December 19, 2013
TO
Superintendents
FROM
Philip W. Price
LEA FEEDBACK REPORT
The North Carolina Department of Public Instruction coordinated a telephone/email blitz November 1522 with the goal of reaching out in person to every LEA to discuss Home Base concerns, with a particular
focus on PowerSchool issues. The goal was to identify LEA-specific problems and work with the Home
Base Support Center and Pearson to assist in resolving those issues, adding them to upcoming work plans,
and, in some cases, escalating problems for a quicker solution.
Here are the findings (in no particular order):
Lack of Timely Response to Support Center Requests:
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Since Home Base went "live" in July, the Home Base Support Center (HBSC) has escalated
2,828 tickets to Pearson. Of those, 543 tickets are still open, 33 are pending closure (awaiting the
HBSC's final OK to close them), and 27 are resolved;
Here's the breakdown of problems reported on those tickets: 155 were slow performance issues
that were resolved as they arose; 49 were Schoolnet issues. The Schoolnet issues are current
action items; many were resolved the week of 12/16/13 with fixes that have been installed;
This leaves approximately 279 open tickets. Pearson is getting a list of all resolved issues from
the Implementation Project Managers (IPMs) to be sure tickets on resolved items are closed in
Remedy (the HBSC ticket system) and in Pearson's system; and
The NCDPI is assessing all HBSC procedures to implement a strategy for improved efficiency,
process flow, and faster response times.
Transcripts:
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Student transfers (see below).
GPA added values not converted correctly — The NCDPI is working on queries to fix this
statewide, which are currently being tested. Scripts were applied to correct some of the data
issues. Pearson added a validation to prevent course name from being removed on current
records. This new validation went into production on 11/22/13.
Course code editing — Pearson is creating a trigger that will copy the old course code back into
this field.
OFFICE OF FINANCIAL, BUSINESS, AND TECHNOLOGY SERVICES
Philip W. Price, Chief Financial/Chief Information Officer | Philip.Price@dpi.nc.gov
6326 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, North Carolina 27699-6326 | (919) 807-3600 | Fax (919) 807-3604
AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY/AFFIRMATIVE ACTION EMPLOYER
LEA Feedback Report
December 19, 2013
Page 2
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Ranking — Historical information is a known issue that needs to be resolved by Pearson;
however, an LEA/charter can choose to enter the historical information manually by following
these instructions:
Class Rank
http://www.ncsis.org/Documents/academic_progress/PS_QRD_Class_Rank_10222013.pdf
Adding Historical Grades
http://www.ncsis.org/Documents/student_info/PS_QRD_Adding_Historical_Grades_09182013.pdf
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Updated logic for UNC minimum requirements has been completed. There is a known issue with
9th- and 10th-grade math that Pearson is working on.
The NCDPI identified districts that were not including the correct grade levels in their
calculations.
The NCDPI identified historical grades that ARE being included in the calculation and should
NOT be included and some that are NOT being included that SHOULD be included, based on
local decisions that did not conform to State Board of Education policy. This resolution is being
tested at this time.
Report cards:
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If teachers typed their comments into Microsoft Word and pasted them into the comments section
on the report card, it created hidden formatting characters. Using Notepad text editor within MS
Word caused no issues (because it strips out all coding).
Gradebook setup is problematic. In response, the NCDPI organized a Gradebook webinar that
aired 12/13/13. Accessible here, www.nc-sis.org/recordings.html, the webinar focused on setting
up and using PowerTeacher Gradebook. Other helpful Gradebook webinars are posted on that
same page, including End of Term Process (for storing grades), which aired 9/25/13, and
Attendance Tracking with Update on Storing Grades - Tips and Tricks, which aired 12/10/13.
Attendance calculation issue is a setup issue (see below).
GPA calculation – The NCDPI has determined what GPA calculation should be used, which is
now included in the system and locked down so LEAs can no longer change those calculations.
If LEAs have created additional calculations, those are not affected by this change. Course
attributes will not affect GPA.
Exporting contact information (extended schema data):
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Districts reported problems exporting extended schema data, i.e., parent contact information, into
other automated communications tools including robocall software. This is a known issue that
has been escalated to Pearson as a high priority for resolution.
Course attributes:
Missing or incorrect attributes occurred when converting course information into PowerSchool. This has
been escalated to Pearson; they're working to resolve issues on the user interface by creating custom
pages updates, data updates, and possibly performing some re-conversion depending on the field. Expect
to see some of these fixes starting in January or February.
LEA Feedback Report
December 19, 2013
Page 3
Honor roll:
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Honor Roll Setup issues were also reported. In order for Honor Roll calculations to run properly,
there is setup that must be completed at the LEA and school level. Use this document to ensure
all setup is complete and correct: http://www.ncsis.org/Documents/school_info/PS_QRD_Honor_Roll_Calculations_11122013.pdf.
Attendance:
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High School Period attendance (meeting) doesn't convert properly to daily attendance. The
NCDPI is working with Pearson to address. LEAs should examine the attendance thresholds to
make sure the total school minutes are not set too high. We will also be addressing this in future
trainings.
Attendance 3-, 6- and 10-day Notification Letters and Truancy letters — Tips are included in a
webinar held 12/10/13, Attendance Tracking with Update on Storing Grades - Tips and Tricks,
which can be viewed online at http://www.nc-sis.org/recordings.html.
Incidents:
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Questions were posed on how to enter discipline incidents into PowerSchool. This was covered
in a recorded webinar that aired 10/2/13, Entering Incidents into PowerSchool. It is available
online: http://www.nc-sis.org/recordings.html.
Incident letter generation (discipline reports) — Pearson will deliver this as a part of the state
reporting requirements.
Student Transfers:
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Historical grades – A fix by Pearson is under review.
Attendance – Escalated to Pearson.
Duplicate students created when enrolled — The NCDPI is working with Pearson on an enhanced
search capability to allow the LEA to search the PowerSchool operational data store (ODS) for
the student prior to enrollment. Due in late December.
Other:
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LEAs would like comprehensive, PowerSchool set-up checklists — A comprehensive checklist
will be created and made available for each LEA/charter to use to confirm school setup is
accurate. A team from the NCDPI, Pearson and each district will review this information to
ensure it is accurate.
LEAs requested a data dictionary for identifying fields in PowerSchool. This data dictionary,
with Column Names and Data Types and Descriptions for PowerSchool, is available in a Pearson
online resource called Data Dictionary Tables, found here:
https://powersource.pearsonschoolsystems.com/article/63456. In addition, the NCDPI will
develop an NC extended schema data dictionary.
Graduation Plan Requirements - This will be a future custom page.
LEA Feedback Report
December 19, 2013
Page 4
Homeless:
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LEAs can use their old Consolidated Federal Data Collection (CFDC) system to track students
identified as homeless until PowerSchool has that capability. The NCDPI is working with
appropriate staff so that this work coincides with the collection schedule.
Thank you for your partnership with the NCDPI and Pearson as we implement this project.
PWP/tm