NCVirtual E-lert for Jan. 19, 2021 (First Day of Class!)

A newsletter from a US-based K-12 online learning program.

January 19, 2021 Greetings, everyone! Early Start classes are underway, and Standard Start classes begin today! Our fall final grade report will be offline January 19-20. Our teachers will be posting updated grades for students who had extensions during that time. The fall final grade report will be back online January 21. See Trending Updates, End of Fall 2020, Start of Spring 2021, and webinar sections below. See all the news and highlights below, and forward this e-lert to any stakeholders who may need it. They can subscribe to the e-lert here. Trending Updates Requesting Final Grade Early for Spring Classes We have a new two-step process for requesting final grades early for spring Standard Start classes. Our spring Standard Start courses end on May 18, 2021, and final grades will be reported on May 28. Schools can request an early May 14 reporting date. Here’s the process: Step 1: Districts and schools can opt for early reporting on May 14 by submitting this form. Step 2: Communicate your end-date expectations to your students and our NCVirtual teachers. Do this early in the semester so that our teachers have time to adjust the pacing guides for your students. Communication between the school, student, and teacher is essential here. This process is for Standard Start classes only. Our Early Start classes will report on May 14, their original end date. Funding Formula and Payment Options If your district is near the end of its NCVPS allotment funding, you have several options. Districts can apply to use NCVPS reserve funds. This funding is not unlimited, however. We have a $2 million reserve for all districts and charters to use once they’ve exhausted their allotted funds. We do have reserve funds remaining, though. Districts can use CARES Act funding for NCVirtual enrollments. This funding can be used for spring enrollments OR used retroactively for fall classes. This would reduce your allotment usage. You can also use certain other state, local, or federal funds for enrollment. See our Funding Formula and Payment Options doc. for details. Partnership Course Program In the Partnership program, NCVirtual provides the courses, and schools provide the teachers. Districts are using this program for remote instruction, virtual academies, and for teachers who are unable to return to the classroom for various reasons. Visit our Partnership Course Program page for all the details on this program. Co-Teaching Update Please remind your co-teaching teachers in the face to face schools that the ONLINE partner teacher for your students class will be contacting you to set up a welcome call as well as giving you the log-in and password for their course. They may not have access to this course until closer to the start date of the semester as the teachers are still being assigned and the sections are being created. Once a section is created, it may take approximately 48-72 hours to get everyone assigned and ready to go. For new sections created during the drop/add period, please expect this same 48-72 hour turn-around. Thank you for your patience and partnership! For those schools who are needing resources before the spring NCVPS Classes begin, please find this PRE-INSTRUCTION Resource for Students documents as some resources for your students to use in the meantime. End of Fall 2020 Classes All fall block courses have ended. Following these steps will help with the success of your students and help you have grades prepared for your final report cards. Grades Our final grade report will show the weighted course work grade (80%), final exam grade (20%), final grade. EOC and CTE courses will only show the one marking period grades. Schools will need to administer all state tests and calculate the test scores. Follow this link to see what the final grade report will look like. You will want to be aware of our grading policy and how we weight grades, especially for state-tested courses where you will need to calculate the final grade once you receive your test scores. Review our Grades Quick Reference Guide to see how we calculate grades. Grade Questions If you have questions about a student’s grade, you should send those directly to the student’s teacher or submit a help ticket to the Virtual Support Center. Spring 2021 Classes New to NCVirtual If you’re new to NCVirtual, please visit our Getting Started for Schools page. It will explain our program and give you the necessary details to run a successful online program at your school. Important Dates Early Start Begins: Jan. 4 Standard Start Begins: Jan. 19 Early Start Last Day Drop/Add: Jan. 15 Standard Start Last Day Drop/Add: Feb. 1 Registration Process Enroll students through the NCVPS registration system. If you need access, contact our Virtual Support Center. If you are a new e-learning advisor and NCVPS point-of-contact for your school, please update your contact information in our registration system. Click on the “My Info” tab when you log in to update your information. 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, watch our NCVPS Registration Video. It will guide you through our enrollment process. You can also print our Quick Registration Guide. Note: Do you need a yearlong or Early Start section that we don’t currently offer? Submit a request through our Virtual Support Center. We’ll see if we can make that happen. Waitlist and Course Capacity List NCVirtual is not a software program. Our online courses are teacher-led, and we are mindful of their class sizes. If your student is waitlisted for a course, that waitlist is usually temporary. Our instructional directors use the waitlist to determine if they should open a new section or increase the size of a current section. However, each semester, we have a few courses that reach their maximum enrollment capacity. To see courses that have capacity issues, visit our Course Capacity List. Enrolling in OCS Courses See our new OCS Program page before enrolling in NCVPS courses. We have streamlined the process. For help with the OCS registration process, watch our OCS Registration Video. Enrolling in Intervention Co-Teaching Courses We have a new Intervention Co-Teaching Program page that gives details on the program and enrollment process. Watch our Intervention Co-Teaching Video to see the enrollment process. Registering Early Start Students in Standard Start Courses If you are an early-start school, you can still register your students into our Standard Start courses. If you need your students to finish early before the May 18 end date, please proceed to the next process. Requesting Final Grade Early for Spring Classes We have a new two-step process for requesting final grades early for spring Standard Start classes. Our spring Standard Start courses end on May 18, 2021, and final grades will be reported on May 28. Schools can request an early May 14 reporting date. Here’s the process: Step 1: Districts and schools can opt for early reporting on May 14 by submitting this form. Step 2: Communicate your end-date expectations to your students and our NCVirtual teachers. Do this early in the semester so that our teachers have time to adjust the pacing guides for your students. Communication between the school, student, and teacher is essential here. This process is for Standard Start classes only. Our Early Start classes will report on May 14, their original end date. SAR Data Schools will access NCVPS SAR