CALPADS Update FLASH #185

To:           Local Educational Agency (LEA) Representatives

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

Date:       August 10, 2020

Subject:  CALPADS Update FLASH #185

This Flash primarily reiterates topics communicated to district and county superintendents, charter school administrators, and Special Education Local Plan Area (SELPA) directors in the August 10, 2020 Annual Back-to-School letter. The letter provided the highlights of Senate Bill (SB) 98, the education budget trailer bill, as it relates to data collection and accountability in general, announced the 2020–21 submission deadlines, and highlighted the many critical uses of CALPADS data and therefore the importance of supporting staff in submitting quality data by the deadlines.

2020–21 Education Budget Trailer Bill Highlights

The education budget trailer bill, SB 98 (Chapter 24, Statutes of 2020), amends current law to accommodate changes necessitated by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Trailer bill highlights that relate to 2020–21 data collection and accountability generally include the following:

• Requires the CDE to use, for purposes of calculating apportionments for the 2020–21 fiscal year, the average daily attendance (ADA) reported in the 2019–20 fiscal year, as specified, for all local educational agencies (LEAs), except for charter schools newly operational in the 2020–21 school year (SEC. 34). It is important to note that ADA collected for apportionment is not reported to the CDE through CALPADS. Rather, ADA is collected through another data collection software system, and there is a distinction between ADA for apportionment reported at an aggregate level versus attendance data reported through CALPADS at a student level for chronic absenteeism.
• Requires the CDE to use, for the purpose of calculating apportionments for new charter schools for the 2020–21 fiscal year, actual enrollment of the charter school as of Census Day, October 7, 2020 adjusted for the 2019–20 statewide absence rate.
• Requires LEAs, excluding non-classroom based charter schools, to satisfy annual instructional day requirements through instruction, under the general supervision of a certificated employee through distance learning, or a combination of the two (SEC. 34).
• Requires all non-classroom based charter schools to continue to meet the statutory requirements of independent study.
• Prohibits the CDE from publishing the California School Dashboard (Dashboard) in 2020 and from identifying LEAs during the 2020–21 school year for the technical assistance or intervention process based on the performance criteria used for the Dashboard (SEC. 104); however, it directs the CDE to publish any valid and reliable data collected through CALPADS that would have been included in the 2020 Dashboard on DataQuest or by other means (SEC. 104).
• For purposes of identifying LEAs for technical assistance or intervention in December 2021, directs the CDE to use performance data on the state and local indicators from the December 2019 (change) Dashboard and the December 2021 (status) Dashboard (SEC. 104).

Based on SB 98, the data that LEAs certify as part of CALPADS 2020–21 submissions continue to be critically important for the following reasons:

• The data that LEAs certify on CALPADS Report 1.17 – FRPP/English Learner/Foster – Count in the 2020–21 Fall 1 submission will be used for the unduplicated pupil count used to determine 2020–21 Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) supplemental and concentration grant funding.
• The Census Day enrollment that charter schools new in the 2020–21 fiscal year certify on CALPADS Report 1.1 - Enrollment -Primary Status by Subgroup will be adjusted by the 2019–20 statewide absence rate and used for calculating apportionments in the 2020–21 fiscal year.
• LEAs will not be required to collect attendance for ADA purposes in 2020–21; however, LEAs are still required to submit student attendance data for purposes of accountability through CALPADS. No changes will be made to the current CALPADS chronic absenteeism collection; guidance will be provided to LEAs regarding how to report distance learning attendance and absence through the existing CALPADS file.
• The 2021 Dashboard will be based on performance data on the December 2019 Dashboard and the data LEAs submit and certify in 2020–21 (primarily in the EOY submissions) which are used to calculate the indicators on the 2021 Dashboard.

The CDE is required to publish 2019–20 data on DataQuest or through other means, and will use the data collected from the 2019–20 submissions to meet federal reporting requirements.

COVID-19 Related Frequently Asked Questions

A series of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) related to changes due to COVID-19 have recently been posted on the CDE’s Web Site. The FAQs that may be of interest include:

• 2020–21 Funding and Instructional Time FAQs (Apportionment, Instructional Time, Attendance Accounting and Reporting, Form J-13A)
  https://www.cde.ca.gov/fg/aa/pa/pafaqs.asp
• Distance Learning FAQs (General, Attendance and Absences)
  https://www.cde.ca.gov/ci/cr/dl/distlearningfaqs.asp
• COVID-19 Accountability FAQs
  https://www.cde.ca.gov/ta/ac/cm/covid19faq.asp

2020–21 Submission Deadlines

In response to an overall desire by state policy makers, local educational leaders and administrators, education advocates, and the public to have access to current data to enhance decision-making, the 2020–21 Fall 1, Fall 2, and End-of-Year (EOY) certification deadlines will remain similar to past years. LEAs are also reminded that the certification of the Fall 1, EOY 3, and EOY 4 submissions require SELPAs to approve specified reports in the submission that include data related to students with disabilities (SWD). Therefore, the CDE also suggests dates by which LEAs approve submissions in order to provide SELPAs time to review and approve submissions by the certification deadlines.

LEAs that approve their Fall 1 submission by the Certification Deadline will receive a private preview of their Unduplicated Pupil Count (UPC) that will feed into the calculation of LCFF supplemental and concentration grant funding. This preview will include students who are enrolled in county offices of education, that will be attributed back to the LEA for funding purposes. LEAs that fail to approve their Fall 1 submission by the Certification Deadline will not receive this preview, and will receive a letter stating that the LEA or SELPA failed to approve the submission by the deadline.

The 2020–21 CALPADS certification deadlines are summarized in Table 1.

Reduction of Anomaly Percentage Threshold for Fall 1

In order to improve the quality of certified Fall 1 enrollment data, the maximum percentage of allowable anomalies required to certify the 2020 CALPADS Fall 1 submission is being lowered from two percent to one percent. The anomaly percentage is determined by the count of concurrent enrollment anomalies (CCE) and multiple identifier anomalies (MID) divided by the total LEA enrollment.

While the vast majority of LEAs currently certify with anomaly percentages of 1 percent or lower, we recognize that this may be a challenge, especially in the first year, for County Offices of Education and small independently reporting charter schools.  We encourage LEAs to review their business processes and to do their best to resolve as many anomalies as possible.