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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.
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NCVPS E-lert for Sept. 27, 2016 - Fall Edition VII
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2016
Start Dates
Early Calendar: Aug. 15
Traditional Calendar:
Aug. 29
Day 3 No-Show Report
Early Calendar:
Aug. 18
Traditional Calendar: Sept. 1
*Find this document in the registration system. It will show which students have not logged in yet. Please contact those students.
Day 7 No-Show Report
Early Calendar: Aug. 24
Traditional Calendar: Sept. 8
*Find the Day 3 and Day 7 no-show reports in our registration system (click "Reports.") These reports show which students have not logged in. Please contact them to see if they need help or if they need to be dropped.
Last Day to Drop and Add
Early Calendar: Aug. 26
Traditional Calendar: Sept.12
This is the last day districts and schools can drop students with no penalty for the student and no cost for the district or charter.
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 NCVPS Reporting Overview
See how your students are progressing! We post progress reports every two weeks in the registration system. These are unweighted grades.
Final Grade Report
Only our final grade report is a weighted grade report.
Student Status (No-Show) Reports
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.
Additional Grade Reporting Resources
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Connect with us on Twitter! Find us here. Tweet to us on Twitter at @ncvps or with the hashtag #ncvps. |
If you are not on the E-lert subscription list, but would like to be, please add your name to our list here.
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Be sure to check last week's progress report. It includes the current averages for all courses and calendars. Also, please remember that we are only providing progress reports throughout the semester. We won't have weighted grades until the end of the semester.
See the details here.
Don't miss the details about our partnership with Crossroads Flex High School!
Here's all the NCVPS news:
Updated This Week
Important From Last Week!
In addition, be sure to check out all of our tips and reminders in this week's e-
lert
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| Crossroads Flex High School Partnership |
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NCVPS is excited to partner with Crossroads Flex High School in Wake County.
This school allows students with "pursuits" to attend high school with a flexible schedule. The pursuit could be a sport or a passion or even working full time. For some students, it's the just desire to graduate in a learning environment that suits their needs. This school concept is one of the first of its kind in North Carolina, and NCVPS is grateful that Crossroads chose us to provide instruction. This is 21st-century learning for the 21st-century student.
Here's how the program works:
Crossroads
Flex
allows 9th through 12th graders to enroll with the agreement that they must work in their NCVPS courses every day and they must come to the
Crossroads
Flex
building 10 to 20 hours a week to work with their academic coaches. These academic coaches are certified math, science, English, social studies and CTE teachers. They will ask to see students' gradebooks and will encourage and support students as they learn with NCVPS. So the students are learning with NCVPS, but they also have support at the school level, dedicated just to them.
If you are interested in starting your own virtual academy, please contact us! We want to help.
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| Elana Shilova Named 2016 NCVPS World Language Coach of the Year |
It is with great pleasure we announce the 2016 NCVPS World Language Coach of the Year!
Congratulations to Elana Shilova for being named the winner of this award!
Elena works as a conversation coach for NCVPS students taking our Russian courses She has done an outstanding job connecting with students, encouraging them, and providing excellent instructional support!
World language coaches are an essential part of our critical language program. Coaches engage students each week with live conversation. Combined with our online teacher, our coaches set apart our language program from other online schools.
There were multiple nominees for this award, and it was obvious from student comments that NCVPS coaches do an amazing job supporting instruction!
Candidates were nominated by students and colleagues for this award. Nominees were evaluated and scored on their performance, dependability, use of language, feedback provided to teachers, communication with students, Culture Cafe' contributions, enthusiasm, and encouragement to students. Additional points were given to individuals with multiple nominations.
Congratulations, Elana, for this accomplishment!
Many thanks to all the World Language Coaches who work with our students!
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| Fall 2016 Updates |
Registration Details
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.
Current Enrollment Options
Our Fall 2016 enrollment has closed. However, we still have a number of options for schools.
Credit Recovery
: Credit recovery registration will remain open until November 23, 2016.
OCS
: Schools can continue to enroll in existing OCS sections throughout the semester. We cannot open new OCS sections after Sept. 12, but students can be added to existing sections.
1/2 Credit Health and 1/2 Credit PE Courses
: Registration for our 2nd 9-week health and PE courses will remain open until November 14.
Transfer Students
: We are now accepting transfers for students who meet our transfer criteria. Transfer students must already be enrolled in the course at the school with an instructor AND have a grade to transfer in with. Transfers are not for students who are new to the course. We are able to accept fall transfers through November 23, 2016. This is a good solution for students who move into the district and have a course that they school does not offer. It's also a good solution for home-bound students and suspended students.
Mastery Learning for First-Time Credit
: Our new mastery learning courses will 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 the details here for mastery learning enrollment
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Spring 2017
- We are still enrolling for all Spring 2017 courses. Spring registration is open until Feb. 3, 2017.
Semester Success
Your students are registered, now what?
Check out our Semester Success with NCVPS web page for the basic support details that will assist your students throughout the semester.
Grade Reporting Updates
Fall Report Cards Update
NCVPS is transitioning all of its courses to the Canvas learning management system. Currently, Canvas does not have the functionality to let schools calculate weighted marking period grades.
Starting in Fall 2016, NCVPS will post grades in the NCVPS registration system following our new process:
- Cumulative progress reports every two weeks.
