California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System (CALPADS)
What data will CALPADS collect?
Will CALPADS reduce the LEA reporting burden?
What are the benefits of CALPADS other than reducing the LEA aggregate reporting burden?
When will CALPADS be implemented?
Who will have access to CALPADS data?
California Longitudinal Teacher Information Data Education System (CALTIDES)
What will CALTIDES collect?
What are SEIDs and who gets one?
When will SEIDs be disseminated?
When will CALTIDES be implemented?
Will teacher and student data be linked?
Statewide Student Identifier (SSID)
Who must have a Statewide Student Identifier (SSID)?
What is a SSID anomaly?
Who is responsible for acquiring and maintaining SSIDs?
Why should LEAs maintain their SSIDs?
What is the Annual SSID Maintenance?
California School Information Services (CSIS)
What is CSIS?
What Legislation initiated CSIS?
What is the mission of CSIS?
Is CSIS part of the California Department of Education?
What is the relationship of the California Department of Education to CSIS?
What is CSIS SRRTS (pronounced “Certs”)?
CSIS State Reporting LEAs
What are file creation parameters (formerly aggregation rules) and aggregate validation rules?
What is the comparability process?
Why does the state require a comparability process?
How often does a school district have to submit data during a comparability cycle?
Does a district have to resubmit comparability data after it is certified?
What does it mean to be a certified CSIS State Reporting district?
How are a LEA’s production CSIS data processed?
My district has a new superintendent. Who do we notify of the change?
My district has a new CSIS contact. Who do we notify of the change?
California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System (CALPADS)
What data will CALPADS collect?
Local educational agencies (LEAs) will be required to submit to CALPADS student level demographic (gender, race/ethnicity, primary language), program participation (e.g., special education, English Learner, migrant, Gifted and Talented), National School Lunch eligibility, student discipline, enrollment status, course enrollment, and course completion data. In addition LEAs must submit teacher course assignment data. It is anticipated that data submissions will occur in the fall, spring, and end-of-year, however, LEAs will be able to update information on an ongoing basis.
CALPADS will also manage and maintain the Statewide Student Identifiers (SSIDs). The SSID is a critical component of CALPADS and serves as the “key” enabling CALPADS to track student information longitudinally (see SSID Questions below for more information). The SSID assignment and management process will be an integrated component of CALPADS solution. CALPADS will utilize the existing SSIDs and provide all LEAs the ability to request new SSIDs and manage existing SSIDs similar to the current processes operated by the California School Information Services (CSIS).
Will CALPADS reduce the LEA reporting burden?
The California Department of Education (CDE) will derive many current state and federal reports from CALPADS, allowing the CDE to discontinue current aggregate collections. Once CALPADS is implemented, the CDE plans to discontinue the following aggregate collections: the three California Basic Education of Data System (CBEDS) collections (County District Form, School Information Form, and Professional Assignment Information Form), the Language Census (LCEN), the Student National Origin Report (SNOR), and specified pages of the Consolidated Application. The amount of student level data collected on the statewide assessments will also be reduced. After the initial implementation, the CDE plans to analyze other data collections and bring them into CALPADS to the extent practical and feasible.
While discontinuing these aggregate collections will reduce the LEA reporting burden, the CDE recognizes that there is increased workload in collecting, maintaining, and submitting accurate individual-level data.
What are the benefits of CALPADS other than reducing the LEA aggregate reporting burden?
CALPADS will serve as an information repository service that will help LEAs better serve students and to more effectively allocate resources. For example, when a new student comes to a district, using basic demographic information (the student’s name, birth date, gender, ethnicity) the district will be able to “find” basic information about the student, such as whether he/she has taken the California English Language Development Test (CELDT) and what his/her score was, or whether he/she is a special education student. This will allow the new school to immediately place the student in the appropriate educational program. When determining how to focus limited staff resources, LEAs will be able to determine whether students who have appeared to have dropped out, actually transferred to another school district, thus allowing the LEA to target staff resources on finding students who have truly dropped out.
LEAs will also have access to longitudinal data of their own students which can be integrated with other local data to provide for rich data to support local decision making.
When will CALPADS be implemented?
The current schedule has CALPADS being piloted in Spring 2009, with statewide rollout occurring in 2009-10. Visit the CALPADS Web page for project status.
Who will have access to CALPADS data?
The general public currently has access to a wealth of information on California’s schools and students through the CDE’s DataQuest Web site. Currently, the reports provided by DataQuest are limited to those that can be produced using aggregate data collected through the CDE’s current collections. Once implemented, CALPADS will become the primary data source for DataQuest, enabling the addition of many new reports. As provided now, DataQuest will continue to have limited query capacity. Reports not provided on DataQuest, but can be generated from CALPADS data, will be provided by the CDE as requested.
