ScholarChip

Updates and News

Wednesday Update (2/12/2020) Access the training site at:

Training.scholarchip.com Access ScholarChip's official training site, which "offers training courses that are designed to support all users within a school district." Log in with the following credentials:

User ID: necsd Password: necsd412400

Wednesday 2/12/2020 - A restricted access shared drive has been created to house all related documents as well as archived documents from 2019.

Tuesday Update (10/4/2019)

ScholarChip provided three hour in-person professional development session at NFA North for administrators to review the dashboard, it's reporting capabilities, and strategies for using the system. A training site was also provided as a resource.

Tuesday Update (9/24/2019)

The district has been working with both ScholarChip and Infinite Campus to analyze and resolve the data inconsistencies we experienced during the start of school. This week we have asked the vendors for a detailed plan to move forward toward a full implementation. Such a plan will include a small sample group which can be carefully monitored and verified, gradually extending to other grades and schools until ultimately the district is at full implementation. Our goal remains a full implementation by the second grading semester.

Thursday Update (9/12/2019)

Effective immediately, the middle schools and K-8 schools will be using Infinite Campus (and only Infinite Campus) to enter attendance data.

The ScholarChip project is put on hold as we work out specifics related to data transfer.

Wednesday Update (9/11/2019)

Effective immediately (September 11, 2019), the high schools will be using Infinite Campus (and only Infinite Campus) to enter attendance data.

This does not impact middle schools.

Students must still tap into the cafeterias and it's highly suggested, that students also tap into the building.

Tuesday Update (9/10/2019) 5:20pm

Below are the reported actions taken today by ScholarChip :

• NFA North early morning eClass disruption caused by schedule data import failure Their period numbers exceeded the maximum field length of 2. This issue had been addressed previously. It crept back in due to user error with our source code control system. This has been corrected.
• Staff from last night's data file not brought in. Staff import has now been scheduled on ScholarChip side.
• NFA West -- missing period 1. This was the result of the school changing their period 1 designation to contain ADV in Infinite Campus. This exceeded the max field width in ScholarChip. ADV has been added as a string to suppress and we've requested advance notification from Newburgh when period designations are more than 2 characters.
• eClass users able to login but not showing roster. Discovered that some user accounts had userid values exceeding 16 character limit. eClass has been upgraded to allow 64 characters. Example teacher affected was REDACTED
• Researched REDACTED account. Developer temporarily changed his password, logged in successfully and saw his roster displayed. He had not logged in since 9/3. Has he been logged in since then? Please have him log out and back in.

Custom Tech reached out to us about data export to Infinite Campus and this request has been handed off to a developer at ScholarChip.

Tuesday Update (9/10/2019) 3:00pm

The following is a list of outstanding items to be resolved.

NFA Main

• Users not active in ScholarChip, uploaded should fix but will verify tomorrow
• Users can login but show blank screen, Scholar Chip is looking into this issue

NFA North

• Users not active in ScholarChip, upload should fix but will verify tomorrow
• Users can login but show blank screen, ScholarChip is looking into this issue
• Waiting for Tablets to be finalized for Kiosk Mode for Library and Math Lab - Followed up with ScholarChip today

NFA West

• 1st period was missing - Confirmed with ScholarChip this should be fixed tomorrow morning now that adjustment was made on their end. They had configured for HR1 but West had changed to 1ADV which was the issue.
• Letter Day is off - Sent information to ScholarChip as West has unique letter days arrangement for them to configure.
• Users not active in ScholarChip, uploaded should fix but will verify tomorrow
• Users can login but show blank screen, ScholarChip is looking into this issue

Temple Hill

• No problems Reported

Meadow Hill

• Users not active in ScholarChip, uploaded should fix but will verify tomorrow
• Some teachers schedules not showing students in ScholarChip - sent examples to Scholarchip today to verify

Heritage

• Users not active in ScholarChip, uploaded should fix but will verify tomorrow
• Some teachers schedules not showing students/sections in ScholarChip - sent examples to Scholarchip today to verify

South

• Users not active in ScholarChip, uploaded should fix but will verify tomorrow

All Buildings

• Working on SALA deployment now that issues are starting to settle down
• District is working with Infinite Campus to clean up export process back to IC to ensure it is working properly and then pulling data from all buildings (Currently West and Meadow Hill)

Tuesday Update (9/10/2019) 5:00 am

A representative group from the district had a conference call with Infinite Campus and ScholarChip Monday afternoon. Here are the takeaways and what we have been told we can expect for this morning.

