Newsletter Highlights
- Beginning Steps to Ensure a Smooth Fall Data Submission
- OPUS Update
- CALPADS in Progress!
- The Fight for Local Funding for Data Management Continues
- Funding Opportunity to Prepare for CALPADS: Don't Miss Your Chance to Register!
- Anomaly Detection and Resolution Functionality
- Plant Those SEIDS Before the Summer Ends!
Beginning Steps to Ensure a Smooth Fall Data Submission
By Nancy Sullivan, Special Projects Administrator, CSIS
All local educational agencies (LEAs) are required to complete a fall data submission through the California School Information Services (CSIS). For most LEAs, this is the Annual Statewide Student Identifier (SSID) Maintenance. For the 250 LEAs in CSIS State Reporting, it is the Fall State Reporting submission. For all LEAs, the submission window begins on October 1, 2008. Those responsible for the submission can make the job significantly easier by completing preparation tasks in early fall.
Recommended tasks for August and September include:
- Obtain or renew your CSIS Digital Certificates if necessary. Digital Certificates are valid for one year. You need to request a renewal before yours expires or you run the risk of trying to get into DataGate and finding that you no longer have access. Avoid the stress caused by expired certificates by checking your Digital Certificate and renewing it if necessary! To check when your certificate expires, open either DataGate or Extended Client DataGate. When your Digital Certificate information appears on the screen, click on the View Certificate button. A new Certificate window will open and the dates your certificate is valid will appear on the General tab. If the certificate will expire during the fall submission window, visit CSIS Certificate Pages (Outside Source), and use the Renew Certificate link to renew the certificate. Wait for the "Retrieve CSIS Certificate" e-mail from CSIS Support and then use the Pick Up Renewal Certificate link on the web site to pickup the renewed certificate. After successful installation to your browser, go to TOOLS>INTERNET OPTIONS> CONTENT TAB>CERTIFICATES button and remove the certificate that was about to expire.
- If you have not already done so, download a copy of the CSIS Schedule and Milestones from the CSIS Schedule of Milestones and Activities (Outside Source) and use this schedule to build a local calendar that supports completing the work on or before the suggested dates.
- Obtain SSIDs for new students before the submission begins on October 1.
- If you have not already done so, download a copy of the Data Submission Requirements (DSR) document from the CSIS Reporting Requirements section (Outside Source) of the CSIS Library Web site. SSID-only LEAs should download the DSR for the Annual SSID Maintenance and State Reporting LEAs should download the DSR for Fall State Reporting. Make sure all of the required data are entered into your local student information system for each enrolled or exited student.
- Refer to the CDE Exit/Withdrawal Code Descriptions (DOC; 209KB; 19pp.) for guidance on use of exit/withdrawal codes and information about how the various exit/withdrawal codes will be grouped for state and federal reporting purposes. Gather and enter student exit/withdrawal codes and the exit dates as early as possible.
- Review the Expected Schools List mailed to your CBEDS Coordinator in August. (This list is also available on CDE’s CBEDS Coordinator Web page.) Resolve discrepancies by contacting CDE by e-mail at CDECSIS@cde.ca.gov. If your LEA has an alternative school on CDE’s Expected Schools List that will not have enrollment on October 1 but will have enrollment later in the year, contact CDE to notify them that the school will not have enrollment to report on October 1.
- Visit the CDE SSID Annual Maintenance Data Submission Web page to verify which charter schools CDE expects to report with the chartering district and which CDE expects to report independently. If the web page does not agree with your understanding, the chartering district should contact CDE by e-mail at CDECSIS@cde.ca.gov to resolve the discrepancy. Notify CDE as soon as possible to avoid delays later in the submission cycle.
- Attend CSIS training. Reporting data at the individual student level takes time. New staff need an orientation to submission requirements and process. Experienced staff benefit from a review of changes. All staff need to be properly trained to complete the submission and to resolve any errors. Encourage staff to register for and take CSIS training early in the fall. Visit the CSIS E-Learning Center (Outside Source) for information and schedules for the CSIS web-based training.
- Submit data early! In order to gauge how well your data aligns with SRRTS edits, your LEA should submit data for at least one school by October 17, submit data for all of your students and all of your schools by November 17, and generate your reports no later than December 1 to allow sufficient time to reconcile enrollment, graduate, dropout, and NCLB category enrollment counts.