Educational researchers and other requestors may receive individual student level data consistent with state and federal privacy laws. The CDE will work with requestors to provide data compliant with existing privacy laws.
LEAs will have access to their own student level data. CALPADS will also provide LEAs with basic reports and limited query capacity.
California Longitudinal Teacher Information Data Education System (CALTIDES)
What will CALTIDES collect?
CALTIDES will not collect data directly from LEAs. The primary data sources for CALTIDES are CALPADS for teacher assignment data and student data, and the Commission on Teacher Credentialing’s (CTC’s) Credential Automation System Enterprise (CASE) database for teacher credential and authorization data. CALTIDES will link data from the two systems using a Statewide Educator Identifier (SEID). The linked data will be used primarily to provide quality data for federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) reporting and program evaluation, and to automate to the extent feasible, assignment monitoring. To facilitate NCLB reporting and the automation of assignment monitoring, the CDE and CTC may need to collect some additional information (HOUSSE data and local teaching options).
CALTIDES will maintain longitudinally, teacher credential and authorization data, including whether the credential was achieved through completion of a teacher preparation program or passage of an exam. CALTIDES will also include participation in internship and beginning teacher support programs. At this time, CALTIDES will not include participation in professional development programs because such data is currently not collected at the teacher level.
CALTIDES will not include personal information such as social security numbers, home addresses, telephone numbers, or e-mail addresses of individual teachers.
What are SEIDs and who gets one?
The Statewide Educator Identifier (SEID), authorized by Senate Bill 1614 (Chapter 840, Statutes of 2006) will be a statewide, unique, randomly-generated, non-personally identifiable, 10-digit number. A person will be assigned a SEID from the CTC when he/she submits an application for a document which indicates the person is seeking to become credentialed as an educator. This includes teachers, school administrators, counselors, librarians, nurses, and speech therapists.
When will SEIDs be disseminated?
By the spring of 2008, the CTC plans to have assigned SEIDs to all existing credentialed personnel currently working in LEAs, and will be assigning SEIDs to new credential applicants. The CTC will begin to disseminate SEIDs to county offices of education in Spring 2008.
When will CALTIDES be implemented?
It is anticipated that CALTIDES development and implementation will follow that of CALPADS by about one year. The CDE and CTC are currently developing the Request for Proposal (RFP) to hire a systems integrator to build the system. For project status visit the CALTIDES Web page.
Will teacher and student data be linked?
CALTIDES will have the ability to link individual student and teacher data. However, SB 1614 specifically prohibits the use of CALTIDES data either solely or in conjunction with CALPADS data for purposes of pay, promotion, sanction, or personnel evaluation of an individual teacher or groups of teachers, or of any other employment decisions related to individual teachers.
Statewide Student Identifier (SSID)
Who must have a Statewide Student Identifier (SSID)?
Every K-12 student attending a public school in California, including charter schools, is required to have a SSID. Pre-school and adult students attending a program operated by a public K-12 LEA may request and acquire a SSID, however, adult students must acquire a SSID if they plan to take the California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE) and receive a high school diploma from a K-12 school district. Visit the SSID Web page for more information.
What is a SSID anomaly?
A SSID anomaly is when two students have the same SSID, or one student has more than one SSID. When an anomaly is identified, the LEA(s) must resolve the anomaly and report the change to the SSID locator database operated by the California School Information Services (CSIS).
Who is responsible for acquiring and maintaining SSIDs?
Each LEA is responsible for acquiring and maintaining SSIDs for each of their students. Maintaining SSIDs includes disenrolling students who leave the district and resolving SSID anomalies.
Currently, each fall, all LEAs are required to submit an Annual SSID Maintenance, which includes a submission of records for each student enrolled in the school district the prior fall. Based on this submission, CSIS (the operator of the current SSID locator database) conducts a statewide integrity check of the student locator database and provides each LEA with a report of their SSID anomalies. LEAs are required to resolve these anomalies in order to maintain the integrity of the student locator database.
As briefly described above (see CALPADS Questions), the SSID information (contained in the student locator database) and all required SSID functionality will be integrated into CALPADS. With the implementation of CALPADS, LEAs will continue to be responsible for acquiring and maintaining SSIDs, now, through CALPADS. CSIS will continue to provide assistance to LEAs and in addition, CSIS will provide technical and end-user support for LEAs in the use of all CALPADS data collection functions.
Why should LEAs maintain their SSIDs?
