File Structure: Homeless Enrollment Data
File structure for downloadable files containing Homeless Student Enrollment by Dwelling Type data disaggregated by race/ethnicity, gender, student group, and grade level. Cumulative Enrollment and Homeless Student Enrollment are also provided.The files include state, county, district, and school level data. Please refer to the file structure for details on which data are included in the file. For more information about the Homeless Student Enrollment data, please visit the Information about the Homeless Student Enrollment Report web page. Data are not included for districts and independently reporting charter schools (IRCs) that did not certify their California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System (CALPADS) End-of-Year 1 submission.
Consistent with programmatic requirements and practice, beginning in the 2025−26 academic year, local educational agencies were required to close CALPADS homeless program records for all students at the end of the school year. Additionally, any homeless program records from previous academic years, were required to be closed as of the end of the 2024–25 academic year. Moving forward, local educational agencies (LEAs) are now required to upload new CALPADS homeless program records based on the annual Housing Questionnaire administered for the current academic year. This process will help ensure that the homeless program data in CALPADS reflects the most current information obtained from the annual Housing Questionnaire administered by LEAs. Given this change in data collection practice, the decrease in the 2025–26 homeless student enrollment counts may be associated with improved data accuracy resulting from requiring LEAs to annually close out homeless program records for students who are no longer homeless and annually verifying the homeless status for students who are newly homeless or continue to remain homeless. For more information about this change, please see CALPADS Update Flash #325.
This file contains aggregate data with disaggregated data subsets at multiple different levels and reporting categories to provide enhanced analytical flexibility. For more detailed examples about how to properly use these data, please refer to the Using the Homeless Enrollment Data File examples below.
Note: To protect student privacy, data are suppressed (*) on the Homeless Student Enrollment downloadable files if the cell size within a selected student population (cumulative enrollment) is 10 or less. Additional information about data suppression on the DataQuest reports and downloadable files is available on the Homeless Student Data Suppression web page.
General Description of the Data File
| Field Name | Description |
|---|---|
Academic Year |
The academic year (July 1 – June 30) corresponding to the time period during which the data were collected. |
| Aggregate Level | An indicator of the aggregation level.
Note: One of these values must be chosen to obtain an unduplicated count at the selected level. |
| County Code | A unique two-digit code corresponding to the county. |
| District Code | A unique five-digit code corresponding to the district. |
School Code |
A unique seven-digit code corresponding to the school. |
County Name |
County Name. |
District Name |
District or Administrative Authority Name. |
School Name |
School Name. |
Charter (All/Y/N) |
An indicator of the aggregation level.
Note: One of these values must be chosen to obtain an unduplicated count at the selected level. |
| DASS (All/Y/N) | An indicator of the aggregation level.
Note: One of these values must be chosen to obtain an unduplicated count at the selected level. |
Reporting Category |
An indicator of the student group reporting category (Race/Ethnicity, Student Group, Grade Level, and Unaccompanied Youth) disaggregation or subset. To protect student privacy, the following Reporting Categories are not available at all Aggregate Levels: (1) Race/Ethnicity, Student Group, and Grade Level data are not available at the school-level (i.e., Aggregate Level = S); and (2) Gender and Unaccompanied Youth data are not available at the district- and school-levels (i.e., Aggregate Levels = D and S).