Completing these tasks now will help prevent common problems many encounter later in the submission window. Begin these tasks now so that you are well prepared and are able to meet the December 12 submission deadline.
If you have questions or need assistance, contact CSIS Support by e-mail at support@csis.k12.ca.us.
OPUS Update
By Steve Smith, Manager, CALPADS Operations Office, CDE
The data management division has revised the Online Public Update for Schools (OPUS) rollout activities schedule. Both OPUS Phases I and II will be operational by October 1, 2008 (fall Information day). The CDE Educational Demographics Office will send two letters to individual LEAs by October 1, 2008 that include OPUS instructions, usernames, and passwords.
- The first letter containing information about using OPUS to maintain the CDS directory information will be sent to local superintendents.
- The second letter containing information on the state reporting data (formerly in the CBEDS and CSIS state reporting methods) that will now will be submitted through OPUS will be sent to CBEDS and CSIS coordinators.
Training information will be available on the OPUS web page in September. For more information, visit the OPUS Web page. In May the CDE solicited questions about OPUS from LEAs in order to enhance the OPUS FAQ Web page. The CDE received questions from LEAs statewide and has updated the OPUS FAQ web page with those questions and answers. For more information, visit the OPUS FAQ Web page.
CALPADS in Progress!
By Paula Mishima, Special Projects Manager, CDE
Steady progress is being made on the development of the California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System (CALPADS). In June, the CALPADS team gathered input from local educational agencies (LEAs) in a series of two-day process design sessions held in Orange County, Fresno, and Sacramento. In July, meetings were held with student information system (SIS) vendors and LEAs with custom systems to review the draft CALPADS file submission for-mats. The CALPADS Advisory Committee (CAC), made up of 29 LEA representatives, has provided input in meetings and conference calls on the file formats and various process issues. Based on the input received from these venues, the CALPADS team is finalizing the file submission formats and is beginning micro design activities. The file submission formats, along with reference sets and business rules, will be released later in the month of September. These documents will be posted on an FTP site for LEAs to download and information about retrieving these documents will be sent via the CALPADS listserv (see the last paragraph of this article) as soon as they are available.
A total of 11 file submission formats are proposed: SSID/Enrollment, Student Information, Student Program, Health, Course, Course Section, Student Course Section, Staff Demographic, Staff Assignments, Discipline, Student Waivers, and Pre-ID. The data currently collected in the Annual SSID Maintenance and CBEDS will be collected in the fall, as it is today. The spring collection will be a pull of data on English Learner and Immigrant status. There will be an end-of-year collection that will include student program participation and course completion data (grades and credits earned for departmentalized courses in grades 7-12). The end-of-year collection will satisfy various federal reporting requirements, and will enable the discontinuance of a number of pages on the Consolidated Application Part I, and the Perkins report.
After system design, the IBM team will begin development, which will be followed by testing and User Acceptance Testing (UAT) in the spring of 2009. The CDE is soliciting LEAs interested in participating in the CALPADS Pilot UAT. The CDE hopes to have a pilot group of approximately 120 LEAs representing California’s diversity. LEAs will be able to submit data either through a batch submission of data in the form of standardized flat files or through online data entry via a dedicated, web-based portal. CALPADS will also provide the option for LEAs to submit student enrollment data using School Interoperability Framework (SIF) compliant data objects. If your LEA is interested in being in the CALPADS Pilot UAT group, please submit a contact name, the name of your LEA, SIS product and version used by your LEA, and anticipated submission type, to the CALPADS e-mail address, CALPADS@cde.ca.gov. The CDE will be accepting requests through the end of this calendar year, and will select the pilot group by January 2009.
The CDE also plans to provide webcast sessions on the file submission formats after they are released. The sessions will provide an orientation to the file formats and will highlight any major changes in how data will be collected in CALPADS. One change that will be highlighted is the implementation of the new federal requirements for collecting and reporting race and ethnicity data. Such information will also be provided through the California School Information Services (CSIS) Best Practices training sessions.
With the statewide system implementation date of fall 2009 just over a year away, the CALPADS team recognizes that LEAs are anxious to know exactly what will be expected in terms of data submissions to CALPADS. To provide more frequent and accessible communications to LEAs on the CALPADS project, the CDE is establishing a CALPADS-LEA one-way listserv.
