CALPADS Update Flash #233

To:           Local Educational Agency (LEA) Representatives

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

Date:      August 10, 2022

Subject:  CALPADS Update FLASH #233

SSID Matching Tool Now Available

As referenced in CALPADS Flash 231, the CDE has released a new Statewide Student Identifier (SSID) Matching Tool which will allow local educational agencies (LEAs) to upload a batch Student Enrollment (SENR) file with blank SSIDs and receive a list of potential SSID matches in a new SSID Match Results file.

The new tool is located in the Online Maintenance>Student Data>SSID Matching Tool. LEAs should not attempt to use the tool until they understand the instructions below and have determined that their student information system (SIS) can produce an SENR file for this purpose which has the SSID field blank for all records. Unfortunately, the training videos are still in progress and will not be available until next week. For those that can follow the instructions below, the tool may be helpful now. However, if you need more instructions or training on using the SSID Matching Tool, then wait to use the tool until after the training videos are available next week. We will notify the field as soon as the training videos are available.

LEAs should refer to Flash 231 for the SSID Match Results File Layout, as well as details on the tool’s SSID matching criteria. The steps for obtaining the SSID Match Results file included in Flash 231 are repeated below.

Steps for Obtaining the SSID Match Results File

To obtain potential SSIDs for new/transferring students, follow these steps:

1. Work with/receive instructions from your student information system (SIS) vendor on how to generate a SENR file for new or incoming transfer students whose SSID fields are blank in the SIS.
2. The following fields must be populated or the file will fail: Reporting LEA, SchoolofAttendance, Student LegalLastname, Student LegalFirstName, Gender, BirthDate, BirthCountry.
3. Log in to CALPADS, and go to Online Maintenance>Student Data>SSID Matching Tool.
4. Upload the SENR file.
5. The SSID matching criteria fields submitted in the file will be validated to ensure proper formatting and length (size and shape validations).
6. If errors exist, the full file will fail upload and the LEA must resolve the errors and resubmit the file.
7. If no errors exist, the following fields in the file will be compared against those same fields in the CALPADS Operational Data Store (ODS) to determine if the student already has an existing SSID:
   1. Legal and alias names
   2. Gender
   3. Date of Birth
   4. Birth Country
   5. Birth State
8. The SSID Match Results will then be made available in a report in the user interface and as a downloadable file.
9. The results file will return the following:
   1. For students with no full or partial match, a record is returned with the user-submitted data and a Result Category of “No Match.”
   2. For students with single or multiple matches, records are returned with the user-submitted criteria and a Result Category of “Single Match” or “Multiple Match” along with the match score and additional demographic criteria to use for match verification and import into the SIS.

Next Steps after Retrieving the SSID Match Results

Once the SSID Match Results file is downloaded, the user must review the results to determine which of the matches (if any) provided for a student match the submitted student. A blank “Selection” field is provided in the file to allow the user to indicate which of the matches is correct and to facilitate loading the file into the local SIS.

Once the LEA has selected all the matches, the SSIDs must be populated in the SIS either manually or via a local import process before sending up a SENR enrollment update file through the file submission process. (Remember that the SSID Match Results File cannot be uploaded to CALPADS; the matched SSIDs must first be loaded into the SIS, and then an SENR with those SSIDs extracted from the SIS for upload to CALPADS.)

Before importing the Match Results File into the SIS, LEAs should coordinate with their SIS vendor on the status of enabling the SSID Match Results file to be imported into the SIS. The vendors were only recently provided the SSID Match Results File Layout and most indicated that they are working to have all the necessary changes ready by the end of August.