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 - May 25, 2017 - Spring Edition XX (Semester Ends/ Math 1 Webinar)
CalendarCheckCalendar Check
Spring 2017

Last Day of Classes
Early Calendar: May 5
Traditional Calendar: May 26

Final Grades Posted
Early Calendar: May 11
Traditional Calendar: June 1

2017 - 2018

Registration Opens: April 3

Summer School: June 18

See our calendar for progress report dates. We post updates every two weeks throughout the semester. 
Essential Links







NCVPS Is Hiring Teachers


Celebrate & Connect

Connect with us on Twitter! Find us here. Tweet to us on Twitter at @ncvps or with the hashtag #ncvps.
E-lert Subscription
If you are not on the E-lert subscription list, but would like to be, please add your name to our list here
Current E-lert News
Greetings!
Greetings, everyone! 

Another semester is almost done! We have important grade information this week, along with details on the next Math 1 Intervention Co-teaching webinar, and a great celebration for the 2017 ELA of the Year!

Check out all the details below!

New Updates







Important Information







In addition, be sure to check out all of our tips and reminders in this week's e- lert .
LastDayClassFriday, May 26 Last Day of Spring 2017
The end is near!

The last day of spring semester is Friday, May 26. This is the last day that students can access their courses.  

If they need a 1 or 2 day extension due to technical difficulties, please contact their teachers directly.  Teachers can help with those situations. If you need a longer extension due to medical reasons, see the details below on requesting course extensions.  These can be for as long as two weeks. 

Final grades with anticipated EOC/CTE scores will be posted in our registration system on Thursday, June 1.

If you have graduating seniors and need early grades for them, contact their teachers directly. They can accommodate those requests for graduating seniors.

Lastly, thank you once again for all the fantastic help this semester! We could not do this with out you, and we seriously mean that!
NartarshiaNartarshia Sharpe Named NCVPS 2017 ELA of the Year!
NCVPS is pleased to announce that Nartarshia Sharpe has been selected as the 2017 NCVPS e-Learning Advisor of the Year. Her leadership and support at Crossroads Flex High School in Wake County have been exemplary. 

Please join us in congratulating her.
Nartarshia has been an educator for twenty-three years. She took the role of ELA last year when Crossroads first opened its doors. She previously worked as a school counselor for nine years at Panther Creek High School in Cary, North Carolina.

Nartarshia graduated from UNC Charlotte with a B.A. in Psychology and a minor in Sociology. She holds two Master's degrees from NC State University, one in Curriculum and Instruction and the other in School Counseling. She earned National Board Certification in K-12 School Counseling in 2012.

NCVPS teachers and staff members nominated educators at the school and district level who have had a positive impact on their NCVPS students. Nominated ELAs employ innovative practices that can serve as a model for other schools or districts. Their practices improve the overall effectiveness of online learning and contribute to the success of students taking NCVPS courses.

Nominations included individuals working in various roles such as the e-learning advisor, lab facilitator, EC coordinator, data manager, principal, and the district e-learning coordinator. Nominees were then invited to submit a portfolio that showcases their e-learning program.

NCVPS would also like to congratulate the other three finalists:
  • Robin Lamb - Cedar Ridge High School, Orange County Schools
  • Neal Dorow - Eugene Ashley High School, New Hanover County School
  • Amanda Housand - Union Academy Charter School
Math1WebinarMath 1 Intervention Co-teaching Webinar
Are your NC Math 1 students struggling? Are you looking for an innovation to support these students? Have you contemplated integrating online learning into your NC Math 1 classes? If you answered yes to any of these questions, then plan to attend our upcoming webinar!

Webinar Date: Wednesday May 31, 2017, from 4:30 PM to 5:30 PM EST.



If you have questions, please contact Mia Murphy at mia.murphy@ncpublicschools.gov.
ECResourcesExceptional Children's Resources
NCVPS is pleased to share our Exception Children's resources with all parents and educators. 