• HR 1 doesn’t show (no first period for some teachers) - This is now resolved. Yesterday, nobody shared the HR 1 issue as occurring.
• No teachers should be taking attendance in IC. - Some teachers have taken attendance in Infinite Campus; they should not!
• Accounts are working but show blank on eClass page or showing ESY - A developer has finished working on this. There were 39 users who come up ESY and/or with blank pages. This should now be resolved, but won't be certain until this morning.
• Incomplete Rosters - Each teacher who reported an incomplete roster was researched; many instances were due to a co-teaching class with neither teacher designated in IC as the primary teacher. Sal is reaching out to schools that are impacted by this to determine the proper designation.
• Reconciliation of attendance is to be done in Infinite Campus - Only a small subset of schools is pushing data back to IC, allowing the developers an opportunity to closely monitor the data. Soon all schools will push back attendance data from ScholarChip to Infinite Campus within ten minutes after each period ends. Teachers will be able to correct/change any data while their class is in session; changes and reconciliation are to be done in Infinite Campus by attendance staff.
• Several teachers reported that ScholarChip does not reflect what is on a student's schedule - Schedule changes are pushed to ScholarChip from Infinite Campus once every evening.

Please continue to let Jeremy Wood or your technician know of any inconsistencies so they may be addressed promptly. Though there is frustration with the challenges we are facing, it's important to note that most teachers are reporting no problems and that the system is working properly. We are committed to resolving any outstanding issues.

Monday Update (9/9/2019)

As of 8:15 this morning, we are still waiting for a response from the vendor to inquiries made over the weekend.

• Many users that were having issues getting into ScholarChip on Friday that we reported to Scholar Chip should be resolved.
• With regard to the significant issue with First Period missing at NFA Main, NFA West, Temple, Meadow and Heritage. We are still waiting on an update on this and a confirmation it is resolved.
• There were some reported issues with schedules/rosters not updating in Scholar Chip. We have put this on the list for them to look into, as the schedules/rosters should be updating every night from Infinite Campus.
• Please continue to encourage your users to let the building's ITF or tech know when they are having issues with the system so that they can be submitted to Scholar Chip. this can either be sent to me or put in as a Help Desk ticket.
• The card holders and chrome book ID pouches are expected to arrive this week. The lanyards are scheduled to arrive next Friday (September 20th) at the latest.
• Currently the School Monitors who are using the Kiosks--as per the scheduled roll-out-- have received training on them. Mr. Tindall is following up with each throughout the day to see how they are doing and address any issues that come up.

Sunday Update (9/8/2019)

We are still waiting on some updates from ScholarChip. More details will be sent to each school's technician as they are received. The following is an update from Mr. Jeremy Wood, our senior network manager.

• Most users that were having issues getting into ScholarChip on Friday that we reported to ScholarChip should be resolved. There are still two users that are not showing correctly in the system, one from NFA Main and one at NFA West. All other users look like they should be set to access the system.
• The issue with first period missing at NFA Main, NFA West, Temple, Meadow and Heritage is still being resolved by the vendor. We are still waiting on an update on this and a confirmation it is resolved.
• There were some reported issues with schedules/rosters not updating in ScholarChip. We have put this on the list for them to look into as the schedules/rosters should be updating every night from Infinite Campus.
• Please continue to encourage users to let techs know when they are having issues with the system so that they can be submitted to ScholarChip.

Week 1 Update (9/6/2019)

The ScholarChip rollout began on the first day of school as scheduled at each building and ID cards were distributed to students as planned. Lanyards and clear pouches have been ordered and delivery is expected no later than September 20th. There were several challenges this week, most of which have been resolved. For example, we learned that as a district we did not have a universal coding for periods, and in some instances HR 1 (i.e. homeroom 1) was used to represent first period. The system does not recognize this as a legitimate period and first period teachers did not have a roster in ScholarChip. At NFA North, the teacher data synchronization with other district data systems generated errors and many teachers either could not log in or were not in the system as teachers. Our internal team and strong on-site support from ScholarChip worked with the various vendors to determine the cause and correct it. We believe this will be remedied by the start of school this morning. The teachers, staff and administrators at North were understanding and patient as we worked to resolve this complex challenge.

Syncing Schedules Occurs Overnight

Please be aware that schedule changes and new students will not appear in ScholarChip until the next day. All syncs for scheduling and registrations take place overnight and will be ready in ScholarChip the next day. For example, a student who has his afternoon schedule changed during third period will not have it appear in ScholarChip that day; it will appear the following morning.

Complete Training Video and Documentation

A comprehensive training video for classroom teachers is now available for viewing prior to the start of school. A shorter clip showing how to "tap in" will be available before the start of school.

ScholarChip Security and Attendance System for Students in Grades 6-12

The district is phasing in ScholarChip, a digital record attendance and security system for students in grades 6-12, enabling students to “tap in” for attendance with their ID card. During the first week of school, students will be provided with an ID card which will be used for attendance in each of the middle and high schools. Students are expected to carry their ID card at all times. For middle school students, attendance will be taken during homeroom/first period and during each scheduled class. High school students at NFA North and NFA West, will “tap in” to a ScholarChip kiosk upon entering school. Students at NFA Main will use the "tap in" method only for determining authorized student access to cafeterias during the first quarter and will roll to full implementation by the second semester.