CALPADS Update FLASH #260

To:           Local Educational Agency (LEA) Representatives

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

Date:      September 18, 2023

Subject:  CALPADS Update FLASH #260

2023−24 School Year Rollover

The 2023-24 School Year rollover work will begin on Monday, September 18, 2023 at 7:00 p.m. CALPADS will be taken offline at 7:00 p.m. to begin the data creation activity for the Special Education (SPED) Redesign. On Tuesday, September 19, several school year rollover changes will be released to the CALPADS production environment, and the system is expected to reopen at 9:00 a.m. The recently posted CALPADS File Specifications (CFS) v15.1, CALPADS Code Sets v15.1 and related documents reflect the school year rollover changes. The major 2023-24 rollover changes are summarized below.

Special Education Redesign

The redesign of the submission of data for students with disabilities (SWD) will be included in the school year rollover release. This redesign entails the retirement of the Special Education (SPED) and Special Education Services (SSRV) files and the implementation of the Students with Disabilities Status (SWDS), Special Education Plan (PLAN), Special Education Meetings (MEET) and Special Education Services (SERV) files.

Beginning September 19, 2023, local educational agencies (LEAs) will only be able to submit SWD data through the SWDS, PLAN, MEET, and SERV files. The redesign primarily involves splitting the data elements previously collected in the SPED file across three new files: SWDS, PLAN and MEET. Collecting the data through three separate files will both enhance the ease of reporting data by LEAs and support the utilization of the data by the state. There are also some significant changes to a few data elements and code sets.

In preparation for this change, the Special Education Division began a series of roadshows on the SPED Redesign in August 2023. A recording of one of the presentations, entitled CALPADS Special Education Data Redesign 2023-24, can be found on the California School Information Services (CSIS) YouTube Training Channel. at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNARoriIIAI. The changes related to the SPED Redesign, including those that are in the CFS v15.1 documents, will be described in a separate letter addressed to superintendents and charter school administrators. This letter is expected to be released next week, and a link to the letter will subsequently be posted on the CALPADS communications page. Additionally, all of the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) related to special education will be updated to reflect the redesign, and additional resources are being finalized to support LEAs.

New Language Code Set (Flash 256)

As described in CALPADS Flash #256, beginning September 19, 2023, LEAs must use the new three-character language codes in Field 12.14 –Primary Language Codewhen submitting the Student English Language Acquisition (SELA) file. LEAs will also need to use the new codes in Field 9.21 –Language of Instruction Code, on the Course Section Enrollment (CRSE) file in Fall 2, and the Course Section Completion (CRSC) file in End-of-Year (EOY) 1.

LEAs should consult with their student information system (SIS) vendor regarding how the transition to the new language codes will be handled in the SIS. It is our understanding that, regardless of how the codes are maintained in the SIS, the SIS vendors will map existing two-character codes to the new three-character codes when files are sent to CALPADS. After the rollover, if the primary language codes in any file submitted to CALPADS are the old two-character codes, then fatal error GERR0007 –Code submitted outside the effective date rangewill trigger, because those codes have a retirement date of June 30, 2023.

Refer to CALPADS Flash #256 for more detailed information, including guidance on determining, what, if any, new language codes should be used for new students, and whether or not to change the primary languages of existing students.

Missing Guardian Names Will Now Trigger Fatal Error Upon Input

LEAs populate the following fields on the Student Information (SINF) file:

• 2.39 – Guardian 1 First Name
• 2.40 – Guardian 1 Last Name
• 2.41 – Guardian 2 First Name
• 2.42 – Guardian 2 Last Name

While these are not required fields, it is important to ensure the quality of the data that are submitted. In the past, both the first and last name of a guardian were often populated in one field. This made it difficult to use this data to support student matching. Therefore, beginning September 19, 2023, LEAs will receive fatal errors on input when a reported guardian is missing either the first name or the last name, or if Guardian 2 is populated and not Guardian 1.

These input validation rules (IVRs) were initially implemented in January 2021 as warnings in order to give student information system vendors time to adjust their systems to have separate fields for a guardian’s first name and a guardian’s last name. Since these validations were warnings, they were not enabled during implementation of the File Submission Project. These validations are now being re-enabled as fatal validations upon input. The specific validations are listed in the table below.