Note: Select Reporting Category = TA for aggregate totals without consideration of a Reporting Category student group. |
Cumulative Enrollment |
Cumulative enrollment consists of the total number of unduplicated primary and short-term enrollments within the academic year (July 1 to June 30), regardless of whether the student is enrolled multiple times within a school or district. Cumulative enrollment is calculated at each reporting level (e.g., state, county, district, or school) and therefore is not necessarily additive from one reporting level to the next. For example, if a student is enrolled in multiple schools within a district during the academic year, they are counted once at each school, but only once in the district's cumulative enrollment. |
| Homeless Student Enrollment | Homeless student enrollment consists of the total unduplicated number of cumulatively enrolled students who experienced homelessness at any point in time during the academic year at the selected reporting level (e.g., state, county, district, or school). |
| Doubled Up | A residence where a homeless individual or family is sharing the housing of other(s) due to the loss of housing, economic hardship, natural disaster, lack of adequate housing or other similar reasons. On the report, data in this column represent the percentage/number of the Homeless Student Enrollment whose Dwelling Type was reported as being Doubled Up. |
| Shelters | A residence, such as a shelter, provided for homeless individuals who would otherwise sleep on the street, or a temporary residence provided to individuals in emergency situations. This should not be used for children who are in temporary residences awaiting permanent placement in foster care. On the report, data in this column represent the percentage/number of the Homeless Student Enrollment whose Dwelling Type was reported as being Shelters. |
| Hotels/Motels | A temporary residence for homeless individuals usually requiring payment or vouchers for lodging and services on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. On the report, data in this column represent the percentage/number of the Homeless Student Enrollment whose Dwelling Type was reported as being Hotels/Motels. |
| Unsheltered | A type of residence that is not meant for human habitation, such as cars, parks, sidewalks, abandoned buildings, campgrounds, trailers, bus and train stations, or other inadequate accommodation (i.e. lack of water, electricity, or heat). A rule of thumb would be to see the dwelling as comparable to an automobile in that it shelters but is not adequate housing. On the report, data in this column represent the percentage/number of the Homeless Student Enrollment whose Dwelling Type was reported as being Unsheltered. |
| Missing/Unknown | No dwelling type reported for the homeless student. On the report, data in this column represent the percentage/number of the Homeless Student Enrollment whose Dwelling Type was not reported or is unknown. |
General Description of the Data File
Homeless Student Enrollment data are submitted by local educational agencies (LEAs) and charter schools to the California Department of Education (CDE) as part of the annual End of Year 1 (EOY 1) data submission in the California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System (CALPADS). Homeless Student Enrollment data and Cumulative Enrollment are reviewed and certified in CALPADS as being accurate by authorized district or school personnel. In order to certify data in CALPADS, authorized district or charter school personnel are required to review the accuracy of all data associated with the applicable CALPADS submission. CALPADS data certification must be performed by district superintendents, charter school administrators, or their designees. Please contact the district or school if you have any questions about their certified CALPADS data.
Source: Homeless Student Enrollment and Cumulative Enrollment data are submitted and certified by LEAs and/or charter schools as part of the annual CALPADS End of Year 1 submission.
Note: To protect student privacy, data are suppressed (*) on the Homeless Student Enrollment downloadable files if the cell size within a selected student population (cumulative enrollment) is 10 or less. Additional information about data suppression on the DataQuest reports and downloadable files is available on the Homeless Student Data Suppression web page.
Using the Homeless Student Enrollment Data File
This file contains different subsets of data based on the values of different variables. If these sub-setting variables are not used properly, it is easy to end up with incorrect or duplicative data. Please refer to the following examples below as a guide for properly using these data:
- Get school-level data totals with one record per school with school totals (without student group totals)
- Aggregate Level = S (School)
- Charter School (Y/N) = Y and N
- DASS (Y/N) = Y and N
- Reporting Category = TA
- Get school-level data totals by student group (Reporting Category) for all non-charter schools
- Aggregate Level = S (School)
- Charter School (Y/N) = N
- DASS (Y/N) = Y and N
- Reporting Category Not equal to TA
- Get school-level data totals by student group (Reporting Category) for all DASS schools
- Aggregate Level = S (School)
- Charter School (Y/N) = Y and N
- DASS (Y/N) = Y
- Reporting Category Not equal to TA
- Get district-level data totals by student group (Reporting Category) for non-charter schools
- Aggregate Level = D (District)
- Charter School (Y/N) = N
- DASS (Y/N) = All
- Reporting Category Not equal to TA
- Get statewide-level data totals for charter schools that are DASS schools
- Aggregate Level = T (State)
- Charter School (Y/N) = Y
- DASS (Y/N) = Y
- Reporting Category = TA