data from either an enrollment report or grade report. See our PowerSchool and NCVPS Registration guide for details. Please do not request data directly from teachers. Thank you! Calendars View our full 2020-2021 Calendar. Class Details Student Course Access Students will have access to their courses at 7 a.m. on the first day of classes. Before classes begin, students can go through our NCVirtual Demo Course for an orientation. We also have Pre-Instruction Resources for each class. These resources help students get a better understanding of courses before classes begin. Getting Started Direct students to our Getting Started as an NCVPS Student page before classes begin. This page will help students get oriented and answer all their questions on how our courses work. Support Features Weeks 1 and 2 – Access Check and Enrollment Options Visit our Access Check and Enrollment Options page for essential details to ensure your students have a successful start. Semester Success with NCVPS See our Semester Success with NCVPS page for some sure steps to help you and your students in their NCVPS classes. Printable Guides and Checklists We have a number of printable guides for ELAs, students, and parents. Canvas Parent App Parents, facilitators, and mentors and track their student’s progress with the Canvas Parent App. See the full details on our Canvas Parent App and Web Portal page. NCVPS App Download our NCVPS app to receive notifications on your smartphone. Search for “NCVPS” in the Apple and Android stores. See our App Announcement for details. Current Reporting What Grades Are Currently Posted? Jan. 14 – Standard Start and Early Start Final Grades Posted in the NCVPS Registration System What’s Next on the Schedule? Jan. 21 – Early Start Progress Posted in the NCVPS Registration System Progress Report Action Steps What should your action steps be with our progress reports? We’re glad you asked! Visit our Progress Report Action Steps page for all the details. Reporting Overview See our Grades and Testing Quick Reference Guide for an overview of our reporting. We have details on our Student Status (No-Show) Reports, Progress Reports, Final Grade Reports, and how we calculate grades. Student Spotlight Meet Shreya S. “As a student who attends an early college, I didn’t have the opportunity to take very many AP classes at my middle college as very few advanced classes were offered in the curriculum. At NC Virtual I had the opportunity to use the online learning platform to take a variety of classes, work with my teachers and peers on a completely different medium, and also adapt to a new style of teaching and learning. At NC Virtual, I took AP Computer Science Principles and AP Statistics in my junior. Currently, in my senior year, I am taking AP Biology and AP Human Geography.” NCVirtual’s Teacher Online Training Course Prepare your teachers for success in the online learning environment. Visit our Teacher Online Training page for details and registration. The course is free! The next course begins on Feb. 1, 2021. Additional start dates will be based on interest from individuals and districts. This course is asynchronous and facilitator-led. Facilitators have many years of experience in online learning and are specially trained to work with educators transitioning to this environment. * Participants work in cohorts to complete five modules. * A cohort is 35 to 50 educators. Open Webinars NCVirtual is pleased to host online events through our Culture Café, IworkNCVirtual Speaker Series, and Open House Events. Here’s what we have coming up: Open House Event – NCVirtual’s Virtual Open House Details: Learn how you can help your student make the most of the NCVirtual experience. Learn how to use the Canvas Parent App, Observer Access, Peer Tutoring Center, and many other student supports! Dates: Tuesday, January 26, 6 PM – 7 PM or Thursday, January 28, 11 AM – 12 PM Registration: Registration link. Audience: The NCVirtual Parent Orientation is geared to parents and guardians of current NCVirtual students. Culture Cafe Event – Holocaust Survivor Tale ~ “Inheriting the Role of a Witness” Details: The session is led by Sharon Halperin from The Center for Holocaust, Genocide, and Human Rights Education of North Carolina. Date and Time: Feb. 9, 7:00pm to 8:00pm. Location: Join the live session through our Culture Café page. Iwork Event: Finance Details: What does it take to excel in the world of finance? Join us for a Career Connection with Angela Adkins. Ms. Adkins holds a Masters of Public Administration from NCCU and is a Business Analyst for a top professional services firm. Date and Time: Wednesday, January 20, 2021 – 5:30pm to 6:30pm Location: Join the live session through our Iwork page. Iwork Event: Information Technology Software Engineer Details: Would you like to know more about the field of information technology and what it takes to be a software engineer? Join us for a Career Connection with Gabriel Nyante. Mr. Nyante is a software engineer with the US Environmental Protection Agency. Date and Time: Thursday, January 21, 2021 – 11:00am to 12:00pm. Location: Join the live session through our Iwork page. Iwork Event: Information Technology Details: Join us for a Career Connection with Ian Parks. Mr. Parks is a military veteran who has served five years in the United States Air Force. He’s currently a software engineer at IBM but makes time to work with teenagers within his community through his own non-profit organization, After School Special, to help teens reach their full potential in life. Date and Time: Thursday, January 25, 2021 – 10:00am to 11:00am. Location: Join the live session through our Iwork page. Iwork Event: Family and Children Resources Details: Join us for a Career Connection with Dr. Rhonda Paul. Dr. Paul serves as an Education Specialist with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Social Work. In this role, she is responsible for supporting the growth and development of child welfare workers and social work students through planning, developing, coordinating informative workshops, programs, community events, course interactions, and innovative technology use. Date and Time: Thursday, January 26, 2021 – 11:00am to 12:00pm. Location: Join the live session through our Iwork page. Daily Office Hours The Outreach and Support team has office hours Monday-Friday from noon to 1 p.m. Anyone can join, and we have breakout rooms ready if needed. Students & Parents – Do you have general questions about our program or concerns about your course? Visit the Outreach team during the lunch hour. We’re here to help! E-learning Advisors – Are you new to NCVirtual? Do you have questions about student performance? Unique enrollment requests? We’re here to help! E-learning Coordinators – Are you leading your district’s e-learning program? Are you looking for new ways to partner with us? Drop into the office hours, and let’s chat! Teachers – Want to learn about the Outreach team? Let’s talk! Visit our Lunch with NCVirtual page for details and the link to join us in our online room. Help NCVirtual is a support organization, and we are here to help! Check out our guides and support pages below. Printable Guides 2020-2021 Academic Year Guide Student Help Page Quick Reference Guides YouTube How-To Guides Virtual Support Center (Be sure to create an account before you submit your first ticket.) THANKS, EVERYONE! Your North Carolina students appreciate your dedication and hard work! View as Webpage | Subscribe  ‌  ‌  ‌

