Independent Study Attendance Collection (ISAC)

Reporting Requirements

As part of the United States government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, additional student absence data are needed in order to determine eligibility for Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer (P-EBT) benefits. To aid in the reporting of these additional data, the ISAC Reporting System will be used by local educational agencies (LEAs) to submit attendance data formatted per the California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System (CALPADS) Student Absence Summary (STAS) file specifications.

Submission Window and Reporting Period

LEAs must submit the CALPADS Student Absence Summary (STAS) files to the ISAC Reporting System for P-EBT 4.0*.

The ISAC will open on May 12, 2023 and will close on June 30, 2023. In order for eligible students to receive P-EBT 4.0 benefits, LEAs must submit data to the ISAC by June 30, 2023.

Data submitted are to include aggregate attendance and absence data by month, for each of the months August 2022 through April 2023. LEAs are required to submit attendance and absence data for the month of May that reflects attendance and absences through May 11, 2023 only. Since data are to be reported for each month, a separate file will need to be uploaded for each month.

*Pending final approval by the United State Department of Agriculture

Accessing the ISAC Reporting System

Access to the ISAC Reporting System is only available to CALPADS LEA Administrators. CALPADS LEA Administrators are authorized by the CDE and have the specific CALPADS Administrator Role. Generally, there are only one or two authorized CALPADS LEA Administrators per LEA. Since many LEA staff have nearly all CALPADS roles, except the CALPADS Administrator role, there is often confusion as to who is the official CALPADS LEA Administrator. If you cannot access the ISAC code, it may be because you do not have the CALPADS LEA Administrator role. If you are unsure of who the CALPADS LEA Administrator is for your LEA, use the Search LEA Administrator feature to look up the administrator for your LEA.

CALPADS LEA Administrators may retrieve their access code by using the Retrieve Your Access Code feature on the ISAC Reporting System login page. Only the official CALPADS LEA Administrator will receive system emails, including the “Retrieve Your Access Code” email, which provides the access code. Once the CALPADS LEA Administrator has the ISAC access code, it may be given to other staff to access the system and upload data to ISAC.

ISAC Reporting Instructions

For instructions for reporting student absence data, refer to ISAC Reporting Instructions.

File Specifications

The ISAC Reporting System will accept files in the following file formats:

• Comma Separated Value (CSV) format (.csv or .txt)
• Caret Separated Value format (.txt)

Files shall be formatted per the specification of the CALPADS STAS file. To view the latest published CALPADS File Specifications, visit the CALPADS System Documentation web page. The STAS file format specifications are located in CALPADS File Specifications Formats (Forms) Excel file, which you will find in the CALPADS File Specifications suite of documents. Look for the Student Absence Summary tab in that Excel workbook. You will also find the STAS File Specifications in the main CALPADS File Specifications Word document.

If you need assistance generating this file, it is recommended that you contact your Student Information System (SIS) vendor.

LEAs that do not have a SIS can use the STAS File Template located here:

• STAS File Template: Online Final ISAC Student Absence File Upload Template (CSV)

Training**

• System Access - ISAC Reporting System Training (Video; 4:24)
  Training on how to access the ISAC Reporting System.
• Upload Data - ISAC Reporting System Training (Video; 7:07)
  Training on how to upload data into the ISAC Reporting System.

**Note that the training videos were created for the 2021−22 P-EBT. The content remains relevant because it focuses solely on how to access and upload data to the ISAC Reporting System.