Reporting Highest Education Level for Each Parent

Beginning September 19, 2023, for students enrolled with primary, secondary, or short-term enrollments, LEAs will be required to submit the highest education level for each parent/guardian reported to CALPADS, in the following fields on the Student Information (SINF) file:

• Field 2.38 – Parent Guardian 1 Highest Education Level Code
• Field 2.50 – Parent Guardian 2 Highest Education Level Code

While LEAs are not required to update historical data, the highest education level for both parents will now be required when LEAs update or add a SINF record for a student. Specifically, on September 19, 2023, Data Discrepancy (DD) SINF0453 – Missing Parent Guardian High Education Level Code, will trigger on Field 2.38 – Parent Guardian 1 Highest Education Level Code. A similar DD will trigger on Field 2.50 – Parent Guardian 2 Highest Education Level Code when it is implemented prior to the opening of Fall 1. During the Fall 1 and End-of-Year submissions, these DDs will become Certification Data Discrepancies (CDDs) which LEAs must resolve in order to certify the submission.

LEAs will continue to use the existing “Highest Education Level” code set, with the following clarification to the definition of Code 15 – Decline to State:

Students with two parents/guardians will be included in the Socio-Economically Disadvantaged (SED) accountability student group if both parents/guardians are not high school graduates. Students will not be included in the SED student group if one or more of the parents/guardians declines to state their Highest Education Level. All CALPADS reports reflecting the SED student group will be updated with this change prior to Census Day.

New Graduate Exemption Indicator

Pursuant to Senate Bill 532 (Chapter 918, Statutes of 2022), beginning with students graduating in the 2023−24 school year, LEAs will be required to confirm whether graduating high school students completed all state graduation requirements for a standard high school diploma but were exempt from local graduation requirements.

Specifically, on the Student Enrollment (SENR) file, LEAs must populate the new Field 1.35 – Graduation Exemption Indicator with a “Y” or “N” for all students exiting with Student Exit Category code, E230 – CompleterExit, and School Completion Status 100 – Graduated, Standard HS Diploma. Field 1.35 is defined as:

 “An indication of whether a graduating high school student was exempted from local graduation requirements but has completed all state graduation requirements for a standard high school diploma. A “Y” would indicate the student was exempted; an “N” would indicate the student was not exempted from local graduation requirements.”

LEAs must properly populate the Graduation Exemption Indicator for all students exiting on or after July 1, 2023 with a E230/100; otherwise one of the validations included in the table below will trigger upon input.

Pursuant to Education Code Section 51225.1(s), the CDE must publicly post this data on students graduating with exemption, on an annual basis aligned with other reporting timelines for the California School Dashboard graduation data.

A New Pathway to a High School Diploma for Students with Disabilities

Under the Elementary and Secondary Act (ESEA), states now have the option to offer a state-defined alternate diploma to eligible students with the most significant cognitive disabilities and to count students receiving that alternate diploma as graduates in the state’s four-year Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate (ACGR).

In California, the new alternate diploma is established in Education Code (EC) Section 51225.31, which requires LEAs to exempt eligible students from graduation requirements that are additional to statewide course requirements, and to award an alternate high school diploma to those students beginning with students who entered ninth grade in the 2022−23 school year.

LEAs will report students receiving the alternate diploma using School Completion Status code 102 – Pathway Diploma for Students with Disabilities, which is defined as:

“An alternate diploma given that is: (1) standards-based, and (2) aligned with the State's requirements for the regular high school diploma. This diploma is given to an eligible student with the most significant cognitive disabilities, and only if the student’s individualized education program team has deemed the student eligible to take the State’s alternate assessment aligned with alternate academic achievement standards under Section 1111(b)(2)(D) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) and met any other State-defined requirements.”

To account for students who may graduate early, in the 2023−24 school year, the School Completion Status code 102 may only be used for students meeting the alternate diploma high school graduation requirements in the 2023–24 academic year and who were in ninth grade in 2022−23.

The following validation rules will be applied for students who graduate with School Completion Status code 102:

Many LEAs have been inquiring about how to report the courses that these SWDs are taking that are part of this alternate pathway, in CALPADS. These courses must adhere to the California Academic Content Standards, and LEAs should continue to select from the existing State Course Codes in CALPADS. It is crucial, however, that for these courses: It is important that in Field 9.22 – Instructional Strategy on the Course Section Enrollment (CRSE) file, that LEAs populate the code 700 – Special Education. This designation signifies that the course is tailored exclusively for SWD and that all the students in the class should be SWD.

For further guidance on this new alternate diploma, refer to the letter from the Interim State Director of Special Education regarding this new pathway to a high school diploma, located on the CDE Special Education Director's Official Letters web page at: https://www.cde.ca.gov/sp/se/lr/ofclmem.asp. On that web page, look for this letter, which is dated and posted on August 25, 2023. Additionally, here is a direct link to the letter: https://www.cde.ca.gov/sp/se/lr/om082523.asp.

