CALPADS Update Flash #201

To:           Local Educational Agency (LEA) Representatives

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

Date:       February 5, 2021

Subject:  CALPADS Update FLASH #201

2020−21 Fall 2: Submission of Course Data for Assignment Monitoring

The data that local educational agencies (LEAs) submit and certify on or before March 5, 2021 as part of the 2020−21 CALPADS Fall 2 submission will be loaded into the California State Assignment Accountability System (CalSAAS) by the Commission on Teacher Credentialing (CTC), and LEAs will be able to review and address potential mis-assignments or “exceptions” identified by the system. The results from this process for 2020−21 will be:

• Publicly posted on CTC’s website.
• Used to report “Ineffective” and “Out-of-Field” teachers to meet federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) reporting requirements, and to post on DataQuest.
• Prepopulated on the School Accountability Report Card (SARC).

To help reduce the number exceptions identified in CalSAAS that LEAs must resolve, this Flash summarizes 2019−20 CalSAAS results and identifies common data input issues that resulted in exceptions. The 2019−20 monitoring results will not be publicly posted on CTC’s website; however, LEAs are now able to review their own 2019−20 monitoring reports in CalSAAS.

It should be noted that the CDE will use the 2019−20 results to report “Ineffective” and “Out-of-Field” teachers based on the definitions adopted by the State Board of Education (SBE), to meet federal ESSA reporting requirements and to post on DataQuest. In November 2019, the SBE approved updated definitions for “Ineffective” and “Out-of-Field” teachers. The updated definitions are located on the CDE’s Updated Teacher Equity Definitions web page at https://www.cde.ca.gov/pd/ee/teacherequitydefinitions.asp.

Summary of 2019−20 CalSAAS Results

In 2019−20, of all the exceptions identified in CalSAAS for LEAs to resolve, many were determined to be appropriate upon explanation in CalSAAS of missing or incorrect data submitted to CALPADS. LEAs are reminded that explanations of data errors occur in CalSAAS, and LEAs cannot “correct” data in CALPADS for the monitored year. Data errors, however, can be addressed prospectively in the subsequent Fall 2 submission.

LEAs may want to first go into CalSAAS and download the Exceptions Report to identify the most common exceptions that the LEA had in 2019−20, so they can be addressed preemptively in 2020−21. Information on retrieving various reports in CalSAAS can be found on the CalSAAS Reports web page on the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing website: https://www.ctc.ca.gov/credentials/cig2/calsaas-information/calsaas-reports. The Exceptions Report provides information on each exception, which will help LEAs identify areas that generated the most issues. The next section describes the most common issues and how to avoid them.

Common Data Issues

There are three exception types identified in CalSAAS: CALPADS Code, Special Education Services, and English Learner Service Code. Some exceptions are “pre-determined” which is an automatic determination, and these exceptions do not require further work by the LEA unless information is requested by their Monitoring Authority (MA). LEAs can significantly reduce the number of exceptions that they must review and resolve in CalSAAS by ensuring accurate reporting to CALPADS in 2020−21. The most common issues that result in these three exception types and how to address them are summarized below.

Avoiding Issues that Cause Any of the Exception Types

By taking the following steps, LEAs can avoid many different exception types:

1. Ensure credentials/authorizations are effective on Census Day:  Some number of assignments across the different exception types triggered exceptions because the educator’s required credentials/authorizations were not effective on Census Day.
   
   LEAs should monitor, on a routine basis, that certificated staff credentials are current so that they are effective on Census Day and do not trigger an exception. LEAs should NEVER place a teacher in an assignment unless they hold, or are in the process of applying for the appropriate credential/authorization and are covered by a Temporary County Certificate while their application is being processed by the CTC. Sometimes the credentials or authorizations for new certificated staff or certificated staff pursuing additional authorizations do not become effective until after Census Day. The assignments of such staff will always trigger exceptions; however, if the credentials/authorizations become effective prior to the opening of the monitoring cycle, they can be determined as a “corrected misassignment.” If the credentials/authorizations become effective after the opening of the monitoring cycle, the assignments will be misassignments. 
   