North Carolina Virtual Public School | 1017 Main Campus Drive, Partners I Bldg., SUITE 3900, Raleigh, NC 27606

NCVirtual Parent Virtual Orientation

An item from a US-based K-12 online learning program.

NCVirtual invites you to its Spring Parent Virtual Orientation Please join us for our Spring Parent Virtual Orientation.  Learn how you can help your student make the most of the NCVirtual experience. Learn how to use the Canvas Parent App, Observer Access, Peer Tutoring Center, and many other student supports! When: Tuesday, January 26, 6 PM – 7 PM or Thursday, January 28, 11 AM – 12 PM We are offering two opportunities to attend the Parent Virtual Orientation. Please choose the date that works best for your schedule. Where: The event will be hosted in an NCVirtual online classroom. Details will be sent following registration. Presenters: NCVirtual staff, teachers, and students. Topics: The presentation will include how to use the Canvas Parent App, student supports, course updates, and an opportunity to chat with NC Virtual teachers and students. Audience: The NCVirtual Parent Orientation is geared to parents and guardians of current NCVirtual students. Register for Tuesday, January 26 at 6 PM Register for Thursday, January 28 at 11 AM Visit the NCVirtual website  ‌  ‌  ‌

North Carolina Virtual Public School | 1017 Main Campus Drive, Partners I Bldg., SUITE 3900, Raleigh, NC 27606

NCVirtual E-lert for Jan. 12, 2021 (Final Grades Posted Thursday)

A newsletter from a US-based K-12 online learning program.