- Final class average at the end of term (75%), along with the final exam grade (25%), and final grade.
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For EOC, CTE, NCFE courses, we report the final classwork grade (75%), and schools calculate in the exam grades (25%).
Districts can adjust those percentages based on their percentage weight for final exams.
The cumulative progress reports are an accurate indicator of exactly how a student is performing in the course. They are not weighted grades, however, so they would not be grades that you would add to PowerSchool report card grades. Many schools will send home a separate NCVPS progress report when they send home report cards throughout the semester. They will record the final NCVPS grade in PowerSchool at the end of the term. It is a local decision, however, on how to do this.
NC Final Exams
Prior to Fall 2016,
NCVPS
students were not required to take NC Final Exams (NCFE) since NCVPS teachers are contractors with no Standard 6 in their evaluations. While NCVPS did not take NCFEs in the 28 NCFE math, science, English, and social studies subjects, students did complete a final project and/or take an NCVPS Final Exam.
Now, student growth is no longer affiliated with teacher evaluations - a decision by the SBE this Spring.
For this reason, all NCVPS students will take the NCFEs as administered by their schools beginning with the Fall 2016*. NCVPS will report the final course work grade, and just like EOCs, school districts will administer NCFEs and calculate final averages.
What Grades Are Currently Posted?
September 22
: Progress reports for both Early Calendar and Traditional Calendar courses have been posted in the NCVPS registration system. Look for the report with this title: "Fall 2016 EC, ML, CR, Block and YL Progress Report Due Sept. 20, 2016."
What's Next on the Schedule?
October 6:
Progress reports for both Early Calendar and Traditional Calendar courses have been posted in the NCVPS registration system.
Reporting Overview
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| Outdoor Education |
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NCVPS is in the initial stages of exploring possible opportunities to offer online Outdoor Education courses. The courses we are currently exploring would be approved by the N.C. Wildlife Resource Commission and meet the education certification requirements to obtain a NC Hunting and/or Boating license.
The Hunter Education and Boating Education courses could not be used to satisfy the health/physical education graduation requirement; however, LEAs/charter may decide to offer elective credit upon completion of the course.
We would like to get feedback on your interest in outdoor education. Please complete the following survey at this link:
Thanks for taking the time to complete our survey. We value your feedback.
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| Student Login Issues |
We have noticed a pattern in student login issues. A number of students have been attempting to log in to their district's or school's Canvas login site. A district's Canvas login site will not work for NCVPS courses.
Be sure students are logging in to their NCVPS courses at this link:
https://ncvps.instructure.com/login/canvas/
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| Canvas Parent App |
Parents and facilitators can now download the Canvas Parent app in both the
iTunes and
Google Play stores.
Parents and facilitators will need student login information to set up their parent accounts. This will have to come from the school. NCVPS cannot supply login credentials to parents or facilitators. Check with your school's e-learning advisor (ELA).
The Canvas Parent app is designed to provide visibility into a student's progress at a glance. Canvas Parent allows both parents and facilitators to:
- View assignment descriptions and due dates
- Set reminders for assignments
- View assignment grades
- View course grades
- Set grade alerts
- View course announcements
Here are several helpful links:
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Chromebook 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.
Support Center Tickets in Canvas
Students are able to open a help ticket with our Virtual Support Center when they are logged into Canvas.
Students can click on the ? Help button to open a ticket. At that point, be sure students select
"Enter a NCVPS Help Desk Ticket" NOT "Report a Problem".
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".
Course Issues
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
Opening a Ticket with the Virtual Support Center
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.
Student Email Confirmations in Canvas and Blackboard
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.
JAVA and Flash Updates
Please update your Java to Version Java 8, Update 91.
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 22.0.0.209
Blackboard Instant Messaging (BBIM)
Students will need to click on the BBIM link in their class and create an ID and password that they will remember. NCVPS does not issue BBIM logins nor do we store this information.
Bookmark NCVPS Login Pages
Many students visit our homepage to log in to their courses. It is a best practice to bookmark the actual login pages for both Moodle and Blackboard. Please have students and lab facilitators bookmark the following pages:
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:
Tech Requirements
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NCVPS Courses
NCVPS offers over 150 different courses, including advanced placement, electives, traditional, honors, core, STEM, occupational course of study, and credit recovery courses.
Vendor 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
American History 1 -
Edmentum
American History 2 -
Edmentum
American History 2 -
OdysseyWare
AP Calculus AB -
Edgenuity
AP Environmental -
Edgenuity
AP French Language & Culture -
Edgenuity
AP World History -
Edgenuity
Biology (Occupational) -
Edmentum
ELA Grade 6 -
Founders Education
ELA Grade 7 -
Florida Virtual
ELA Grade 8 -
Florida Virtual
Health -
Apex Learning
Health Grade 6 -
Founders Education
Health Grade 7 -
Founders Education
Health High School -
Founders Education
Math Grade 6 -
Founders Education
Music Appreciation -
Apex Learning
Physical Education -
Apex Learning
Pre-Algebra -
Florida Virtual
Science Grade 6 -
Founders Education
Social Studies Grade 6 -
Founders Education
Spanish 2 -
Apex Learning
Spanish 3 -
Apex Learning
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North Carolina Virtual Public School
1017 Main Campus Drive, Partners I Bldg.,
SUITE 3900, Raleigh, NC 27606
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