Please check out these links: 

Students with Reading Disabilities:  https://www.smore.com/2cdzc

Students with Visual Impairments:  https://www.smore.com/kt26y

Students with Learning Disabilities:   https://www.smore.com/ekr53s

Students with Hearing Impairments:  https://www.smore.com/cq6ev

In addition to these PL Resources, we are also excited to offer a Google + Community just for EC! Here, you will find tips, resources, and support! Follow this link:

We will also be creating a LiveBinder to house all of our EC Resources so please be on the lookout for this!

We have pages for NCVPS OCS and EC on Facebook.

You can follow Sherry Bell, now Director for Exceptional children on Twitter and Pinterest as she shares EC resources:

Twitter: @sherrydbell
Pinterest: Sherry Bell

SummerUpdatesSummer 2017 Updates
Program Details

Summer school with NCVPS is a fast-paced program. An entire 18-week course is taught in just 8 weeks. Students will spend 3-5 hours each day, Monday through Friday, working on their courses, and just like at a traditional school, there is often work over the weekend, too. Students must have daily access to the internet for the duration of summer school. There are no exceptions made for students who attend camps or go on vacations where they do not have access to the internet.

Due to the workload, we recommend that students only take one NCVPS course over the summer, especially if the student has not had an online course before. Students are much more successful in our summer program if they only take one course.

Students can work on our courses any time during the day or night, 24/7. They just need to pay close attention to the due dates for the assignments, tests, and quizzes. Students can also work from any location as long as they have access to their classes for 3-5 hours a day.

Allotments from  Summer 2017 come from your NEW allotment totals for the 2017-2018 Academic Year. 

Districts and schools need to  identify their summer contact information at this link.
 
NCVPS needs the contact information for each school that registers students for Summer 17 classes.  Students will need to know who the contact is, as well. Students can drop through our 10th day of class, and they need to know who to contact at the school or at the district level so that they can be dropped. Districts may elect to have just one contact for the entire district over the summer.
 
Presently, you may not have any students enrolled in NCVPS summer courses, but if your school does enroll students in the coming weeks for Summer 2017, we will need this information.
 
If districts have their school-level ELA contact information in an Excel document, they can copy and paste that into the contact box on the link above.


Start Date: Monday, June 19

Last Day to Register: Friday, June 23

Last Day to Drop: Friday, June 30

End Date: Friday, August 11

Grades Posted: Thursday, August 115


Follow this link  to our registration system. 

If you need access, contact our  Virtual Support Center here

Please remember that there is only one login per school.  If your school already has access, you will need to share the login username and password.

If you are new to the NCVPS registration system or need a refresher,  the guide at this link will help.




See the student checklist at this link. Be sure to send this link to your enrolled students.


StakeholderSurveyNCVPS Stakeholder Survey
It's time for out stakeholder survey! This s urvey is designed to assess NCVPS customer service, processes and partnership efforts.

Please participate in our 2017 NCVPS Stakeholder Survey at this link. The survey will remain open until May 26. 
 
The results of this  survey are one component of the on-going process for improvement in our collaboration with districts across the state.
 
This is an opportunity to share your views regarding NCVPS.  
 
Results of this  survey will provide insightful information to create positive change, improved processes, and optimal customer service.
 
Thank you in advance for taking the time to submit your responses!
Spring2017Spring 2017 Updates
Spring 2017 traditional calendar courses end on Friday, May 26. This is the last day students have access to their courses. Please check the latest progress reports to see how your students are doing. There's still enough time for improvement.


We will begin accepting  requests for fall  extensions Friday, May 19 for our spring traditional block courses and yearlong courses.  

If large portions of the course are missing, an  extension won't help the student.  The student will need to be re-enrolled for for the course in summer or next fall.

Please submit an  extension  request through the Virtual Support Center at this link. Please include the student's name, PowerSchool ID number, your school's name, course needed for extension, your principal's email address, and reason for extension. We must confirm the request with the principal. You can also have the principal open the help ticket if that works better for the school. 


GradeReportUpdatesGrade Report Updates
Report Card
  CurrentGrades What Grades Are Currently Posted?

May 11: Early Calendar final grades with anticipated EOC/CTE scores posted in the NCVPS registration system.