January 12, 2021 Greetings, everyone! We have completed our fall block classes. Here’s where we are with fall grades: Fall Early Start Final Grades: Reported Dec. 17 Fall Standard Start Final Grades: Will Be Reported Jan. 14 For Spring 2021, our Early Start classes have already begun, and Standard Start classes begin on Jan. 19. See Trending Updates, End of Fall 2020, Start of Spring 2021, and webinar sections below. See all the news and highlights below, and forward this e-lert to any stakeholders who may need it. They can subscribe to the e-lert here. Trending Updates Funding Formula and Payment Options If your district is near the end of its NCVPS allotment funding, you have several options. Districts can apply to use NCVPS reserve funds. This funding is not unlimited, however. We have a $2 million reserve for all districts and charters to use once they’ve exhausted their allotted funds. We do have reserve funds remaining, though. Districts can use CARES Act funding for NCVirtual enrollments. This funding can be used for spring enrollments OR used retroactively for fall classes. This would reduce your allotment usage. You can also use certain other state, local, or federal funds for enrollment. See our Funding Formula and Payment Options doc. for details. Partnership Course Program In the Partnership program, NCVirtual provides the courses, and schools provide the teachers. Districts are using this program for remote instruction, virtual academies, and for teachers who are unable to return to the classroom for various reasons. Visit our Partnership Course Program page for all the details on this program. Co-Teaching Update Please remind your co-teaching teachers in the face to face schools that the ONLINE partner teacher for your students class will be contacting you to set up a welcome call as well as giving you the log-in and password for their course. They may not have access to this course until closer to the start date of the semester as the teachers are still being assigned and the sections are being created. Once a section is created, it may take approximately 48-72 hours to get everyone assigned and ready to go. For new sections created during the drop/add period, please expect this same 48-72 hour turn-around. Thank you for your patience and partnership! For those schools who are needing resources before the spring NCVPS Classes begin, please find this PRE-INSTRUCTION Resource for Students documents as some resources for your students to use in the meantime. End of Fall 2020 Classes All fall block courses have ended. Following these steps will help with the success of your students and help you have grades prepared for your final report cards. Grades Our final grade report will show the weighted course work grade (80%), final exam grade (20%), final grade. EOC and CTE courses will only show the one marking period grades. Schools will need to administer all state tests and calculate the test scores. Follow this link to see what the final grade report will look like. You will want to be aware of our grading policy and how we weight grades, especially for state-tested courses where you will need to calculate the final grade once you receive your test scores. Review our Grades Quick Reference Guide to see how we calculate grades. Grade Questions If you have questions about a student’s grade, you should send those directly to the student’s teacher or submit a help ticket to the Virtual Support Center. Spring 2021 Classes New to NCVirtual If you’re new to NCVirtual, please visit our Getting Started for Schools page. It will explain our program and give you the necessary details to run a successful online program at your school. Class Start Dates Early Start: Jan. 4 Standard Start: Jan. 19 Registration Details Registration Dates Registration is open for Spring 2021 classes. The last day to drop or add students: Early Start: Jan. 15 Standard Start: Feb. 1 Registration Process Enroll students through the NCVPS registration system. If you need access, contact our Virtual Support Center. If you are a new e-learning advisor and NCVPS point-of-contact for your school, please update your contact information in our registration system. Click on the “My Info” tab when you log in to update your information. 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, watch our NCVPS Registration Video. It will guide you through our enrollment process. You can also print our Quick Registration Guide. Note: Do you need a yearlong or Early Start section that we don’t currently offer? Submit a request through our Virtual Support Center. We’ll see if we can make that happen. Home and Private School Parents If you are a home school or private school, visit our Home & Private Schools page. Waitlist and Course Capacity List NCVirtual is not a software program. Our online courses are teacher-led, and we are mindful of their class sizes. If your student is waitlisted for a course, that waitlist is usually temporary. Our instructional directors use the waitlist to determine if they should open a new section or increase the size of a current section. However, each semester, we have a few courses that reach their maximum enrollment capacity. To see courses that have capacity issues, visit our Course Capacity List. Co-Teaching Update Please remind your co-teaching teachers in the face to face schools that the ONLINE partner teacher for your students class will be contacting you to set up a welcome call as well as giving you the log-in and password for their course. They may not have access to this course until closer to the start date of the semester as the teachers are still being assigned and the sections are being created. Once a section is created, it may take approximately 48-72 hours to get everyone assigned and ready to go. For new sections created during the drop/add period, please expect this same 48-72 hour turn-around. Thank you for your patience and partnership! For those schools who are needing resources before the spring NCVPS Classes begin, please find this PRE-INSTRUCTION Resource for Students documents as some resources for your students to use in the meantime. Enrolling in OCS Courses See our new OCS Program page before enrolling in NCVPS courses. We have streamlined the process. For help with the OCS registration process, watch our OCS Registration Video. Enrolling in Intervention Co-Teaching Courses We have a new Intervention Co-Teaching Program page that gives details on the program and enrollment process. Watch our Intervention Co-Teaching Video to see the enrollment process. Registering Early Start Students in Standard Start Courses If you are an early-start school, you can still register your students into our Standard Start courses. If you need your students to finish early before the May 18 end date, please proceed to the next process. Early Final Grade Reporting for Standard Start Classes