Districts and Charter Schools,
 
Please forward this E-lert to your school-level stakeholders. We often have enrollment information for counselors, grades for data managers, tips for lab facilitators, announcements for testing coordinators, and strategies for school leaders, all of whom support your district's and school's e-learning efforts. If you are having difficulty viewing this email, you may view it as a web page here.
NCVPS E-lert - Feb. 8, 2018 - Spring Edition III (Last Day to Drop/Add - Feb. 9)
CalendarCheck
Calendar Check
Spring 2018 Dates

Start: Jan. 29, 2018
Drop/Add: Feb. 9, 2018
Last Day: June 1, 2018

See our calendar for progress report dates. We post updates every two weeks throughout the semester. 
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Current E-lert News
Greetings!
We posted our Day-7 Student Status report on Wednesday, Feb. 7. Please review that report as you make your final drops and adds.

Friday, Feb. 9 is our last day to drop and add students.

New Updates


Important Information







Thank you, and have a wonderful week!
EarlyStartEarly Calendar Returning - Survey
NCVPS is restarting its Early Calendar program to meet the needs of the growing number of North Carolina schools that open on an early calendar.  We are rebranding the calendar as "Early Start" to eliminate the "EC" confusion with the Exceptional Children's program.
 
Our teaching pool is not yet large enough to offer our entire catalog on the Early Start calendar, so we would like to survey schools to determine what their most pressing enrollment needs are for Early Start enrollment.  
 
If a school begins its fall semester before August 15, they are a good fit for our Early Start courses.  If a school begins after August 15, they should enroll in our traditional calendar courses.
 
If you are an early start school, please complete the Early Start Survey for us, and we will post our Early Start course offerings for 2018-2019 school year in March on the NCVPS website and in the registration system.  
SpringUpdatesSpring 2018 Updates

Remember to give students their usernames and passwords. NCVPS does not send login details to students. You can access login details for students by running an enrollment report in our registration system.  

If a student's login does not work on the first day of class, here are the troubleshooting steps for students:
  1. Be sure that you have your correct username and password. Your school will issue you this login information. NCVPS does not issue usernames and passwords.
  2. NCVPS uses Canvas for its learning management system. Many schools and districts also use Canvas. NCVPS has its own Canvas login web address. Be sure you are logging in to your NCVPS courses at this link: https://ncvps.instructure.com/login/canvas/
  3. If this is your first time logging in, confirm with your e-learning advisor (ELA) that you are enrolled and not waitlisted.
  4. If you were just registered today, it will take 24 hours to get access.
  5. If you had an NCVPS class before in Canvas, and you changed your password, then that is the password that you will need to use.
  6. If you still cannot log in, open a ticket with our  Virtual Support Center. Be sure to include your name, PowerSchool ID number, school, and course that you're trying to log in to.
  7. If your password has worked before, but you have forgotten it, use the "Forgot Password" feature on the Canvas login page. This will work if you have your correct email address identified in the course settings.

Jan. 29 - Classes Begin
Feb. 1 - Day-3 Student Status Report Posted in the Registration System
Feb. 7 - Day-7 Student Status Report Posted in the Registration System
Feb. 9 - Last Day to Drop or Add Students


Registration for Spring 2018 will close after Friday, Feb. 9. We will still have a number of options for schools after Feb. 9; however, please be aware of funding limitations.  

Credit Recovery: Credit recovery enrollment will remain open until March 29, 2018. Schools can continue to enroll in credit recovery courses that have open seats. See funding limitations.    

OCS: Schools can continue to enroll in existing OCS sections throughout the semester. We cannot open new OCS sections after Feb. 9. 

1/2 Credit Health and 1/2 Credit PE Courses: Registration for our 2nd 9-week health courses will remain open until April 13, 2018.   See funding limitations .  

Transfer Students: After Feb. 9, we will begin accepting transfers for students who meet our transfer criteria. Transfer students must already be enrolled in a traditional course at the school with an instructor AND have a grade to transfer in with. We will have more details on this next week. We are able to accept transfer students through March 29, 2018.   See funding limitations .  

Flex Learning: Our Flex Learning courses help students who have a special or hardship situation. If any of the above options work for a student, you will need to use those options, but when you are out of options,  check out our  Flex Learning page  for enrollment information.  See funding limitations.
GradesGrade Reporting
 
  CurrentPostedGrades What Grades Are Currently Posted?

Feb. 7  - Day 7 Status Report for Spring 2018 Posted


Feb. 15 - Progress Reports Posted in Registration System

Reporting Overview

 
See how your students are progressing! We post progress reports every two weeks in the registration system. These are unweighted grades.



Only our final grade report is a weighted grade report. 



NCVPS posts student status reports after the third and seventh days of class. These reports indicate if students have logged in or not to their NCVPS courses. These reports are early warning indicators for schools.


NewCalendar2018-2019 Dates Set
We have our calendar dates set for next year. 

We are restarting our  Early  Calendar program to meet the needs of the growing number of North Carolina schools that have an early start to the school year.   We are rebranding the calendar as " Early   Start " to eliminate the "EC" confusion with the Exceptional Children's program. We will survey early start schools in the coming weeks to determine what courses they most need. Be on the lookout for that survey in a future e-lert.  