Listserv messages will go out to all LEAs announcing when various project documents will be posted on a CALPADS FTP site. Initially the CALPADS-LEA listserv will be restricted to LEA representatives and all requests for membership will be reviewed before approval is granted. If you would like to subscribe to the CALPADS-LEA listserv, please send an e-mail message to subscribe-calpads-lea@mlist.cde.ca.gov and your request will be submitted for review. We strongly recommend that someone from your LEA maintain an active subscription to the CALPADS-LEA listserv as it will serve as a vital means of communicating information about the development and implementation of the CALPADS project.
The Fight for Local Funding for Data Management Continues
By Paula Mishima, Special Projects Manager, CDE
While the 2008 Budget is still in
the hallowed halls of the Legislature, funding for CALPADS, CALTIDES,
CSIS, and the Best Practices Cohort appears to be determined. Funding for the
continued development and implementation of CALPADS is in the budget, as well
as funding to continue to procure a systems integration vendor for CALITDES.
CSIS received funding to support both
current data collection activities and to
collaborate on CALPADS development
and implementation. Finally, funding is
currently included in the budget to support
the LEAs who have not yet signed up to
participate in the Best Practices Cohort.
As soon as the budget is passed, CSIS
will notify the remaining eligible LEAs of
this important opportunity.
The budget does not include ongoing
funding to support local data activities as
requested by the CDE. Obviously such
funding was difficult to come by in a year
of budget cuts. The CDE, however, will
again submit for 2009-10, a request for
ongoing funding to support the ongoing
maintenance of SSIDs, and to collect,
maintain, and submit individual level data
to CALPADS. This funding support for
LEAs will continue to be one of Superintendent Jack O’Connell’s highest priorities.
Funding Opportunity to Prepare for CALPADS: Don’t Miss Your Chance to Register!
By Nancy Sullivan, Special Projects Administrator, CSIS
The California School Information
Services (CSIS) Best Practices
Cohort Project provides funding to help eligible local education agencies (LEAs)
prepare for the California Longitudinal
Pupil Achievement Data System
(CALPADS). When CALPADS is implemented in 2009-10, all LEAs will be required
to submit individual-level data to
this system, including both student and
certificated staff data. The Best Practices Cohort Project will likely be the
only targeted funding opportunity to help
LEAs prepare for this new system.
Many eligible LEAs report have not yet
joined the project and time is running
out! The list of eligible LEAs (XLS; Outside Source) and the
amount of funding each LEA may receive if they participate is accessible
from
Best Practices (BP) Cohort Project (Outside Source). The
minimum funding available is $15,000
per LEA and for larger LEAs the funding
is $8.51/student.
CSIS currently has a waiting list for the
project. Additional funding has been
requested in the FY0809 Budget. As
soon as CSIS receives approval to fund
additional contracts, CSIS will begin
serving those LEAs on the waiting list
and will serve others on a first come,
first served basis until all project funding
is allocated.
Participating LEAs are improving their
local data management practices and
will be better prepared for CALPADS. If
your LEA is eligible, prepare for CALPADS by joining the Best Practices Cohort Project now! Visit the Best Practices (BP) Cohort Project (Outside Source)
and:
- Scroll down to the Letter of Intent section, complete the Letter of Intent, and submit it to CSIS as instructed on the form.
- Scroll down to the W-9 Information section, complete the W-9 form, and fax it to Tamie Triplett at 661-636-4647.
LEAs wanting more information about the project should visit Best Practices (BP) Cohort Project (Outside Source) and download the Frequently Asked Questions (PDF; Outside Source) about the project.
Anomaly Detection and Resolution Functionality
By Nancy Sullivan, Special Project Administrator, CSIS
In the spring of 2008, the California School Information Services (CSIS) deployed Anomaly Detection and Anomaly Resolution (ADAR) functionality in DataGate. CSIS now regularly detects and provides local educational agencies (LEAs) visibility into three types of anomalies (potential errors in SSIDs or subsequent exit records):
- Multiple Identifier Anomalies (also known as MID anomalies) that occur when an SSID appears to have been issued to more than one student or one student with multiple SSIDs,
- Concurrent Enrollment Anomalies (also known as CCE anomalies) when a single student appears to be enrolled in more than one school or one local education agency, and
- Exit Reason Discrepancies (also known as ERD anomalies) that occur when there is a conflict between an exit reason and a subsequent enrollment record, such as a new enrollment for a student who was exited as a high school graduate.
Unlike the fall submission, ADAR does not have a specific beginning and ending date. Instead, ADAR functionality will always be available in DataGate. LEAs are to review and resolve their anomalies on an ongoing basis. The emphasis to resolve 0708 CCE and ERD anomalies will come to a close in September; LEAs should shift focus to 0809 anomalies in January after the Annual SSID Maintenance is complete. Addressing these anomalies is key to improving the data conversion and transition to CALPADS.
It is extremely important that all LEAs engage in anomaly resolution and that all LEAs strive to develop and maintain good practices regarding SSID assignment and maintenance. Remember, your practices with respect to SSIDs can cause anomalies for other LEAs and all LEAs need to do their part in helping to maintain accurate SSIDs by:
- Investigating possible candidates during the assignment of the SSID to determine if the student already has an SSID rather than obtaining a new one.
- Putting the SSID on cum folders or paperwork given to the parents at the time of transfer to another LEA so that the receiving LEA knows the student’s SSID.
- Exiting students promptly when they leave your LEA, including frequent Periodic Enrollment Updates so that the Locator Database is updated with current information.
- Make proper use of the exit/withdrawal codes. Remember that students who finish the school year and are expected to return to the same school should not be given an exit code of 160. If you have questions on the use of exit codes, please obtain and read the Exit/Withdrawal Reason Questions and Answers (PDF; Outside Source) by visiting the CSIS SSID Documents Web page (Outside Source) and scrolling down to the Questions & Answers & Known Issues section.
- Setting aside time on a regular basis to investigate and resolve possible anomalies and cooperating with LEAs that contact you about shared anomalies.
- Monitoring your anomaly rate by visiting the CSIS Statewide Student Identifiers Web site (Outside Source) and selecting your county anomaly report. Work to ensure your anomaly rate decreases over time and strive to reduce it to 2 percent or less.
Remember you must attend CSIS training to gain access to the ADAR functionality in DataGate. If you have not yet registered for ADAR training, please visit the SSID Training Schedule and Registration Web page (Outside Source) to register. Note that there are two classes on anomalies, one for ERD anomaly resolution and another on MID and CCE resolution. You should begin with the ERD class.
Preventing and resolving anomalies is the responsibility of all LEAs. The SSID data will be migrated to the CALPADS system in June 2009 and you should make sure you are using the correct unique identifier for your students prior to that transition.
Plant Those SEIDS Before the Summer Ends!
By Paula Mishima, Special Projects Manager, CDE
The foundation of the California Longitudinal Teacher Integrated Data Education System (CALTIDES) will be the Statewide Educator Identifier (SEID) (pronounced “Seed”) required of all credentialed personnel working in California’s K-12 public schools. The Commission on Teacher Credentialing (CTC) has disseminated SEIDs to all county offices. The counties should have completed their dissemination of the SEIDs to their respective LEAs by the end of July. LEAs are strongly encouraged to populate their student information and human resource systems with the SEIDs well before October 2008, when they will be required on the CBEDS Professional Assignment Information Form (PAIF).
If your LEA has not received your SEIDs, contact the credential analyst at your county office of education. In addition, the SEIDs are now available from the CTC online Web document (Outside Source). Access to the SEID lookup is restricted to CIG users and requires the same username and password for login. If you do not already have access to the CIG, you may obtain the login information by contacting the Commission by e-mail at credentials@ctc.ca.gov.
Once the SEID is being used by COEs and LEAs in state reporting, the CDE will be able to relieve LEAs from reporting the teacher credential information provided annually on the PAIF.
Following SEID dissemination is the procurement of a vendor to build and implement CALTIDES. Currently, the CALTIDES Request for Proposal (RFP) is on the street and being considered by a number of vendors. Led by the Department of General Services (DGS), the CDE and CTC will be reviewing technical draft proposals, draft proposals, and final proposals, with selection of a vendor scheduled for June 2009, and commencement of the CALTIDES contract in January 2010. The current implementation date for CALTIDES is the fall of 2011.