New Transitional Kindergarten Grade Level and Report Updates (Flashes 257, 255)

As announced in previous Flashes, as of July 1, 2023, for students in Transitional Kindergarten (TK), LEAs must submit a Grade Level of TK – Transitional Kindergarten on the Student Enrollment (SENR) file. Students enrolled in Grade Level TK must be at least 4 years old as of September 1 in the current academic year, or SENR0622 – Invalid Transitional Kindergarten (TK) Student Age will trigger upon input.

The Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) reports have also been updated to include students in grade TK who will turn five by April 2, 2024, as these students are eligible for average daily attendance funding and are included in the Unduplicated Pupil Count.

Specifically, the following reports have been updated:

• Report 1.17 – LCFF Unduplicated Pupil – Count
• Report 1.18 – LCFF Unduplicated Pupil – Student List
• Report 1.19 – COE LCFF Unduplicated Pupil – Count
• Report 1.20 – COE LCFF Unduplicated Pupil – Student List

County Authorizing reports, all other CALPADS reports, and supporting report extracts that include a TK column, filter, or business rule change are in the process of being updated and are expected to be in the production environment by Census Day, October 4, 2023, or shortly thereafter. These updates will be described in an upcoming Flash on changes related to Fall 1 and Fall 2.

New Advanced Placement Course Codes

The following two new course codes in the Course Group State code set are available for 2023−24. Refer to the CALPADS Code Set v15.1 for course code definitions.

Changes to Arts, Media, and Entertainment Course Codes

The CALPADS Code Sets v15.1 reflects a revamping of Career Technical Education (CTE) Course Codes in the Arts Media and Entertainment (AME) sector, which included deleting sub-pathways. The tables below display the new code and retired codes and the sub-pathways.

Sub-pathways have been eliminated in alignment with the CDE’s AME Industry Advisory recommendations. Students who complete any concentrator and capstone course within a pathway will be considered pathway completers. Refer to the 2023 Arts, Media, and Entertainment Industry Recommendations and Guidance for Model Programs and Advanced Training for Career Technical Education (CTE) alignment to Registered Pre-Apprenticeship and Youth Apprenticeship on the CDE Arts, Media, and Entertainment Industry Sector web page at: https://www.cde.ca.gov/ci/ct/gi/ameindustrysector.asp

The AME introductory courses have been moved to “Multiple Pathways” (Pathway 999) and some courses have been renamed, as listed in the table below. LEAs may map local courses previously mapped to one of the retired introductory AME codes, to the new Course Code 7263 or one of the other three existing introductory AME course codes. Introductory AME CTE courses are intended to provide students with foundational skills and knowledge by emphasizing Anchor Standards and have been moved to Multiple Pathways to allow flexibility in scheduling and mapping three-year pathways.

Multiple Pathways (Pathway 999) Course Codes

All changes to CTE course names and descriptions can be found in the Revision History tab of the CALPADS Valid Code Combinations v15.1. LEAs may also refer to the “Career Technical Education (CTE) Course Code Definitions by Sector and Pathways 2023−24 Users Guide” at https://view.officeapps.live.com/op/view.aspx?src=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cde.ca.gov%2Fci%2Fct%2Fig%2Fdocuments%2Fcalpadsuserguide23-24.docx&wdOrigin=BROWSELINK. This guide describes, for each industry sector, the pathways, the CTE state course codes within each pathway, and, where necessary, provides a footnote describing changes.

Other Changes

New Warnings Prior to Combining SSIDs

In order to help prevent users from mistakenly merging two statewide student identifiers (SSIDs), the following new message will pop-up upon hitting the “post” button:

"Combining these SSIDs will result in a concurrent enrollment.”

This message will pop up when conducting these activities:

• Results>Open>Select Radio 'Combine'>Select Post
• Resolve MID Not on Report >Enter two SSIDs> Select Post

When SSIDs for different students are merged, it is extremely difficult to “unmerge” the two students. Therefore, it is critical to carefully review the two students that are being merged to ensure that it is an appropriate action.

Fall 1 and Fall 2 Related Changes

Following the September 19, 2023 release of changes for the school year rollover, other changes related to Fall 1 and Fall 2 will be released to the production environment prior to Census Day, with some report-related changes going into production a few weeks following Census Day. The CDE will provide a Flash regarding these changes.