CCGI Flash #1

California College Guidance Initiative (CCGI)

To:           Local Educational Agency (LEA) Representatives

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

Date:       September 19, 2024

Subject:  CCGI Flash #1

Introducing the “CCGI Flash”

The California College Guidance Initiative (CCGI) works to improve transitions from K–12 to higher education and manages CaliforniaColleges.edu (located at this web address: https://www.californiacolleges.edu/), the State of California’s official college and career planning platform for 6th–12th grade students.

Over the next few years, the CCGI will work to scale CCGI statewide. The California Department of Education (CDE) will support these efforts by facilitating communications to local educational agencies (LEAs) about the program, implementation updates from CCGI, and LEA statutory requirements. Anticipating that several updates will be required for CCGI’s efforts, flashes with CCGI content will be titled “CCGI Flash,” and will begin with #1. We hope that identifying CCGI flashes separately will facilitate and support district and school site leadership, curriculum, counseling, local student information system (SIS), and California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System (CALPADS) staff to work collaboratively in implementing the scaling of CCGI. Non-CALPADS staff may sign up for the CALPADS-LEA listserv via the CDE CALPADS Listervs web page at https://www.cde.ca.gov/ds/sp/cl/listservs.asp to receive the latest CCGI Flashes.

The first two CCGI Flashes will cover the following topics:

• CCGI Flash #1 (that’s this document): General Overview and Rollout of Basic Accounts
• CCGI Flash #2: Statewide Scaling of Transcript-Informed Partner Accounts to Students in Grades 9–12

California College Guidance Initiative Overview

CaliforniaColleges.edu (located at this web address: https://www.californiacolleges.edu/),the State of California’s official college and career planning platform for 6th–12th grade students, is completely free, and it serves as an infrastructure for college and career knowledge development, data-driven student guidance, and post-secondary planning.

In 2021, the Governor’s Cradle to Career (C2C) Initiative leveraged the existing CaliforniaColleges.edu platform and statutorily authorized CCGI to provide all 6th–12th grade public school students with student accounts on the platform. This statewide scaling of CCGI was part of the C2C Initiative because of its potential to significantly improve college and career outcomes for all students, particularly those who lack resources or support, by providing planning and guidance tools, and creating a pipeline that seamlessly moves students through secondary public education into California’s public post-secondary institutions. This year’s 2024 omnibus budget trailer bill for education, Senate Bill (SB)153 (Chapter 38, Statutes of 2024), further requires all public schools offering grades 9–12 to partner with CCGI by January 1, 2026, and provide transcript-informed Partner Accounts to 9th–12th grade students by June 30, 2026 (Education Code (EC) Section 60900(f)(3)). This requirement is discussed in detail in CCGI Flash #2.

Basic and Transcript-Informed Partner Accounts

CCGI provides two types of student accounts on CaliforniaColleges.edu:

• Basic Accounts
• Transcript-informed "Partner Accounts"

Basic Accounts

CaliforniaColleges.edu is intended to serve all 6th–12th grade public school students in California. Currently, the CDE is providing basic student information from CALPADS to CCGI which will enable the creation of Basic Accounts on CaliforniaColleges.edu. LEAs are not required to send data to CCGI for these basic accounts.

Students with Basic Accounts on CaliforniaColleges.edu have access to:

• Career assessments to help them discover their interests, personality, learning style, and more.
• College, Major, and Career Search Tools that help them explore their options.
• Curated college, career, and financial aid planning content that guides them through developing a post-secondary plan.
• Tracking of their academic, career, and financial aid plans in a digital portfolio that includes a way to chronicle experiences and maintain related documents.
• The launching of their Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) and California Dream Act Application (CADAA).

Basic Accounts enable students to access the tools described above but do not enable access to tools that require transcript data. LEAs that do not serve students in grades 9 –12 do not need to partner with CCGI as described below in the section entitled Transcript-informed "Partner Accounts."

Informing Families of Data Uses and Tools Available on Basic Accounts

EC sections 48980-48986 require LEAs to annually notify parents/guardians of minor pupils of their rights and responsibilities. EC Section 60900.5(f) requires the CDE to advise LEAs to include, in the annual parent notification, as required by the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) of 1974 (20 U.S.C. Sec.1232g), that the CDE shares CALPADS data with CCGI to provide pupils and families with direct access to online tools. Refer to a California College Guidance Initiative and Annual Parent Notifications letter sent to county and district superintendents and charter school administrators dated April 22, 2024, which is posted via the CDE CALPADS Communications web page at https://www.cde.ca.gov/ds/sp/cl/communications.asp. Here is a direct link to that letter: https://www.cde.ca.gov/ds/sp/cl/ccgi20240422.asp.

Transcript-Informed Partner Accounts

Transcript-informed “Partner Accounts,” as described in EC Section 60900(f)(3), are student accounts on CaliforniaColleges.edu generated by data files provided to CCGI by the LEA. Partner Districts submit files that include enrollment data for any 6th–12th grade student enrolled within that district, as well as course and grade data for students in grades 9–12.