   
2. Reduce use of the generic Statewide Educator Identifier of 9999999999. In 2019−20, CalSAAS generated a pre-determined exception of “Vacancy” for all course sections taught by a teacher with a generic Statewide Educator Identifier (SEID) of 9999999999. The only assignments with a generic SEID of 9999999999 that did not generate exceptions and were not displayed in CalSAAS were those courses that were identified in CALPADS as dual enrollment or college credit courses. These courses are identified in CALPADS by populating Field 9.19 – Course Section Instructional Level Code with either 23 – College Credit Only, or 24 – Dual Credit, or by using a State Course Code that represents a college course. All other courses with a generic SEID were pre-determined as misassignments that are vacancies. This generally included:
   
   
   • Courses taught at charter schools by non-certified teachers.
   • Courses taught by teachers who have SEIDs but who were not paid by the LEA reporting the assignment. In such cases, the reporting LEA may not have had all the information needed to submit the assignment for the individual teacher to CALPADS, and therefore submitted the assignment using a generic SEID. This generally happened for Career Technical Education courses taken at a Regional Occupational Center or Program and courses taught by contracted teachers from another LEA (including county offices of education) or outside agency.
     
     In order to submit an assignment to CALPADS, the LEA must first submit a Staff Demographic (SDEM) record for the educator to CALPADS. In order to submit a SDEM record, the reporting LEA must have a SEID and certain demographic data. Even if the reporting LEA has the SEID, it cannot submit the SDEM record without the required demographic information. Therefore, when a teacher is not employed by the LEA reporting the assignment, even if the reporting LEA has the SEID, they may not have the information necessary to submit the SDEM record; without a SDEM record, the only way the reporting LEA can report the assignment to CALPADS is by using the generic SEID.
   
   
   

   In 2020−21:

   • Courses taught by college professors will continue not to generate exceptions.
   • Any assignments with generic SEIDs will be pre-determined as vacancies.
   • The number of exceptions generated by charter school teachers reported with generic SEIDs should decrease significantly because all charter school teachers are now required to have a SEID from the CTC, which they acquire by applying for a Certificate of Clearance.* In 2020−21, many CalSAAS exceptions can be avoided by ensuring that charter school teachers have SEIDs, and maintaining those SEIDS locally so that they can be submitted to CALPADS.
   • Courses taught by teachers who have SEIDs, but for whom the reporting LEA is not able to report the assignment in CALPADS because they do not have the SEID and/or required demographic information needed to submit the SDEM record, will continue to be pre-determined as vacancies. The CTC is working to provide LEAs more information in CalSAAS that will enable the LEA to identify the specific teachers that generate exceptions based on a generic SEID, which will better enable them to address the exception.
     
     

   *Per AB 1505 (O’Donnell), all charter school educators are now: (1) required to hold a Certificate of Clearance, after which they will be issued a SEID, and (2) hold the credential required for the teacher’s certificated assignment. Flexibility is provided for charter school educators teaching Non-Core/Non-College Prep curriculum if those teachers were employed in 2019−20 but did not have the appropriate credentials and authorizations for their assignments. Those teachers will be required to hold the appropriate credentials for their assignments by July 1, 2025, and will generate misassignments until they are appropriately certificated. All new charter school hires are required to hold the credentials and authorizations required for their certificated assignment.

3. Populate Field 9.35 – Local Assignment Option Code for educators on Local Assignment Options:  By populating Field 9.35 – Local Assignment Option Code on the Course Section Enrollment (CRSE) file, LEAs may indicate in CALPADS that a teacher is authorized to teach a course section based on a specific Local Assignment Option (LAO). By providing LAOs in CALPADS, exceptions that require resolution are avoided because they display in CalSAAS as pre-determined exceptions. This results in less work for the LEA because no further work is required to address pre-determined exceptions unless the Monitoring Authority requests further information, thus allowing more focus to be paid on other identified exceptions.
   
   CALPADS administrators should consult with their human resources staff/credential analysts to determine which staff are on LAOs. LEAs are reminded that: (1) LAOs must be approved by the local governing board PRIOR to the start of a teacher’s assignment, and (2) LAOs must be appropriate for the course. Currently, LAOs can only be reported in CALPADS for teaching assignments; LEAs are not currently able to identify LAOs for Non Classroom Based or Support Assignments in CALPADS. It should also be noted that there are no LAOs established in statute for Career Technical Education, English Learner, and Special Education.
   
   Finally, note that assignments authorized by LAOs are not considered misassignments by state law, but are reported as “Out-of-Field” assignments for federal ESSA reporting and will be reported on DataQuest as well.

