Topics in this issue:
- Home Base Maintenance Window - July 2024*
- Welcome Back!*
- EDDIE File Update*
- Stored Grades Process Update*
- PowerSchool Student Transfers*
- ECATS Beginning-of-Year (BOY) Process*
- Data Conversion and Address Validation
- OCR/CRDC - SY2023-2024 PowerSchool SQL Reports Available
- 2024-2025 Home Base Maintenance Periods*
- The Home Base Opt-in Process is Open!
- Save the Date! - SIS Conference 2024
*indicates new article this week
Home Base Maintenance Window -
July 2024*
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Due to the global outage caused by the Crowdstrike update this past weekend, PowerSchool maintenance did not occur as expected on July 19 - 20, 2024. The previously planned PowerSchool maintenance window will now take place this coming weekend July 26th.
PowerSchool will be unavailable starting on Friday, July 26th, at 6 p.m., with an anticipated return to service no later than Saturday, July 27th, at 10 a.m. The application will be accessible to all users once the maintenance is complete.
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Welcome Back!*
Dear North Carolina K-12 Leaders,
As the Director of Digital Teaching and Learning, it is my pleasure to welcome you to the start of another exciting school year! I hope you found some time to rest this summer and are recharged for the journey ahead.
We are entering a year filled with opportunities for growth, innovation, and meaningful engagement throughout our schools. The integration of NCSIS and other resources in our educational practices continues to be a cornerstone in enhancing student learning experiences. Our goal is to support you in harnessing the power of technology to create dynamic and interactive learning environments that cater to the diverse needs of our students.
This year, we are thrilled to introduce several new initiatives designed to support and empower you:
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Professional Development Workshops: We will be offering a series of workshops and webinars focused on the latest trends in digital education, effective use of learning management systems, and strategies for integrating technology into your curriculum.
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Resource Hub: Our new and improved Digital Teaching and Learning Resource Hub will provide you with access to a wealth of instructional materials, lesson plans, and best practices from educators across the state. (www.dpi.nc.gov/dtl)
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NCSIS Support and Training: Our dedicated team of professional learning consultant staff are here to assist you through the implementation process whether you are in Phase I or II, we’ve got you covered. Full professional development plan with dates are located by clicking HERE.
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Digital Leaders Exchanges: Join us as we continue to grow together through our professional learning communities to connect with fellow edtech leaders, SIS leaders, share experiences, and collaborate on innovative projects. Full calendar can be viewed by clicking HERE.
Your commitment to providing high-quality education is the driving force behind our efforts. Together, we can leverage our partnerships to inspire and engage our students, preparing them for a future where digital literacy is paramount.
Thank you for your dedication and passion. Here’s to a successful and transformative school year ahead!
Warm regards,
Matthew Mayo
Director of Digital Teaching and Learning
North Carolina Department of Public Instruction
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EDDIE File Update*
The EDDIE file ingested by PowerSchool has been updated by DPI to refeinclude the new remote charter academies that started this year. The file name has changed, and PowerSchool is working on updating the process with the new file name. We anticipate this update being complete by the end of the week.
It has also been brought to our attention that grade levels are not updating correctly in PowerSchool. This is not intended functionality and PowerSchool is investigating the cause. We hope to have a resolution for this soon. If you need a grade level added for a school in your instance, please submit a case to PowerSchool support.
Stored Grades Process Update*
Changes have been made to the Permanently Store Grades process in PowerSchool for the 24-25 school year to help PSUs correctly enter, store, and update students' grades.
To keep you informed and prepared for the 24-25 school year, the Permanently Store Grades QRD has been updated to reflect these changes.
When storing a final grade (F1), you can be confident that the options for store methods and the percentage of course credit will be automatically updated, ensuring the accuracy and efficiency of the process.
When F1 is entered as the Historical Store Code, the only available store methods are Do not store and Store with credit. If the Store with credit option is chosen the % of course credit field will automatically populate with 100%, and cannot be modified.
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 When a Historical Store Code other than F1 is entered, the only options in the drop-down under Store are Do not store or Store with no credit.
 Additionally, under the Advanced Potential and Earned Credit Options the only option available for storing grades will be Store both Potential and Earned Credit.
PowerSchool Student Transfers*
Student Transfers in PowerSchool from Phase I Schools to Phase II Schools
Since PowerSchool returned to service post-EOY, NCDPI has been working with PowerSchool to run scripts in all Phase I PowerSchool instances to close them out. These scripts included transferring all students' records out as no-show records with an exit comment of “Infinite Campus.” This will allow Phase II PSUs still using PowerSchool SIS to transfer in the students' records.
We are pleased to announce that as of July 12, 2024, all students have been successfully transferred out of Phase I PSU PowerSchool Instances, and their records are now ready for transfer into Phase II PSUs.
It is important to note that student records in the inactive Phase 1 PowerSchool instances will remain available for transfer to active Phase 2 PowerSchool instances throughout the year. If a student transfers to your PSU from a Phase 1 PSU, it is your responsibility to not only pull in the student's historical records from PowerSchool, but also update the most recent enrollment from the prior PSU to reflect the correct entry and exit dates. You may need to contact the student's prior Phase 2 PSU to ask for this information.
For students who move between Phase I and Phase II schools multiple times during the year, only the enrollment record created at EOY will be maintained. Therefore, students moving from a Phase I PSU must be treated as an out-of-state transfer for subsequent enrollments, and data must be manually entered. We know there will be enrollment record gaps throughout the year as PSUs cannot recreate enrollment records for a Phase I PSU when transferring records. This is okay; we are working on resolving this when Phase II PSUs move to Infinite Campus.
The Student UID System can be checked to determine whether a student record has been moved between Phase I and II PSUs. When a student is enrolled in Infinite Campus for the first time, the UID System will be updated to reflect a “Source System” of “IC,” and the user creating the update is “ic-studentws” as shown in the screenshot below.
ECATS Beginning-of-Year (BOY) Process*
The ECATS Beginning-of-Year (BOY) process began on Monday, July 22. Due to the Student Information System (SIS) implementation of Infinite Campus for Phase I PSUs, this year’s BOY process is a little different. Please carefully review the information below.
Phase II (PowerSchool PSUs)
Data loading for the 2024-2025 school year has begun. This includes new students and updated PowerSchool data. Files will return to their normal load schedules once the initial loads take place. We expect this process to take approximately one week, and a communication will be sent once it is complete.
Please note that 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 2023-2024 Exit Count and these students will no longer appear active in ECATS.
Phase I (Infinite Campus PSUs)
Data loading for the 2024-2025 school year has begun, but this process will take longer than for Phase II PSUs.
PSUs and staff are being ingested now. If staff are new to an existing school and they are set up appropriately in UID, then staff should appear in ECATS. If their school is new, staff will not appear until the completion of BOY for Phase I PSUs.
To prepare users for a smooth transfer of data, a crosswalk has been prepared on the NCDPI website at ECATS: PowerSchool to IC Crosswalk. During the new NC SIS implementation, this page will be updated as any changes necessitate. Please bookmark it as a reference.
Please watch for additional communication about Phase I PSUs and the ECATS BOY process.
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Data Conversion and Address Validation
Address verification and validation are critical for the data conversion in Infinite Campus. As PSUs work to clean up addresses, they should collaborate with the transportation department to ensure the address changes won’t disrupt the current bus route information.
When updated student information is loaded into the school bus routing system, any change in street address will remove a student from their bus route pending reassignment. Please coordinate closely with the transportation department to minimize disruption and use valid County GIS map addresses. Google Maps, OpenStreetMap, and other consumer mapping applications are more likely to provide invalid addresses in most PSUs.
OCR/CRDC - SY2023-2024 PowerSchool SQL Reports Available
Dear Coordinators,
Please inform other staff as appropriate. This message is regarding the CRDC collection for SY2023-2024.
Note: PSUs that were not open in the school year 2023-2024 are not required to participate in this collection.
PowerSchool CRDC SQL Reports for CRDC SY23-24
Current Year CRDC SQL reports have been added to PowerSchool. The report names begin with ‘CY’. These SQL reports have been updated to pull data from the 2023-2024 school year in preparation for the SY23-24 Civil Rights Data Collection. NCDPI recommends running and saving these SQL reports before EOY.
Important Note 1: The ‘CY’ CRDC SQL reports will only be accurate if run in the 2023-2024 school year in PowerSchool.
Important Note 2: The CRDC Reports that do not begin with ‘CY are only accurate for the SY21-22 collection and must be run in the PowerSchool 22-23 School Year.
CRDC SY2023-2024 Submission Dates Tentatively Scheduled
The next CRDC is tentatively scheduled to open in December 2024. Superintendents across the nation were messaged by the OCR during May informing them of the upcoming collection. All entities open in school year 2023-2024 will be required to submit data. When they have been updated, Partner Support at the federal level will publish updated LEA and School forms specific to the SY23-24 collection. Until the updated forms are published, it is recommended that PSUs use the SY22-23 documentation as their guideline for the collection. For more information, please visit the CRDC Communities website.
CRDC SY2023-2024 and Data Collected by NCDPI
Questions in SY21-22 that were optional will be required in CRDC SY23-24. NCDPI will collect and submit to the Federal Submission Tool the data available as identified in the document ‘CRDC 2021-2022 Collection by Entity ‘ located in The CRDC Canvas course. CRDC content in Canvas will be updated once information is available from the federal level.
Please email nc.ocr.crdc@dpi.nc.gov with any questions you may have.
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2024-2025 Home Base Maintenance Periods*
Each year, a list of scheduled maintenance windows is 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 2024-2025 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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The Home Base Opt-in Process is Open
The NC Department of Public Instruction is pleased to announce that the Home Base Opt-in Process is now open. Click on the following link to see the full announcement and share with the appropriate staff: hb_pricing_memo 2024-25.
Note: Only finance officers and charter directors/principals should opt-in for their PSU.
Please visit the NCDPI Home Base Opt-in Website for detailed information concerning the Home Base Opt-in Process. Questions may be directed to jennifer.causey@dpi.nc.gov or home_base@dpi.nc.gov.
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Save the Date! - SIS Conference 2024
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 X: @ncdpidtl
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