Students with transcript-informed Partner Accounts have access to a dashboard that displays the courses in which they are currently enrolled and the courses that they have completed, which comes directly from the LEA’s student information system (SIS) via transcript files submitted to CCGI. Through their transcript-informed Partner Accounts, 9th–12th grade students are also able to:

• View California State University (CSU) and University of California (UC) Eligibility Tools that allow them to see their progress toward meeting the minimum requirements for admission to CSU and UC.
• Verify that the A-G courses that they are taking or have completed have been officially approved as A-G courses in the Course Management Portal (CMP) administered by the University of California Office of the President (UCOP).
• Launch applications for California Community Colleges (CCC), CSU, and UC, and import district-verified A-G courses and grades from CaliforniaColleges.edu into the Cal State Apply and UC Applications.

Additionally, unique reporting features are available for authorized educators within Partner Districts where transcript-informed Partner Accounts are provided to students. These reports include downloadable files to support monitoring and intervention on student A-G progress, financial application submission status, and application status to any CCC, CSU, and/or UC campuses to which a student has applied.

Learn more about the differences in account types on the Overview of CaliforniaColleges.edu Accounts web page at: https://www.californiacolleges.edu/learnmore/accounts-overview.

Informing Families of Data Uses and Tools Available on Transcript-Informed Partner Accounts

Education Code Section 48980 requires LEAs to annually notify parents/guardians of minor pupils of their rights and responsibilities, including disclosure pursuant to EC Section 51229, which includes:

• A separate and distinct disclosure, provided as part of the school district’s annual parent notification, as required by the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) of 1974 (20 U.S.C. Sec. 1232g), that data may be shared with the California College Guidance Initiative to provide pupils and their families with direct access to online tools and resources for college and career planning.
• Directions to the CaliforniaColleges.edu platform so parents/guardians may access resources that help them, and their children learn about college admissions requirements.

For Partner LEAs providing transcript-informed Partner Accounts to 9th–12th grade students, EC Section 60900(f)(3)(A) further specifies that these districts include in their annual parent notifications, as required by FERPA, a distinct notification that data may be shared with CCGI to do both of the following:

• Provide pupils and their families with direct access to online tools and resources for college and career planning.
• Enable the student to transmit data shared with CCGI to: (1) Institutions of higher education for purposes of admissions and academic placement; and (2) the Student Aid Commission for purposes of determining eligibility for and increasing uptake of student financial aid.

Partner and Non-Partner LEAs

Eligible for Partnership

Current Partner LEAs

Currently, 305 LEAs are already in partnership with CCGI, referred to as “Partners.” These Partners have a signed memorandum of understanding (MOU) with CCGI to share and receive data to enable transcript-informed Partner Accounts.

Current Non-Partner LEAs (serving students in grades 9–12)

LEAs that serve students in grades 9–12 (generally unified and high school districts), but are not currently in partnership with CCGI, will also be able to access Basic Accounts for their students in grades 6–12 in the Fall of 2024 based on data they already submit to CALPADS. As described above, LEAs serving students in grades 9–12 must now become a Partner on or before January 1, 2026, by entering into an MOU with CCGI. These LEAs will then be required to submit transcript data directly to CCGI to establish transcript-informed Partner Accounts for students in grades 9–12 by June 30, 2026. Once an LEA becomes a Partner, the data to create all accounts will come directly from the LEA to CCGI and not through CALPADS. More information on LEAs becoming Partners and providing transcript-informed Partner Accounts will be provided in CCGI Flash #2.

Current Non-Partner Charter Schools (serving students grades 9–12)

CCGI partners with the managing entity of charter schools at the organizational level, whether that is the school district, the County Office of Education (COE), a charter management organization (CMO), or a single management organization (SMO), based on who is:

• Able to execute a data sharing MOU on behalf of the charter school(s) entering a CCGI partnership.
• Responsible for determining and maintaining charter school employees’ access to student data.
• Able to provide regular data files to CCGI on behalf of the charter school(s).

As CMOs and SMOs are not identified in CALPADS, charter schools not directly managed by a district or COE may require additional coordination with CCGI. As a reminder, students in grades 6–12 will have Basic Accounts in the Fall of 2024 based on data already submitted to CALPADS.

Not Eligible for Partnership

Non-Partner LEAs Including Charters (serving students in grades 6–8 but not 9–12)

LEAs who are not currently in partnership with CCGI who serve 6th–8th grade students, but not 9th–12th grade students (generally K–8 districts), will be able to access Basic Accounts for their students in grades 6–8 based on data they already submit to CALPADS and which are passed on to CCGI. These LEAs do not need to become Partner Districts and will not need to have an MOU with CCGI. These LEAs will be able to access Basic Accounts based on CALPADS data by Fall 2024. Information about accessing Basic Account will be provided in a future Flash.

Resources

To Learn More and Contact CCGI

• To learn more about the California College Guidance Initiative, visit the About CaliforniaColleges.edu web page: https://cacollegeguidance.org/learnmore/
  
• To begin moving your LEA toward partnership, please contact: communityengagement@californiacolleges.edu

Other Basic Resources

• California Cradle to Career Data System:
  https://c2c.ca.gov
• California Colleges:
  https://www.californiacolleges.edu
• Senate Bill 153: Education omnibus budget trailer bill:
  https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB153