CALPADS Update Flash #273

To:           Local Educational Agency (LEA) Representatives

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

Date:       May 29, 2024

Subject:  CALPADS Update FLASH #273

2023−24 End-of-Year Submission Deadlines

As communicated to county and district superintendents and charter school administrators in a letter dated April 29, 2024, https://www.cde.ca.gov/ds/sp/cl/eoy2324.asp, the End-of-Year (EOY) submission window opened on May 7, 2024. Local Education Agencies (LEAs) must approve their EOY submissions by the July 26, 2024 certification deadline. To meet this deadline, LEAs are strongly encouraged to resolve all fatal errors by July 12 to provide adequate time to thoroughly review the certification reports before certifying. Special Education Local Plan Areas (SELPAs) are strongly encouraged, but not required, to approve LEA EOY 3 and EOY 4 submissions by this deadline.

LEAs must approve all EOY submissions, and SELPAs must approve EOY 3 and 4 submissions, by the final August 16, 2024 amendment deadline. LEAs are reminded that this final deadline is one week earlier than in past years.

Much of the EOY certified data is used to develop the accountability indicators on the California School Dashboard (Dashboard). New statutory deadlines for the posting of the Dashboard necessitate the earlier August 16, 2024 EOY submission deadline. Therefore, it is important for LEAs to plan their work to meet this deadline, which will not be extended.

LEAs are also reminded that students must complete all graduation requirements by August 15, 2024, and their data submitted to CALPADS by August 16, 2024, to be counted as 2023−24 graduates. Therefore, it is important that LEAs carefully review the 2023−24 cohort data reports 15.1 – Cohort Outcome – Count, and 15.2 – Cohort Outcome – Student Details, as these data will be pulled from CALPADS on August 16, 2024 when the EOY amendment window closes, and any additional changes LEAs may make after this date will not be included in Dashboard calculations.

EOY Updates and Reminders

The following sections reiterate updates given to LEAs in the March 2024 regional meetings and some recent updates.

EOY 4 Special Education Updates

Flash 270, 2023−24 EOY 4, Special Education Revised Guidance, and Other Updates, highlighted the EOY 4 changes. In that Flash it was reported that certification report 16.22 – Students with Disabilities – Special Education Status and Non-Participation Reason Count, and supporting report 16.23 – Students with Disabilities – Special Education Status and Non-Participation Reason Student List, were not yet available. We are happy to report that both reports 16.22 and 16.23 are now available in production.

Additionally, all Certification Data Discrepancies (CDDs) that will be required for 2023−24 EOY 4 are in production. On May 28, 2024 the LEA/SELPA approval buttons were enabled, allowing LEAs/SELPAs to approve their EOY 4 submissions. Refer to Flash 270 for all other EOY 4 changes.

EOY 3 Updates

Outstanding Certification Data Discrepancy (CDD): CDD SIRS0490E3 – Missing Incident Result Authority Code is currently disabled. It will be re-enabled in production on June 4, 2024.

Report Changes to Increase Data Quality for Key Data: To enhance data quality and make it easier for LEAs to spot unusual data, enhancements have been made to key reports that include data used in determining Dashboard indicators. The enhanced reports include the following:

*Certification Reports

• Chronic Absenteeism Indicator: The data LEAs certify in report 14.1 – Student Absenteeism – Count, are used to calculate the Chronic Absenteeism Indicator on the Dashboard. By adding a column that displays when a school reports zero absences for the year (“perfect attendance”) for all students, LEAs can more easily spot potential data quality issues that can be addressed before data are certified.

• One-Year Graduate Counts and Graduation Rate Indicator: The data LEAs certify in report 1.22 – Graduates and Completers – Count, are used for publicly reporting one-year graduates and completers on DataQuest. Displaying prior-year graduate counts on certification report 1.22, provides context for the current-year graduate counts LEAs are certifying. Comparing prior-year to current-year counts helps LEAs identify when their graduate counts are off and provides the opportunity to address issues before data are certified. This also helps ensure the quality of the data used for calculating the 4-year Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate (ACGR) when those data are pulled from the CALPADS Operational Data Store (ODS) at the same time the EOY submission closes.

