections and general FERPA compliance.
SUN Bucks (Summer EBT Program)
Click here to view the SUN Bucks flyer.
KEY SUN BUCKS INFORMATION FOR SIS COORDINATORS
BACKGROUND: North Carolina is running the SUN Bucks program (also known as Summer EBT) for the first time in 2024. SUN Bucks will provide grocery-buying benefits to qualifying families with school-aged children during the summer months when schools are on summer break. Student enrollment data collected and recorded at the local level for schools participating in the National School Lunch Program will help determine whether a child is eligible, and where their SUN Bucks benefits card will be sent. While SUN Bucks sounds a lot like Pandemic EBT (P-EBT), there are some key differences:
Pandemic EBT (P-EBT):
School Data Requests:
- Monthly data pulls through school year and during summer (10+ data pulls)
- Onerous, detailed asks of the schools (e.g., special attendance coding, detailed attendance records, attendance updates, attendance thresholds)
USDA Guidance: Frequent changes to USDA Guidance and program expansions; open only to FRP-approved NSLP students.
Sun BUCKS 2024:
Simplified School Data Requests:
- 2 data pulls as part of normal operations and one final data pull at the end-of-school year/start of summer
- Data is part of “normal” school data collection and reporting
- Attendance-level data is not needed.
USDA Guidance: Established rules for the program with some operational flexibilities for 2024; CEP students will have to apply to be certified; non-NSLP students can be eligible.
WHAT NC DHHS / NC DPI NEEDS FROM SIS COORDINATORS:
- DPI will be pulling aggregate school enrollment data on April 1, which will encompass all data up through March 31. The mailing addresses in this data will be used to mail benefit cards to students who are automatically eligible for SUN Bucks. DPI and DHHS are messaging to families to make sure their mailing addresses are updated with their school before the end of March. If the student record has no mailing address, the physical address will be used.
NC’s ASK: Please ensure that all mailing address change requests are logged into PowerSchool / your data system before March 31.
- DPI will be pulling a final set of aggregate data at the end of the school year (first week in June). Because some schools end in May, and some end in June, North Carolina has defined “end of the school year” to be any day in May for the purposes of this program.
NC’s ASK:
- If your school ends in May, please pull your data on your last day of school, or on / before June 3 (whichever is more convenient).
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If your school ends in June or later, please pull your data on Monday, June 3.
If you or your team have any questions about the SUN Bucks program, please direct questions to DCFW.SUNBUCKS@dhhs.nc.gov.
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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.
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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
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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 follow these steps:
- Log into my.ncedcloud.org
- Find the Blue Canvas icon and click to launch it.
- Agree to the Canvas use policy question and Blue Canvas will open.
If you have any questions, please contact Rebecca Stokes.
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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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.
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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
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