May 18 : Progress reports posted for traditional calendar courses.

June 1: Traditional Final Grades w/ Anticipated EOC/CTE Scores Posted in the NCVPS Registration System
ReportOverviewReporting 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.


NCVPS Resources
Tech Updates
ChromebookUpdateChromebook Update
Google Chromebooks are currently supported for NCVPS Courses.

Google Chromebook and Chrome OS are possible options for you to consider to support your learning at NCVPS. While NCVPS learning environments are fully compatible with Google Chromebooks, some third party content within your courses may not yet be updated to meet the requirements set forth within the Chrome Operating System. If you experience an interruption in your learning, please open a help desk ticket at  help.ncvps.com and we will make reasonable accommodations to support your learning experience.


Students are able to open a help ticket with our Virtual Support Center when they are logged into Canvas.



When "Page Not Found" appears users should open a Virtual Support tickets by clicking on the ? Help button then clicking on "Enter a NCVPS Help Desk Ticket."

Password Reset

If you have had your password reset, the new password will not expire unless you have reset it. 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". 


When requesting help regarding a course it always easier for tech support to respond quickly if we have the specific section name, for example: 

CourseSec01Sum16


When opening a ticket with the virtual support center, please always include the following:
  • Student's first & last name
  • PowerSchool ID number (This will help ensure we have the correct student)
  • School name (full name, i.e. Eastern Mills High School, not EMHS)
  • Course name - if the student is already enrolled,  include specific section, i.e. CourseSec01Sum16.
If you need a new student account for a student who is new to PowerSchool (not just transferring schools), include the following:
  • Your full school name (i.e. Eastern Mills High School, not EMHS)
  • The student's first and last name
  • The student's PowerSchool ID number
  • The student's email address 
  • The student's phone number (the contact number this will be in PowerSchool) 
  • Does the student have an IEP? Yes/No
  • Does the student have a 504 Plan? Yes/No

Replying to a Support Center Ticket
 
After you submit a ticket to the Virtual Support Center, you will receive a ticket confirmation and resolution via email. To expedite your resolution, please do not reply to the email. The email will have a link in it for your response. Please click on that link (see below). 



This will put the ticket right back in the queue of the person who is working on your ticket. If you reply to the email, then that will have to be manually put into the ticket, and that can delay the process by several hours. 

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. 

javaflashUpdatesJAVA, Flash, and Browser Updates

Please update your Java to Version Java 8, Update 131.

Head to http://java.com/en/download/manual.jsp and follow the instructions from there.

Please go to the following link to update Adobe Flash Player to the latest Version 23.0.0.207

The Chrome Browser has had a recent update: 

Please update your Chrome browser to the latest version Version 58.0.3029.96

To update Google Chrome:
  1. On your computer, open Chrome
  2. At the top right, click More 
  3. Click Settings
  4. Click About
  5. Relaunch

 
Many students visit our homepage to log in to their courses. It is a best practice to bookmark the actual login pages for Canvas. Please have students and lab facilitators bookmark the following page:   https://ncvps.instructure.com/login/canvas/  

In addition, many school administrators visit our homepage to log in to our registration system or Virtual Support Center. Please bookmark both of these pages in your web browser:


Virtual Support Center:  http://www.help.ncvps.org/ 
 
 
For additional information, please see our Tech Requirements:
http://ncvps.org/technology-requirements 
Course Catalogues
NCVPS Courses
 
NCVPS offers over 150 different courses, including advanced placement, electives, traditional, honors, core, STEM, occupational course of study, and credit recovery courses. 

Check out our 150+ list of courses here

VendorApprovedUpdatesVendor Approved Courses

In addition to NCVPS courses, North Carolina public schools also have a list of approved third-party vendor courses that they may choose from for virtual classes. Please follow this link to see the list of approved vendor courses. More on the vendor approval process can be found here.  

Here are the newest approved vendor courses: 
(Course Title - Vendor) 

Courses -  Vendor

Math 1 (Revision -- New Standards) -  Apex Learning
Middle School Fitness Grade 6 -  Florida Virtual
World History -  Edmentum
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  |