• Graduation Rate and College/Career Indicators: LEAs should carefully review ODS Report 15.1 – Cohort Outcome – Count, as these data are used to calculate the Graduation Rate Indicator and College/Career Indicator (CCI) on the Dashboard. The cohort reports have been updated to display, for students earning a regular high school diploma, whether they have met University of California (UC)/California State University (CSU) a-g requirements or earned a State Seal of Biliteracy. Both of these attributes contribute to the calculation of a school’s CCI.

• Reminder to Populate Graduation Exemption Indicator: As communicated in Flash 260, beginning with students graduating in the 2023−24 school year, LEAs are required to confirm whether graduating high school students completed all state graduation requirements for a standard high school diploma but were exempt from local graduation requirements. Pursuant to Education Code Section 51225.1(s), the CDE must publicly post these data. To meet this reporting requirement, LEAs are reminded that they must populate Field 1.35 – Graduation Exemption Indicator on the Student Enrollment (SENR) file for all students with School Completion Status of 100 – Graduated, standard HS diploma. LEAs are reminded of the fatal Input Validation Rules (IVRs) that will trigger if this field is not appropriately populated.

EOY 3 – Student Incidents: No changes have been made to the reporting of student incidents. However, LEAs are reminded of the following:

• Report Incidents of the Use of Restraint and/or Seclusion for All Students: As communicated in a letter dated April 12, 2024, sent to county and district superintendents and charter school administrators (https://www.cde.ca.gov/ds/sp/cl/ressec20240412.asp), LEAs were reminded that Education Code sections 49005-49006.4 requires LEAs to collect and report to the CDE all incidents in which a student, with or without an individualized education program (IEP) or 504 plan, is restrained (mechanically or physically), or secluded. LEAs submit and certify these data as part of EOY 3.

• Only Report Incident Results When a Statutory Offense is Committed: LEAs are reminded that they should only submit a result of “Other Means of Correction” on the Student Incident Results (SIRS) file, when a student has committed a statutory offense. LEAs should not report the result of− “Other Means of Correction” when a statutory offense was not committed. Beginning in 2024−25, LEAs will receive a fatal EOY 3 certification error if a student has an Incident Result of300 – Other Means of Correction, and there is not an associated Student Offense (SOFF) record.

EOY 1 Update

Work-Based Learning – New Code: LEAs populate Field 21.13 −Internship-Employer Performance Evaluation Codeon the Work-Based Learning (WBLR) file with codes from the "Internship Employer Performance Evaluation" code set. A new code has been added to this code set to identify when an employer does not evaluate a student or fails to provide the evaluation. The new code “5 - Not Provided by Employer” was added to the CALPADS Code Sets v15.2 (effective for the 2023–24 academic year) and posted on the CDE CALPADS System Documentation web page at https://www.cde.ca.gov/ds/sp/cl/systemdocs.asp.

Available Resources to Support 2023-24 EOY

There are several available resources to help with completing the 2023-24 EOY 1 - 4 submissions. These include recorded training sessions accessible on the CSIS Training Channel on YouTube, which can be found at https://www.youtube.com/@CSISCALPADSTrainingChannel/playlists.

LEAs can also download the EOY Reporting Roadmap from the link in the CALPADS User Manual at https://documentation.calpads.org/Training/EOYReportingRoadmap. The EOY Reporting Roadmap includes an EOY Checklist that will assist LEAs in completing EOY by the July 26, 2024 deadline. Additionally, the CALPADS team continues to hold Question and Answer (Q&A)/Office Hours every Wednesday at 3:00 p.m. on Zoom. All LEAs are welcome to attend and ask any questions that they may have about EOY or other CALPADS related issues. Information on accessing the Q&A/Office Hours can be found on the CSIS CALPADS Support web page at https://csis.fcmat.org/calpads-support.