CCGI Flash #2

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 20, 2024

Subject:  CCGI Flash #2

Note: The target audience for this California College Guidance Initiative (CCGI) Flash #2 are local educational agencies (LEAs), including charter schools, serving students in grades 9–12. Refer to CCGI Flash #1, which was sent out and is dated September 19, 2024, for a general overview of CCGI, how charter schools participate, and the rollout of CaliforniaColleges.edu Basic Accounts.

Statewide Scaling of Transcript-Informed Partner Accounts to Students in Grades 9–12

As a component of the Cradle-to-Career Data System (C2C), the California College Guidance Initiative (CCGI) works to improve transitions from K–12 to higher education.  CCGI manages CaliforniaColleges.edu (see their website at https://www.californiacolleges.edu/), the State of California’s official college and career planning platform for 6th–12th grade students. The state-funded platform is completely free and serves as an infrastructure for college and career knowledge development, data-driven student guidance, and post-secondary planning. All LEAs serving 9th–12th grade students are now required to partner with CCGI by January 1, 2026 and provide transcript-informed Partner Accounts on CaliforniaColleges.edu by June 30, 2026.

This CCGI Flash provides an overview of the scaling of transcript-informed Partner Accounts to students in grades 9–12. The effective implementation of CCGI requires strong district and school site leadership and the collaboration of curriculum, counseling, local student information system (SIS), and California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System (CALPADS) staff.

Background

CCGI works with the California Department of Education (CDE), California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office (CCCCO), the California State University Chancellor's Office (CSUCO), the University of California Office of the President (UCOP), the California Student Aid Commission (CSAC) and with K–12 LEAs to streamline the college and financial aid application processes for students.

Currently, CCGI provides individual transcript-informed Partner Accounts on CaliforniaColleges.edu to students enrolled at LEAs choosing to partner with CCGI. Students with accounts in these “Partner LEAs” access a tool that displays courses they are enrolled in and have completed; thus tracking their progress towards eligibility for admission to the California State University (CSU) and University of California (UC). As they near the end of their secondary education, students can launch California public college and financial aid applications from their account thus streamlining their transition to postsecondary education.

In 2021, the Governor’s C2C Initiative leveraged California’s existing college and career planning platform, CaliforniaColleges.edu, 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 removing barriers and creating a guided pipeline that seamlessly moves students through secondary public education into California’s public postsecondary 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 to provide transcript-informed Partner Accounts to 9th–12th grade students, per Education Code (EC) Section 60900(f)(3).

CCGI has provided a guide to understanding the SB 153 changes. Refer to the guide, entitled SB 153: K–12 Omnibus: What LEAs Need to Know About Education Code Changes Related to the California College Guidance Initiative, which is posted on the California College Guidance Initiative website: here:  https://www.cacollegeguidance.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/CCGI-SB-153-A-Guide-for-LEAs.pdf

Existing Partner LEAs

Currently, 305 LEAs partner with CCGI, serving more than 2 million 6th–12th grade students, or over 64 percent of all 6th–12th grade students in California’s public schools. Students in grades 6–8 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).

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

• View CSU and UC Eligibility Tools that allow students to see their progress towards meeting the minimum requirements for admission to a 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 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.

Transcript-informed Partner Accounts not only empower students but enable counselors, administrators, and other school staff to target efforts to support students more effectively. Partner LEAs have access to school reports that help counselors monitor student progress towards meeting their goals. Reports provide lists of students who have applied to CCC, CSU, or UC, and who have launched their FAFSA/CADAA applications, a requirement for students in grade 12 per EC Section 51225.7.

Current Partner LEAs with live data are already complying with the requirement to provide transcript-informed Partner Accounts to their students. To support scaling statewide, however, SB 153 includes additional statutory changes to support CCGI efforts to streamline the processes of moving data from LEAs to CCGI and on to feed post-secondary and financial aid processes. These changes are embedded in the next sections.

Full Portability of Transcript-Informed Partner Accounts Depends on 100 Percent Participation

It is critical for all LEAs serving 9th–12th grade students to meet the requirement of becoming a Partner LEA by the statutory deadline of January 1, 2026. When a student in grades 9–12 transfers schools, their CCGI transcript-informed Partner Account goes with them and will continue to contain their course enrollments and completions if the school they transfer to is in a Partner LEA. If the school is not in a Partner LEA, the student’s transcript-informed Partner Account will be transitioned to a Basic Account without transcript data, because that LEA is not in partnership with CCGI. Should that student be a senior, they will not be able to import their courses and grades into their applications for CSU and UC from their account. Providing equity in guidance and access to college and financial aid opportunities depends on all LEAs serving students in grades 9–12 becoming Partner LEAs.