Key Dates

Semester
Summer 2018
Early Start Fall 2018
Traditional Fall 2018
Early Start Spring 2019
Traditional Spring 2019
Start
June 18
Aug. 13
Aug. 27
Jan. 7
Jan. 28
Drop/Add
June 29
Aug. 24
Sept. 10
Jan. 18
Feb. 8
End
Aug. 10
Dec. 14
Jan. 11
May 10
May 1


See our Calendar Page on the web.  
FlexReportingFlex Learning Grade Reporting
Flex Learning teachers update the same progress reports as traditional teachers. Progress reports show Flex Learning in the title of the report like this:  


Flex Learning, however, has its own final grade report.  Once a student has finished his or her Flex Learning course, the teacher will update the progress report with a comment that student is done with the course.  The teacher will also notify the ELA that the student has finished the course. 

However, Flex Learning has its own final grade report. Flex Learning will use one final grade report for the academic school year, and it will be updated every two weeks as students complete their Flex Learning courses.  The Final Flex Learning report will look like this in our registration system:


The NCVPS teacher cannot send the final grade by email. After the teacher notifies the ELA that the student has completed the course, the ELA can wait for next Flex Learning final grade report to be posted (within two weeks) or open a help ticket with our Virtual Support Center.  In the ticket, the ELA should indicate that the NCVPS teacher said the Flex student has finished his or her course, and the school needs the final grade. Be sure to include the student's name, PowerSchool ID number, course, teacher, and your school's name. We can send grades back to you through the secured support center.  
SpringTransfersSpring Transfers, Late Adds for Credit Recovery, and Flex Enrollments
For Spring 2018, NCVPS will begin to limit the number of enrollments into its FLEX Learning program and students who transfer into NCVPS courses.


In February each year, NCVPS provides enrollment numbers to DPI Financial and Business Services (FBS) to "sure-up" the funding for each district and charter. Any enrollment after the sure-up is paid out of available NCVPS instructional funding.  FLEX Learning and transfer student enrollments often occur after after "sure-up" and will be limited for Spring 2108 due to funding constraints.  


FLEX Learning is for those students who need a flexible working time. FLEX Learning is not for early calendar enrollments.   NCVPS provides a Pre-Learning document for students to use while waiting on NCVPS courses to begin. Once the enrollment period for the traditional calendar courses ends, on February 9, 2018 , the only enrollments for FLEX Learning will be those special situations as only limited completion time will be available since the Spring semester ends on June 1, 2018 .    


Transfer students are those that are already enrolled in a traditional instructor-led course at their base school and have a grade to transfer into their NCVPS course.  Because of the limitations of funding after "sure-up," only seniors  will be considered for transfer enrollments and late adds for credit recovery.


The funding limitations will not impact Occupational Course of Study enrollments.  

We encourage our schools to look at students who may need NCVPS courses and to enroll these students into the Spring semester that begins on January 29, 2018 . If students need to end courses early because of specific school calendars, NCVPS teachers will work with those students.

We appreciate your partnership in expanding the educational opportunities for the students of North Carolina. If you have questions or need assistance,  please call the main office at 919-513-8550 or submit a support ticket to the NCVPS Support Center, www.help.ncvps.org .
DownloadAppDownload the NCVPS App!
NCVPS has a new free app developed by  School Info App, which is recognized by District Administration Magazine as one of the Top 100 school applications in 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016. Download the app in the Google Play and iTunes stores. Search for "NCVPS" to find the app in either store.

Current app features allow users to do the following:
  • Receive calendar and news notifications
  • Have quick access to course catalogs, online learning tools, and important documents
  • Translate messages to 30+ languages
  • See NCVPS social media posts
  • Follow specific teacher announcements
The app is not required for students or teachers. However, some of our teachers will be using the app as an additional way to contact students. We already have a few early adopters.  iKeepSafe has certified the app for COPPA, CSPC, and FERPA compliance; although, no account is necessary to receive announcements or notifications from teachers or the staff.

New features and additional capacity will be added throughout the year.

We hope to see you in the app and look forward to your feedback!
NCVPS Resources
CultureCafeNCVPS Culture Cafe




February 2018 Dates

Roman Marriage
When: February 12th
Time: 7:00 PM
Presenter: Mary Stevens and Frank Williams

Around the Spanish Speaking World - Cuba
When: February 15th
Time: 9:00 PM
Presenter: SeƱora Odom 

Chinese Zodiac Signs w/ NC State's Confucius Center
When: February 23rd
Time: 4:30 PM
Presenter:  Dr. Yangling Yu

TechUpdatesTech Updates
HelpDeskEmailIssuesHelp Desk Issues with Certain Emails


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Password Reset

If you have had your password reset through the Virtual Support Center, the new password will not expire unless you have reset it again. Occasionally, multiple people will request a student's password to be reset (i.e. the student, ELA, lab facilitator, and/or parent), so the password is reset multiple times. This, of course, causes confusion.  It's always best if only one person requests a password reset for a student. 

If you have forgotten what your password was reset to, you can look up the help desk ticket to access the new password or click on "Forgot Password" on the course login page.

Students should make sure that NCVPS teachers have their correct email addresses, and those email addresses should be confirmed in our Canvas learning management system. This will allow students to receive messages from their teachers and peers in the course forum.

Here's how to confirm student email addresses in Canvas:

Click on "settings" on your name in the upper right side of your course.
Click on "Add Email Address" under Ways to Contact on the right of screen.
Add your correct email if Canvas is not displaying your correct email.  
Click on "Register email."
Click the star next to your correct email address. 
 
 
For additional information, please see our Tech Requirements:
http://ncvps.org/technology-requirements 
North Carolina Virtual Public School
1017 Main Campus Drive, Partners I Bldg., 
SUITE 3900, Raleigh, NC 27606
Phone:   919-513-8550    |  Fax:   919-513-2557  |