Our spring Standard Start courses end on May 18, 2021, and final grades will be reported on May 28. Districts and schools can opt for early reporting on May 14 by submitting this form. In addition to completing that form, it is essential that you communicate your end-date expectations to your students and our NCVirtual teachers. Do this early in the semester so that our teachers have time to adjust the pacing guides for your students. Please do not surprise your students or our teachers with a request for an early finish at the end of the semester. The communication here is essential. Calendars View our full 2020-2021 Calendar. Class Details Student Course Access Students will have access to their courses at 7 a.m. on the first day of classes. Before classes begin, students can go through our NCVirtual Demo Course for an orientation. We also have Pre-Instruction Resources for each class. These resources help students get a better understanding of courses before classes begin. Getting Started Direct students to our Getting Started as an NCVPS Student page before classes begin. This page will help students get oriented and answer all their questions on how our courses work. Support Features Weeks 1 and 2 – Access Check and Enrollment Options Visit our Access Check and Enrollment Options page for essential details to ensure your students have a successful start. Semester Success with NCVPS See our Semester Success with NCVPS page for some sure steps to help you and your students in their NCVPS classes. Printable Guides and Checklists We have a number of printable guides for ELAs, students, and parents. Canvas Parent App Parents, facilitators, and mentors and track their student’s progress with the Canvas Parent App. See the full details on our Canvas Parent App and Web Portal page. NCVPS App Download our NCVPS app to receive notifications on your smartphone. Search for “NCVPS” in the Apple and Android stores. See our App Announcement for details. Current Reporting What Grades Are Currently Posted? Dec. 17 – Early Start and Early-Reported Standard Start Final Grades Fall 2020 Dec. 17 – Standard Start Progress Report with Expected/Anticipated CTE Grades and Anticipated EOC Scores Posted in the NCVPS Registration System What’s Next on the Schedule? Jan. 14 – Standard Start and Early Start Final Grades Posted in the NCVPS Registration System Progress Report Action Steps What should your action steps be with our progress reports? We’re glad you asked! Visit our Progress Report Action Steps page for all the details. Reporting Overview See our Grades and Testing Quick Reference Guide for an overview of our reporting. We have details on our Student Status (No-Show) Reports, Progress Reports, Final Grade Reports, and how we calculate grades. NCVirtual’s Teacher Online Training Course Prepare your teachers for success in the online learning environment. Visit our Teacher Online Training page for details and registration. The course is free! The next course begins on Feb. 1, 2021. Additional start dates will be based on interest from individuals and districts. This course is asynchronous and facilitator-led. Facilitators have many years of experience in online learning and are specially trained to work with educators transitioning to this environment. * Participants work in cohorts to complete five modules. * A cohort is 35 to 50 educators. Open Webinars NCVirtual is pleased to host online events through our Culture Café, IworkNCVirtual Speaker Series, and Open House Events. Here’s what we have coming up: Culture Cafe Event – Holocaust Survivor Tale ~ “Inheriting the Role of a Witness” Date and Time: Feb. 9, 7:00pm to 8:00pm. Location: Join the live session through our Culture Café page. Iwork Event: Finance Details: What does it take to excel in the world of finance? Join us for a Career Connection with Angela Adkins. Ms. Adkins holds a Masters of Public Administration from NCCU and is a Business Analyst for a top professional services firm. Date and Time: Wednesday, January 20, 2021 – 5:30pm to 6:30pm Location: Join the live session through our Iwork page. Iwork Event: Information Technology Software Engineer Details: Would you like to know more about the field of information technology and what it takes to be a software engineer? Join us for a Career Connection with Gabriel Nyante. Mr. Nyante is a software engineer with the US Environmental Protection Agency. Date and Time: Thursday, January 21, 2021 – 11:00am to 12:00pm. Location: Join the live session through our Iwork page. Iwork Event: Information Technology Details: Join us for a Career Connection with Ian Parks. Mr. Parks is a military veteran who has served five years in the United States Air Force. He’s currently a software engineer at IBM but makes time to work with teenagers within his community through his own non-profit organization, After School Special, to help teens reach their full potential in life. Date and Time: Thursday, January 25, 2021 – 10:00am to 11:00am. Location: Join the live session through our Iwork page. Iwork Event: Family and Children Resources Details: Join us for a Career Connection with Dr. Rhonda Paul. Dr. Paul serves as an Education Specialist with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Social Work. In this role, she is responsible for supporting the growth and development of child welfare workers and social work students through planning, developing, coordinating informative workshops, programs, community events, course interactions, and innovative technology use. Date and Time: Thursday, January 26, 2021 – 11:00am to 12:00pm. Location: Join the live session through our Iwork page. Daily Office Hours The Outreach and Support team has office hours Monday-Friday from noon to 1 p.m. Anyone can join, and we have breakout rooms ready if needed. Students & Parents – Do you have general questions about our program or concerns about your course? Visit the Outreach team during the lunch hour. We’re here to help! E-learning Advisors – Are you new to NCVirtual? Do you have questions about student performance? Unique enrollment requests? We’re here to help! E-learning Coordinators – Are you leading your district’s e-learning program? Are you looking for new ways to partner with us? Drop into the office hours, and let’s chat! Teachers – Want to learn about the Outreach team? Let’s talk! Visit our Lunch with NCVirtual page for details and the link to join us in our online room. Help NCVirtual is a support organization, and we are here to help! Check out our guides and support pages below. Printable Guides 2020-2021 Academic Year Guide Student Help Page Quick Reference Guides YouTube How-To Guides Virtual Support Center (Be sure to create an account before you submit your first ticket.) THANKS, EVERYONE! Your North Carolina students appreciate your dedication and hard work! View as Webpage | Subscribe  ‌  ‌  ‌

North Carolina Virtual Public School | 1017 Main Campus Drive, Partners I Bldg., SUITE 3900, Raleigh, NC 27606

 

NCVirtual E-lert for Jan. 4, 2021 (Fall Standard Start Ends Jan. 8 / Spring Early Start Begins Today!)

A newsletter from a US-based K-12 online learning program.

January 4, 2021 Greetings, everyone! Here’s where we are with fall and spring classes: Fall Early Start Classes: Ended Dec. 11 – Final Grades Reported Dec. 17 Fall Standard Start Classes: End Jan. 8 – Final Grades Reported Jan. 14 Spring Early Start Classes: Begin Jan. 4 Spring Standard Start Classes: Begin Jan. 19 You can find final grades for fall Early Start classes in our registration system. Look for the report titled “Early Start and Early-Reported Standard Start Final Grades Fall 2020 (including Health and PE).” If you requested early final grades for Standard Start courses, you will find those in that same report, or our teachers emailed them directly to you, depending on what arrangements you made with our teachers. Otherwise, our next final-grade reporting is Jan. 14. Below, you will find details for the end of fall and the beginning of spring classes. See all the news and highlights below, and forward this e-lert to any stakeholders who may need it. They can subscribe to the e-lert here. End of Fall 2020 Classes Early Start courses have finished, and Standard Start ends on Jan. 8. Following these steps will help with the success of your students and help you have grades prepared for your final report cards. EOC and CTE Testing Schools must administer all EOC and CTE state tests. (Note: Some CTE courses do not have a state test.) Schools will also need to average the EOC and CTE scores into the grades that we post for those courses. If you’ve not already made arrangements with your school’s testing coordinator, please do that right away. Our final grade report will have EOC and CTE anticipated scores for your testing coordinators. Grades Our final grade report will show the weighted course work grade (80%), final exam grade (20%), final grade. EOC and CTE courses will only show the one marking period grades. Schools will need to calculate in the EOC and CTE exam grades. Follow this link to see what the final grade report will look like. NCVPS Grading Policies You will want to be aware of our grading policy and how we weight grades, especially for state-tested courses where you will need to calculate the final grade once you receive your test scores. Review our Grades Quick Reference Guide to see how we calculate grades. Report Cards and Transcripts Schools must enter grades into PowerSchool. Be sure the data manager has access to the grade report and understands our grade calculations. Be sure to examine the spreadsheet closely to find the final grade. This will be essential when your data manager enters NCVPS grades into PowerSchool to avoid data entry errors. Middle School Reporting Middle schools should ensure that they use the NCVPS course codes so that their students can receive high school credit for the courses that they take with us. You can find course codes in our catalog or in the second column of any grade report. NCAA Eligibility Center Please see our “Reporting NCVPS Classes On Transcripts for the NCAA” quick reference guide here. There are some essential reporting steps to take to ensure a student’s NCAA eligibility. Grade Questions If you have questions about a student’s grade, you should send those directly to the student’s teacher or submit a help ticket to the Virtual Support Center. Extensions We have a five-day extension period for courses. These extensions do not require approval from our Instructional Directors. Instead, schools will work directly with the NCVPS teacher, and the teacher will grant the 5-day extension. If a longer extension is required, the teacher will work with the Instructional Director on a case by case basis. Spring 2021 Classes New to NCVirtual If you’re new to NCVirtual, please visit our Getting Started for Schools page. It will explain our program and give you the necessary details to run a successful online program at your school. Class Start Dates Early Start: Jan. 4 Standard Start: Jan. 19 Registration Details Registration Dates Registration is open for Spring 2021 classes. The last day to drop or add students: Early Start: Jan. 15 Standard Start: Feb. 1 Registration Process Enroll students through the NCVPS registration system. If you need access, contact our Virtual Support Center. If you are a new e-learning advisor and NCVPS point-of-contact for your school, please update your contact information in our registration system. Click on the “My Info” tab when you log in to update your information. 