Implementation Strategy and High-Level Timeline for Statewide Scaling of CCGI to Students in Grades 9-12

High Level Implementation Strategy

Initially, the statewide scaling of CCGI required the CDE to collect student transcript data from LEAs in CALPADS, and then provide that data to CCGI to populate student accounts. This year’s 2024 omnibus budget trailer bill for education, SB 153, modified this strategy to instead require LEAs to submit transcript data directly to CCGI. Specifically, EC Section 60900(f)(3) requires all LEAs serving 9th–12th grade students to:

“Submit grades 9 to 12, inclusive, pupil transcript information to the California College Guidance Initiative, as authorized pursuant to Section 60900.5, according to processes and timelines established by the California College Guidance Initiative in the format approved by the Superintendent.”

Senate Bill 153 in EC Section 60900(f) establishes key dates by which the following milestones must be met by all LEAs serving students in grades 9–12:

• By January 1, 2026, enter into a data-sharing agreement with CCGI.
• On or before June 30, 2026, be able to provide CCGI, student transcript files, “according to processes and timelines established by the CCGI in the format approved by the Superintendent”. SB 153 also tasks CCGI with working with SIS vendors to leverage their technological capabilities to facilitate data exchange, without additional costs to LEAs.
• On or before June 30, 2026, use reports on CaliforniaColleges.edu and/or leverage technical assistance from CCGI, to ensure that course eligibility data necessary to fulfill the A-G admissions requirements of the CSU and UC, are accurate and up to date. This includes: (1) confirming that each course offered by a school and coded as fulfilling an A-G subject requirement is properly coded and registered in the CMP, and (2) maintaining at least a 90 percent rate of alignment between A-G coursework, as listed in the local SIS, and how those courses are registered in the CMP.

Strategy for Onboarding Non-Partner LEAs

As described in CCGI Flash #1, the CDE is currently providing basic student information from CALPADS to CCGI which will enable the creation of Basic Accounts for students enrolled in non-partner LEAs. Basic Accounts enable students to access many of the guidance tools described above, but do not provide tools that require transcript data. Beginning in Fall of 2024, non-partner LEAs will be able to access Basic Accounts based on CALPADS data that the CDE is providing to CCGI. More information on accessing Basic Accounts will be provided in a future CCGI Flash. Once an LEA becomes a Partner and completes a collaborative ‘Data Onboarding’ process with CCGI, the data to create student accounts will come directly from the LEA to CCGI and not through CALPADS.

Becoming a Partner LEA is completely free. LEAs, which includes county offices of education, districts, charter management organizations, or single management organizations, enter partnership with CCGI by signing a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to share student transcript data. (Refer to CCGI Flash #1 for more information regarding charter schools.) As stated above, LEAs serving students in grades 9–12 are required to enter into an MOU with CCGI by January 1, 2026, and are required to transmit student transcript files to CCGI on or before June 30, 2026.

Non-partner LEAs serving students in grades 9–12 may want to review the resources provided at the end of this document and begin the steps of moving towards CCGI partnership by emailing CCGI at communityengagement@californiacolleges.edu.

Key Simultaneous Efforts to Streamline Processes

Standardizing Final Transcripts to Enable Portability

As described earlier, students will be able to launch their FAFSA and CADAA, as well applications for the CCC, CSU, and UC from CaliforniaColleges.edu, making it much easier for students to apply for financial aid and to California public colleges and universities. CCGI is also statutorily required in EC Section 60900.5 (g)(8) to provide electronic high school transcript data to the state’s public higher education systems and the CSAC. To facilitate this, CCGI developed the California High School Transcript and Student Record Portability Standard (“the Standard”) and its associated Data Specification (“Spec”) in collaboration with the CDE, CCCCO, CSUCO, and the UCOP. The Spec is intended for electronic data transmission via an Application Programming Interface (API) established between K–12 SIS vendors and CCGI. Alternatively, Data Element Templates, which outline how data may be submitted to CCGI via flat file, are provided in CCGI’s Terms and Conditions of Partnership.