SSIDs are the foundation for CALPADS to track and report individual student information longitudinally. CALPADS will serve as an information repository service that will help LEAs better serve students and to more effectively allocate resources. For example, when a new student comes to a district, using basic demographic information (the student’s name, birth date, gender, ethnicity) the district will be able to “find” basic information about the student, such as whether he/she has taken the California English Language Development Test (CELDT) and what his/her score was, or whether he/she is a special education student. This will allow the new school to immediately place the student in the appropriate educational program. When determining how to focus limited staff resources, LEAs will be able to determine whether students who have appeared to have dropped out, actually transferred to another school district, thus allowing the LEA to target staff resources on finding students who have truly dropped out. Therefore, the effectiveness of CALPADS as an information repository service depends on each and every LEA maintaining their SSIDs and providing accurate data to CALPADS.
What is the Annual SSID Maintenance?
Currently, each fall, all LEAs are required to submit an Annual SSID Maintenance, which includes a submission of records for each student enrolled in the school district the prior fall. Based on this submission, CSIS (operator of the current SSID locator database) conducts a statewide integrity check of the student locator database and provides each LEA with a report of their SSID anomalies. LEAs are required to resolve these anomalies in order to maintain the integrity of the student locator database.
Prior to the implementation of CALPADS, the Annual SSID Maintenance also serves as a transition from aggregate data collection to the individual-level data collection. In 2006 the Annual SSID Maintenance was the CDE’s vehicle to collect official statewide enrollment counts. In 2007, the CDE will also use the submission to collect official dropout and graduate counts This collection will be conducted in parallel with the traditional California Basic Educational Data System (CBEDS) collection which will continue to collect aggregate dropout and graduate counts. In 2008 the CDE intends to drop this portion of the CBEDS collection.
As part of the SSID Annual Maintenance, LEAs must report on the enrollment status for each student enrolled in each school the prior fall. If a student is no longer enrolled at the school, the LEA must report an exit/withdrawal code which indicates why a student has left the school. Visit the Exit/Withdrawal Web page for a list of the exit/withdrawal codes. Using these codes, the CDE will begin to calculate more accurate dropout and graduation rates. The CDE hopes to be able to convert this data into CALPADS, which would allow for a sooner calculation of a four-year graduation rate. Whether this can be done will depend on the quality of the Annual SSID Maintenance data.
Once CALPADS is implemented, today’s Annual SSID Maintenance data will be captured as part of the normal CALPADS data submission process. As part of the transition to the CALPADS environment, the CDE will work closely with the LEAs to ensure the LEAs are informed, trained, and prepared for any potential process changes associated with current data submission processes.
California School Information Services (CSIS)
What is CSIS?
The California School Information Services (CSIS) program is a statutorily authorized local educational entity with a specific mission (See “What is the mission of CSIS?” below). CSIS is administered out of the Kern County Office of Education, and is overseen by the Fiscal Crisis Management Assistance Team (FCMAT).
What Legislation initiated CSIS?
The California Legislature initially authorized the CSIS program in the 1997 Budget Act item, 6110-101-0349 (AB 107, Chapter 282). The program was permanently authorized in Assembly Bill 1115 (Chapter 78/99), which added sections 49080 through 49083 to the Education Code. In 2002, Senate Bill 1453 (Ch1002/02) added Education Code Section 49084, which establishes the one-time allocation LEAs will receive for participating in CSIS.
What is the mission of CSIS?
As stated in Education Code Section 49080, the mission of CSIS is to do all of the following:
"Build the capacity of local education agencies to implement and maintain comparable, effective and efficient pupil information systems that will support their daily program needs, assist local education agencies in improving the outcomes of pupils, and promote the use of information for educational decision making by school site, district office, and county staff.
Enable the accurate and timely exchange of pupil transcripts between local education agencies and to postsecondary institutions.
Assist local educational agencies (LEAs) to transmit state and federal reports electronically to the State Department of Education, thereby reducing the reporting burden of LEA staff."
In addition, Senate Bill (SB) 1453 (Ch1002/02) responds to federal legislation No Child Left Behind Act and mandates that CSIS assign a unique, non-personally identifiable student identifier to all students in California public schools from kindergarten to grade twelve.
Is CSIS part of the California Department of Education?
No. CSIS is a separate office under the oversight of the Fiscal Crisis Management and Assistance Team (FCMAT), operated from the Kern County Office of Education. The CSIS office is located at 770 L Street, suites 1120 and 1180, in Sacramento, California 95814.
What is the relationship of the California Department of Education to CSIS?
The Department and CSIS work collaboratively on a number of projects. The major projects include:
California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System (CALPADS): CALPADS will be a longitudinal database that includes student (demographic, program participation, assessment, enrollment) and teacher level data. The CDE and CSIS are collaborating on the development and implementation of CALPADS, which will be built by a system integration vendor. CALPADS will be a CDE system housed at a state data center and maintained by CSIS. Participation in this program will be mandatory.
