CALPADS Update Flash #268

To:           Local Educational Agency (LEA) Representatives

From:      California Department of Education (CDE) –
                California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System (CALPADS) Team

Date:       March 15, 2024

Subject:  CALPADS Update FLASH #268

New State Seal of Civic Engagement Data Collection

Note: Local Educational Agencies (LEAs) who do not participate in the State Seal of Civic Engagement Program (SSCE) may disregard this Flash.

Background

Assembly Bill (AB) 24 (Chapter 604, Statutes of 2017) adds sections 51470 – 51474 to the California Education Code, establishing the State Seal of Civic Engagement (SSCE) program to encourage students to become civically engaged in democratic governmental institutions. The bill further requires the State Board of Education (SBE) to adopt criteria for earning an SSCE, which includes demonstrated excellence in civics education and participation and an understanding of the United States Constitution, the California Constitution, and the democratic system of government. Schools opting to participate in the program develop local requirements based on the SBE criteria adopted in September 2020. Full details regarding the AB-24 Instructional programs: State Seal of Civic Engagement bill can be found on the California Legislative Information’s AB-24 Instructional programs: State Seal of Civic Engagement web page at https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB24.

Additional information and resources regarding the SSCE can be found on the California Department of Education (CDE) State Seal of Civic Engagement web page at https://www.cde.ca.gov/pd/ca/hs/hssstateseal.asp.

Currently, participating local educational agencies (LEAs) submit an aggregate count of students expected to earn the SSCE to the CDE. Participating LEAs also indicate the eligible document to which seals are anticipated to be affixed, including diplomas, grade 11 or 12 transcripts, General Education Development certificates, or Certificates of Completion. Most LEAs request seals in the spring, a minimum of four weeks before the seals will be distributed. The CDE provides seals, based on that count, to schools for affixing to eligible documents. The 2023–24 SSCE insignia request form is available from the SSCE web page cited above. Please note that LEAs will follow this same timeline and process to request seals for eligible students, as that process has not changed. Participating LEAs will still request insignias for each school year using the online SSCE Insignia Request Form, available from the CDE State Seal of Civic Engagement web page at https://www.cde.ca.gov/pd/ca/hs/hssstateseal.asp.

New Data Collection for Students Earning a SSCE

Beginning in the 2023-24 school year, the CDE will collect data on the individual students who earn the SSCE for determining its use in the College/Career Indicator (CCI) on the California School Dashboard (Dashboard). This new data collection is based on the SBE’s request to the CDE to consider the inclusion of civic engagement in the CCI. For the last several years, the CDE has continued to apprise the SBE of potentially collecting this data through the annual Dashboard accountability workplan. For information on the recent workplan, please refer to the California SBE September 2023 Agenda Item 008 at https://www.cde.ca.gov/be/ag/ag/yr23/documents/sep23item08.docx.

The data will be collected through a new Education Data Collection System (EDCS) that is being administered by the CALPADS Office. LEAs participating in the program are requested to submit, to this new data collection tool, the individual students who earned the SSCE in 2023−24. The submission window will be May 1 through June 28, 2024. This data are not being collected in CALPADS at this time, and LEAs not participating in the SSCE may ignore this communication.

Steps to Prepare for the SSCE Submission

For students who completed the requirements for the SSCE in 2023−24, LEAs are requested to submit students’ Statewide Student Identifier (SSID), school district/school of attendance (i.e.,County-District-School [CDS] Code), grade level when the student earned the SSCE, and the document type to which this seal will be affixed.

All LEAs participating in the SSCE program are strongly encouraged to submit the requested data. In preparation for this data collection, LEAs should:

• Identify which schools in the LEA, if any, are participating in the SSCE program.
• Identify where the data (the SSID of students who earned the SSCE in 2023−24 and their grade level) are currently maintained.
• Ensure that the data are being maintained for each student earning the SSCE.
• Identify the staff person who will be responsible for uploading the data to the SSCE reporting system; this staff person may be, but does not have to be, the CALPADS administrator or a CALPADS staff person.

Specific Details to Come

The EDCS is currently scheduled to open May 1, 2024. Specific submission dates, submission requirements, and training and instructions on how to access EDCS to upload the SSCE data will be provided in the near future.