LEAs may review the documents available here:

• California High School Transcript and Student Record Portability Standard (the Standard):
  https://c2c.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/CA-Transcript-and-Student-Record-Portability-Standard-V1-Final.pdf
• District Data Specifications (the Spec) for API Transmission:
  https://c2c.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/CCGI-District-Data-Spec-V1-Final.pdf
• Data Element Templates for Flat File Transmission:
  https://www.cacollegeguidance.org/tcp/

Vendor CCGI Compliant Designation

No later than June 30, 2026, LEAs will need to send CCGI the data elements described in the Spec and which meet the Standard developed collaboratively with the CDE, CCCCO, CSUCO, and UCOP. To support this effort, SB 153 added EC Section 49083.5 requiring the Fiscal Crisis Management Assistance Team/California School Information Services (FCMAT/CSIS), in consultation with the CDE, to create and maintain a list of vendors that includes a state designation that a SIS meets specified requirements including whether the SIS, without passing the costs of complying to LEAs, is able to:

• Comply with the California High School Transcript and Student Record Portability Standard.
• Provide an application programming interface (API) that facilitates an LEA’s ability to provide data for transcript-informed accounts to all students in grades 9–12, or that small-sized vendors are able to provide an alternative extract that meets requirements.

It should be noted that the final electronic transcript provided by CCGI does not replace the high school transcript for local purposes, graduation determination, or the need to send final traditional transcripts (such as PDF) to the higher education institutions that students will attend. Rather, the unified final transcript data provided by LEAs to CCGI will be used to enable students to launch applications thus accelerating admissions and financial aid processing, where applicable.

Confirming A-G Courses to Ensure Students Meet UC/CSU Requirements Prior to the Application Process

As described above, SB 153 (EC Section 60900(f)(3)) specifically requires LEAs to engage in activities to ensure alignment between what LEAs believe are A-G approved courses and what UCOP maintains as A-G approved courses in the CMP. Currently, LEAs submit local courses to the CMP managed by UCOP for “approval” as A-G courses. For many reasons, the local courses that LEAs identify as A-G approved courses become out of alignment with the courses in the CMP. When this occurs, students applying to UC or CSU may learn that courses they believed were A-G approved courses are not in the CMP, making the student delayed or ineligible for admissions.      

CCGI is uniquely positioned to assist LEAs in cleaning up A-G course misalignment and maintaining alignment. Engaging with current Partner LEAs, CCGI has developed deep expertise in this area and can assist LEAs to cleanup and maintain A-G course alignment so that there are no unwelcome surprises for students when they apply to CSU or UC.

Launching CCC, CSU and UC Applications through Partner Accounts

As described earlier, students enrolled in Partner LEAs can launch their CCC, CSU and UC applications through their CCGI account. This significantly streamlines the application process for students, as their courses and grades are automatically populated in the CSU and UC applications.

Education Code sections 48800 and 76225 require the CCC to provide CCGI with college courses and grades completed by high school students for integration into a “unified high school transcript” (electronic). This future integration will further simplify the enrollment/admissions processes for students and schools.

Helping Ensure Students Pursue and Receive Financial Aid

CaliforniaColleges.edu includes a full set of grade-appropriate college, career, and financial aid planning lessons and is a free tool provided by the State of California that is aligned with the content requirements of EC Section 51225. Under current law, once LEAs may access Basic Accounts on the CaliforniaCollege.edu platform, they are required to ensure that 11th grade students are advised to complete the 11th grade financial aid lessons on CaliforniaColleges.edu. This informs students about the availability of financial aid and how to apply.

To further facilitate students’ eligibility for financial aid, SB 153 (EC Section 51225.67) establishes CaliforniaColleges.edu as the future state infrastructure through which data elements to support the determination of eligibility for Cal Grant awards will be submitted to CSAC.

Informing Families of Data Uses and Availability of Tools

As described in CCGI Flash #1, EC Section 48980 requires LEAs to annually notify parents/guardians of minor pupils of their rights and responsibilities, including what is listed under EC Section 51229. Education Code Section 51229 additionally requires LEAs offering grades 9–12, to provide information about college admissions requirements. Senate Bill 153 added to EC Section 51229, the requirement that LEAs include in the EC Section 48980 annual notification to parents/guardians:

• A separate and distinct disclosure, provided as part of the school district’s annual parent notification, as required by the federal Family Education 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 they 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 requires that these districts include in their annual parent notifications, as required by FERPA, a distinct notification that data may be shared with CCGI in order 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 a pupil to transmit information shared with the California College Guidance Initiative to both of the following: (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.

Resources

To Learn More and Contact CCGI

• To learn more about the California College Guidance Initiative, visit: 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
• Key Sections of SB153 Explained:
  https://www.cacollegeguidance.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/CCGI-SB-153-A-Guide-for-LEAs.pdf