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2012-13 CALPADS Certification Report
Charter School CALPADS and CBEDS-ORA Data Reporting Policy
Each June, charter schools may elect to change the method of reporting California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System (CALPADS) and California Basic Education Data System - Online Reporting Application (CBEDS-ORA) data. The two available reporting options are:
- The charter school reports data directly to CALPADS and CBEDS-ORA, independent of its authorizing agency, or:
- The charter school's authorizing agency reports the charter school data directly to CALPADS and CBEDS-ORA.
The charter school's reporting method will be the same for both CALPADS and CBEDS-ORA. Reporting status does not impact or have any relation to the charter school funding type.
There is no default charter school reporting status (independent or reporting through the authorizing agency). A new charter school must inform the CDE of its reporting statuses within 30 days of the charter school's effective date. This reporting status must stay in effect for at least that reporting year (July 1 through June 30).
A charter school that has the State Board of Education as its authorizing agency is considered an independently reporting charter school.
Definitions
Independently Reporting Charter School – This is a charter school that elects to obtain and maintain Statewide Student Identifiers (SSIDs) for all enrolling and exiting students, and is responsible to meet CALPADS reporting and certification requirements. This charter school is responsible to maintain and report student, teacher, and course data directly to CALPADS. This charter school is also responsible to report aggregate data through CBEDS-ORA.
Charter Schools Reporting Through the Authorizing Agency – This is a charter school that elects to have the authorizing agency be responsible to meet CALPADS reporting and certification requirements. Depending on local implementation, the authorizing agency may either provide the charter school the ability to submit data directly to CALPADS, or the district may retain the ability to do this work for the charter school. The district is ultimately responsible for certifying charter school data. The charter school also elects to have the authorizing agency report aggregate data through CBEDS-ORA on their behalf.
Authorizing Agency – This is the agency that has authorized the charter school.
CALPADS – This is a CDE Internet-based statewide longitudinal data system, requiring authorizing agencies or independently reporting charter schools to report individual student, teacher, or course data in specified formats, and within specified time frames.
CBEDS-ORA – This is a CDE Internet-based application, requiring authorizing agencies or independently reporting charter schools to report aggregate student, teacher, or school data in specified formats, and within specified time frames.
Responsibilities for Authorizing Agencies when Reporting Charter School Data
Charter schools may elect to have their authorizing agencies report CALPADS and CBEDS-ORA data on their behalf. Authorizing agencies will be responsible for:
- Obtaining and maintaining Statewide Student Identifiers (SSIDs) in CALPADS for all enrolling and exiting students
- Maintaining and submitting Fall CALPADS data (individual student data and staff assignment data)
- Maintaining and submitting Spring CALPADS data (individual student and teacher data)
- Maintaining and submitting End-of-Year (EOY) CALPADS data (individual student, teacher, and course data)
- Submitting Fall aggregate school and course data through CBEDS-ORA
Charter schools electing this option are strongly encouraged to have open dialogue with their authorizing agencies about local practices, procedures, and data system logistics to ensure that the authorizing agencies can report the charter school data as well as meet the CALPADS and CBEDS-ORA reporting requirements, including the certification of data by published deadlines.
Assistance is Available
The California School Information Services (CSIS) program successfully assists authorizing agencies and charter schools with local submission decisions. CSIS is available to work with all authorizing agencies and charter schools to help local administrators make decisions and meet reporting requirements and deadlines.
Responsibilities for Charter Schools Reporting their own Data
Charter schools may elect to report CALPADS and CBEDS-ORA data independently from their authorizing agencies. Charter schools choosing this reporting method will be responsible for:
- Obtaining and maintaining Statewide Student Identifiers (SSIDs) in CALPADS for all enrolling and exiting students
- Maintaining and submitting Fall CALPADS data (individual student data and staff assignment data)
- Maintaining and submitting Spring CALPADS data (individual student and teacher data)
- Maintaining and submitting Year-end CALPADS data (individual student, teacher, and course data)
- Submitting Fall aggregate school and course data to CBEDS-ORA
Charter School Reporting Status and Administering Statewide Assessments
As a best practice, a charter school should align its reporting status with the conducting of statewide assessments. For example, a charter school reporting data independently to CALPADS and CBEDS-ORA should also conduct statewide assessments (e.g. pre-ID, etc.) independently from its authorizing agency.
Any charter school, regardless of its CALPADS and CBEDS-ORA reporting status, may conduct assessments through its authorizing agency or independently from its authorizing agency.
Authorizing agencies will have read-only access to independently-reporting charter schools' data.
Consequences for Failure to Certify Data by Published Deadlines
Enrollment counts for all local educational agencies (LEAs), including charter schools, are used for funding purposes, and these counts will be derived from CALPADS data. In previous years, charter schools that failed to meet state reporting deadlines had reporting responsibilities and associated work revert back to their authorizing agencies. As of Fall 2009, this policy has changed, and charter schools that choose to report independently will be accountable for reporting data within the published timelines. These independently reporting charter schools acting as LEAs for the purposes of CALPADS and CBEDS-ORA reporting are required to meet state and federal laws for reporting data. As with all non-charter public schools, independently reporting charter schools that fail to meet published reporting deadlines may end up with annual enrollment counts of zero, resulting in losses of funding based on the annual enrollment counts.
Annual Time Period for Changing Reporting Status
Charter school administrators may change the reporting statuses for existing charters one time each year. This annual period during which charter schools may change their CALPADS and CBEDS reporting statuses for the following academic year occurs in June. Charter school administrators will receive notification prior to the annual window, with instructions regarding changing their charter school reporting statuses.
New charter schools are asked to designate their reporting statuses at the time that they apply for their county-district-school (CDS) code.
CALPADS and CBEDS-ORA Data Submission: Reporting Methods
The CALPADS and CBEDS-ORA Data Submission Web page contains access to information about given schools' current methods of data submission (i.e., the schools' reporting statuses).
Reporting Requirements — and Other Resources
From the CDE's CALPADS home page, users can find links to important information about CALPADS reporting requirements, system documentation, and listserv opportunities. There are CALPADS enrollment procedures that all LEAs and independently reporting charter schools should follow. Some subjects in these procedures include:
- Reporting enrollment to CALPADS
- Maintaining unique SSIDs
- Primary and secondary student enrollment
- Short and long-term enrollment in alternative education programs
- Handling of student identifier (SSID) anomalies
These procedures can be found in documentation located on the CDE's CALPADS System Documentation Web page.
The CALPADS File Specifications (CFS) and the CALPADS Code Sets are available on the CDE's CALPADS System Documentation Web page. Notification of the availability of other system documentation is provided to those who are subscribed to the CALPADS-LEA listserv. You can learn more about joining CALPADS listservs by visiting the CALPADS listservs Web page.
A link to the CBEDS-ORA home page is located on the CDE's CBEDS Online Reporting Application and Resources Web page.
Charter School Reporting Status Change Form
To obtain a copy of the Charter School Reporting Status Change Form, you can click on the link below, or you may contact the CALPADS Operations Office using the contact information at the bottom of this Web page.
- Charter School Reporting Status Change Form (DOC; Revised 01-May-2013)
This form, provided in Microsoft Word format, is used to change a charter school reporting status for CALPADS and CBEDS-ORA
(Note: This form was formerly also referred to as the "Charter School Assurance Form." This is the same form.)
To view the June 2012 letter sent to Charter School Administrators regarding the CALPADS and CBEDS-ORA data reporting policy, visit the CDE CALPADS Communications Web page. Look for the correspondence link entitled "Charter School Data Reporting Options Letter," dated June 1, 2012.