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, watch our NCVPS Registration Video. It will guide you through our enrollment process. You can also print our Quick Registration Guide. Note: Do you need a yearlong or Early Start section that we don’t currently offer? Submit a request through our Virtual Support Center. We’ll see if we can make that happen. Home and Private School Parents If you are a home school or private school, visit our Home & Private Schools page. Waitlist and Course Capacity List NCVirtual is not a software program. Our online courses are teacher-led, and we are mindful of their class sizes. If your student is waitlisted for a course, that waitlist is usually temporary. Our instructional directors use the waitlist to determine if they should open a new section or increase the size of a current section. However, each semester, we have a few courses that reach their maximum enrollment capacity. To see courses that have capacity issues, visit our Course Capacity List. Enrolling in OCS Courses See our new OCS Program page before enrolling in NCVPS courses. We have streamlined the process. For help with the OCS registration process, watch our OCS Registration Video. Enrolling in Intervention Co-Teaching Courses We have a new Intervention Co-Teaching Program page that gives details on the program and enrollment process. Watch our Intervention Co-Teaching Video to see the enrollment process. Registering Early Start Students in Standard Start Courses If you are an early-start school, you can still register your students into our Standard Start courses. If you need your students to finish early before the May 18 end date, please proceed to the next process. Early Final Grade Reporting for Standard Start Classes Our spring Standard Start courses end on May 18, 2021, and final grades will be reported on May 28. Districts and schools can opt for early reporting on May 14 by submitting this form. In addition to completing that form, it is essential that you communicate your end-date expectations to your students and our NCVirtual teachers. Do this early in the semester so that our teachers have time to adjust the pacing guides for your students. Please do not surprise your students or our teachers with a request for an early finish at the end of the semester. The communication here is essential. Calendars View our full 2020-2021 Calendar. Class Details Student Course Access Students will have access to their courses at 7 a.m. on the first day of classes. Before classes begin, students can go through our NCVirtual Demo Course for an orientation. We also have Pre-Instruction Resources for each class. These resources help students get a better understanding of courses before classes begin. Getting Started Direct students to our Getting Started as an NCVPS Student page before classes begin. This page will help students get oriented and answer all their questions on how our courses work. Support Features Weeks 1 and 2 – Access Check and Enrollment Options Visit our Access Check and Enrollment Options page for essential details to ensure your students have a successful start. Semester Success with NCVPS See our Semester Success with NCVPS page for some sure steps to help you and your students in their NCVPS classes. Printable Guides and Checklists We have a number of printable guides for ELAs, students, and parents. Canvas Parent App Parents, facilitators, and mentors and track their student’s progress with the Canvas Parent App. See the full details on our Canvas Parent App and Web Portal page. NCVPS App Download our NCVPS app to receive notifications on your smartphone. Search for “NCVPS” in the Apple and Android stores. See our App Announcement for details. Exam Updates CTE Final Assessments CTE courses will implement “Proof of Learning” this semester with either a state assessment, credentialing, performance-based measure, or a teacher-made exam. Schools must administer state assessments and credentialing exams. NCVirtual will administer teacher-made exams and performance-based measures. Here’s what we have for each NCVirtual CTE course: Accounting I – CTE State Assessment Accounting I Honors – CTE State Assessment Career Management – CTE State Assessment Computer Programming I – NCVPS Teacher-made Exam Computer Programming I Honors – NCVPS Teacher-made Exam eCommerce 1 Honors – NCVPS Teacher-made Exam Entrepreneurship I (BE/ME) – Performance-Based Measure (built into the course) Foundations of Information Technology – CTE State Assessment Marketing – Performance-Based Measure (built into the course) Microsoft Word and PPT – Credential Microsoft Excel – Credential Personal Finance – CTE State Assessment Principles of Business and Finance (BE/ME) – CTE State Assessment Python Programming I – Credential SAS Computer Programming – Credential Strategic Marketing – CTE State Assessment CTE Credentialing The following course credentials are offered through Certiport only: Python Programming I (MTA) Microsoft Word and PPT (MOS) Microsoft Excel (MOS) NCVPS students will continue to test or certify from their home school. The point of contact for setting up a school as a Certiport Authorized Testing Center (CATC) is Sara Cox (sara.cox@pearson.com). Sara will work directly with the schools to get them set up and functional, along with issuing exam voucher inventory based on enrollment. Certiport recently extended their “Exams from Home” offering so that students may continue to certify during the pandemic. Teachers will find more information about this at www.certiport.com/examsfromhome. A recent webinar hosted by Certiport was posted to the CSIT Moodle PLC. The enrollment key to join Moodle is CSITPlc2020. Additional information may be found there. For SAS Computer Programming- The SAS exam can only be obtained through SAS. The contact information for that is Tom Grant (Tom.Grant@SAS.com), State-Tested Courses For courses that have a state test, we will only report the final classwork average. Schools will need to administer all state testing. Non-State-Tested