Statewide Student Identifiers (SSIDs): CSIS assists all LEAs to acquire and maintain SSIDs. The SSIDs will be the foundation of CALPADS. To maintain the SSIDs all LEAs must submit an Annual SSID Maintenance each fall. The CDE uses enrollment counts from this submission as the LEAs official enrollment. Participation in this program is mandatory.
CSIS State Reporting Program: LEAs participating in the CSIS State Reporting Program transmit five state reports through CSIS to the CDE. The five state reports include: the California Basic Educational Data System (CBEDS) reports which includes the County District Information Form, the School Information Form, and the Professional Assignment Information Form, the Language Census, and the Student National Origin Report. Participation in this program is voluntary and is limited to existing participating LEAs because the program will transition into submitting data directly to CALPADS. LEAs not participating in the CSIS State Reporting Program may participate in the Best Practices Cohort (described below) to prepare them to submit data directly to CALPADS.
Best Practices Cohort: CSIS administers the Best Practices Cohort grant program designed to build local data management practices and infrastructure to prepare LEAs to collect, maintain, report, and validate student- and teacher-level data to CALPADS. This program will be available to LEAs not participating in the CSIS State Reporting Program. Participation in this program is voluntary.
What is CSIS SRRTS (pronounced "Certs")?
The State Reporting and Records Transfer System (SRRTS) is the software application developed and maintained by CSIS to conduct State Reporting, records transfer, and SSID functions.
CSIS STATE REPORTING LEAS
What are file creation parameters (formerly aggregation rules) and aggregate validation rules?
File creation parameters (formerly called aggregation rules) are written statements that tell CSIS SRRTS how to take individual records and create records that meet the state's reporting needs. These "extracts" are built by SRRTS using the aggregation rules and related requirements.
Aggregate validation rules are written statements that tell SRRTS how to check the extracts after the data have been added together according to the aggregation rules. The rules are provided by the CDE program area that administers the data collections transmitted through CSIS.
What is the comparability process?
Comparability is the process of checking and verifying that data submitted through CSIS are a reasonable match to the data submitted to the CDE in the traditional manner. Comparability must be established by each LEA for each data collection moved through CSIS. Establishing comparability begins with the LEA making a parallel submission of a data collection through CSIS and the traditional manner. The two submissions are compared, and discrepancies are identified and addressed. Generally, a single parallel submission will result in comparability. Once an LEA has established comparability with a data collection, the LEA submits those data only through CSIS.
Why does the state require a comparability process?
In most cases, the data submitted through CSIS are collected in a different way than data submitted directly to the CDE. Specifically, most CSIS data originate in student records and are submitted to CSIS as individual elements; CSIS then aggregates the elements into reports submitted to the CDE. On the other hand, the CDE receives information mostly as data already aggregated by the LEAs into reports. For example, enrollment from CSIS will be calculated electronically by adding student records based on each student's enrollment start and end dates. In contrast, most CDE enrollment collections rely on a "head count" conducted at a school or district.
Because the CDE produces state reports by merging data submitted through CSIS with data submitted by LEAs directly to the CDE in the traditional manner, it is important to establish that the two data sets represent the same information and therefore are appropriate to merge. If data from the two data sources are not comparable, LEAs may be at a disadvantage depending on how the data were submitted and whether data in the state report are flawed.
How often does a school district have to submit data during a comparability cycle?
Districts are allowed to transmit as many CSIS and traditional data submissions as necessary to achieve comparability. Historically, LEAs submit their CBEDS data four to six times to achieve comparability.
Does a district have to resubmit comparability data after it is certified?
Certified LEAs submit their data only through CSIS, which becomes the LEA's traditional submission.
What does it mean to be a certified CSIS State Reporting district?
A certified CSIS district meets its state reporting obligation for a specified data collection simply by submitting its data into CSIS' Datagate. CSIS will aggregate the data for data collections and transmit "batches" of data to the CDE. The CDE will process the LEA’s data collection submissions to the program offices that administer the data collections.
How are a LEA’s production CSIS data processed?
LEA production data submissions are transmitted by CSIS to the CDE. The CALPADS Operations Office in the CDE provides the data submissions to the program offices that administer the data collections.
My district has a new superintendent. Who do we notify of the change?
You can notify the CDE administrator by calling Linda Sukauskas at 916-327-4014; by fax at 916-327-0195; e-mail LSukausk@cde.ca.gov, or visit the County-District-School Codes Web page.
My district has a new CSIS contact. Who do we notify of the change?
You can contact the CSIS Program at 916-325-9200 or by fax at 916-325-9290.