Courses For courses without a state test, we will report the following: Classwork grade (80%) Exam Grade (20%) Final Grade As you know, this now includes courses that used to have an NCFE and CTE courses with a teacher-made exam or performance-based measure. Schools and districts have flexibility with how those grades are recorded into PowerSchool. You can change the 80/20 weights if your district has a different policy. That will change the final average, so be sure to recalculate that. Exempt Exams If your district has a policy to exempt seniors (or others) from final exams, you do not need to record our exam grades. That is a local decision. In that case, you can use our classwork grade for the final grade. However, we still have the expectation for our teachers to administer our teacher-made final exams. Be sure to have that conversation with your students. Also, please notify our teachers with a list of students who will not be testing. Current Reporting What Grades Are Currently Posted? Dec. 17 – Early Start and Early-Reported Standard Start Final Grades Fall 2020 Dec. 17 – Standard Start Progress Report with Expected/Anticipated CTE Grades and Anticipated EOC Scores Posted in the NCVPS Registration System What’s Next on the Schedule? Jan. 14 – Standard Start and Early Start Final Grades Posted in the NCVPS Registration System Progress Report Action Steps What should your action steps be with our progress reports? We’re glad you asked! Visit our Progress Report Action Steps page for all the details. Reporting Overview See our Grades and Testing Quick Reference Guide for an overview of our reporting. We have details on our Student Status (No-Show) Reports, Progress Reports, Final Grade Reports, and how we calculate grades. NCVirtual’s Teacher Online Training Course Prepare your teachers for success in the online learning environment. Visit our Teacher Online Training page for details and registration. The course is free! The next course begins on Feb. 1, 2021. Additional start dates will be based on interest from individuals and districts. This course is asynchronous and facilitator-led. Facilitators have many years of experience in online learning and are specially trained to work with educators transitioning to this environment. * Participants work in cohorts to complete five modules. * A cohort is 35 to 50 educators. Open Webinars NCVirtual is pleased to host online events through our Culture Café, IworkNCVirtual Speaker Series, and Open House Events. Here’s what we have coming up: Culture Café Event: Japanese Kanji 101 Date and Time: Wednesday, January 6, 2021 – 8:00pm Location: Join a live session through our Culture Café page. Culture Café Event: Trip to Japanese Kanji Date and Time: Thursday, January 7, 2021 – 9:00pm Location: Join a live session through our Culture Café page. Daily Office Hours The Outreach and Support team has office hours Monday-Friday from noon to 1 p.m. Anyone can join, and we have breakout rooms ready if needed. Students & Parents – Do you have general questions about our program or concerns about your course? Visit the Outreach team during the lunch hour. We’re here to help! E-learning Advisors – Are you new to NCVirtual? Do you have questions about student performance? Unique enrollment requests? We’re here to help! E-learning Coordinators – Are you leading your district’s e-learning program? Are you looking for new ways to partner with us? Drop into the office hours, and let’s chat! Teachers – Want to learn about the Outreach team? Let’s talk! Visit our Lunch with NCVirtual page for details and the link to join us in our online room. Help NCVirtual is a support organization, and we are here to help! Check out our guides and support pages below. Printable Guides 2020-2021 Academic Year Guide Student Help Page Quick Reference Guides YouTube How-To Guides Virtual Support Center (Be sure to create an account before you submit your first ticket.) THANKS, EVERYONE! Your North Carolina students appreciate your dedication and hard work! View as Webpage | Subscribe  ‌  ‌  ‌

North Carolina Virtual Public School | 1017 Main Campus Drive, Partners I Bldg., SUITE 3900, Raleigh, NC 27606

2020 Is a Wrap

The fourth holiday greeting for today.

The NCVirtual staff wishes you a very happy holiday season and great prosperity in 2021! We know this holiday season is unlike any other, to cap off a year unlike any other. Instead of our usual end-of-year celebrations, this season we simply wish you moments of peace for you and your students and all your families. Even if we can’t have our usual gatherings in person this year, may the warmth of memories from holidays past and the prospects of a better new year bring you happiness. While we are having a hard time putting 2020 into words, we found our friends at Google did a pretty good job of it. We promise to rest and recuperate over the holidays, and we hope you will do the same. We know students will need all of us again in January, and it’s a special privilege to be there for them. Thank you for your continued support and partnership. We will “see” you in 2021. –The Staff at NCVirtual THANKS, EVERYONE! Your North Carolina students appreciate your dedication and hard work! View as Webpage | Subscribe  ‌  ‌  ‌

North Carolina Virtual Public School | 1017 Main Campus Drive, Partners I Bldg., SUITE 3900, Raleigh, NC 27606