Avoiding Specific Exception Types

By taking the following steps, LEAs can address the specific exception types:

1. Appropriately identify courses with Students with Disabilities:  Many exceptions were exception type “Special Education.” This exception type is triggered when LEAs inappropriately identify a general education class as a Special Day Class, (a class designed specifically for students with disabilities in which all of the students enrolled are students with disabilities), by populating Field 9.22 - Instructional Strategy Code with Code 700 – Special Education. When a course is identified with Instructional Strategy Code 700 – Special Education, it is processed as a special education course and an exception is triggered if the assigned teacher does not hold the appropriate special education credential and authorization that aligns with the primary disabilities of the students in the class.
   
   Conversely, an exception type of “CALPADS Code” is triggered when a Special Day Class is not identified with Instructional Strategy Code 700 – Special Education. In this case, the course is processed as a general education course and an exception is triggered if the assigned teacher does not hold the appropriate general education credential. Special Day Classes should be reported in one of two ways:

• Self-Contained Class: If the teacher is providing instruction in ALL subjects to a group of students in the class all day, and the class is designed specifically for students with disabilities and all of the students enrolled are students with disabilities, then the State Course Code should be 1000 - Self-contained and Field 9.22 - Instructional Strategy Code should be populated with Code 700 - Special Education.
• Departmentalized Class: If the teacher is providing the student's primary instruction in ONE subject to multiple groups of students with disabilities throughout the day, then LEAs should select the appropriate State Course Code that aligns with the content that the teacher is teaching, and Field 9.22 - Instructional Strategy Code should be populated with Code 700 - Special Education.

2. Appropriately report teachers providing support instruction to students with disabilities. Exception type “Special Education” was also triggered when LEAs inappropriately identified a general education class with Instructional Strategy Code of 700 – Special Education because a Resource Specialist was providing push-in instruction to students with disabilities who had been mainstreamed into a general education class. If a teacher is providing SUPPORT instruction (supplementary to their primary instruction) in any subject to students with disabilities, the teacher should be reported with State Course Code 9231 - Special Education Support - Resource Specialist Program (RSP) and Field 9.22 - Instructional Strategy Code should be populated with 700 - Special Education. Generally, these teachers are providing support by pulling the student out of the classroom (pull-out) or by coming into the classroom (push-in).
   
   LEAs may, but are not required to, submit Student Course Section Enrollment records for students receiving support instruction from Resource Specialist Program (RSP) teachers, as long as Field 8.13 - Staff Job Classification Code is populated with Code 27 - Pull-Out/Push-In/Itinerant on the Staff Assignment (SASS) file. RSP teachers should NOT be reported as "co-teachers" when they are providing pull-out or push-in support for students with disabilities who have been mainstreamed into general education classes.
3. Select appropriate CALPADS State Course Code: Exception type “CALPADS Code” was triggered for different reasons. One data issue that triggers this exception type is when, based on the State Course Code selected for the teacher in CALPADS, the teacher did not hold the appropriate credential and authorizations to teach the course. For these exceptions, the State Course Code submitted to CALPADS is provided under “Exception Value” in the Exceptions Report in CalSAAS.
   
   These exceptions may be mis-assignments. However, in some cases, the course code submitted by the LEA does not accurately represent the content of the course and therefore the credentials and authorizations of the teacher. This is why it is crucial that LEA curriculum and instruction staff review the content of local courses and ensure that the content aligns with the content of the State Course (as defined in the CALPADS Code Set) to which they are mapped for CALPADS reporting. This mapping should be reviewed by curriculum and instruction staff annually for new courses and changes to existing courses. For State Course Codes found to be inaccurate in 2019−20, the appropriate State Course Code should be selected and submitted to CALPADS for the next year.
   
   In some cases, the selected State Course Code was accurate, but the teacher was authorized to teach the course based on a local assignment option which had not been populated by the LEA in CALPADS, or the teacher’s credentials/authorizations were not effective on Census Day. These issues were discussed above.
4. Select appropriate Non Classroom Based or Support Assignment Code: Exception type “CALPADS Code” was also generated in CalSAAS when the administrative, pupil services, or non-instructional teaching assignment was not accurately submitted to CALPADS by the LEA. If any non classroom based or support assignments were identified as exceptions in 2019−20, ensure that either the appropriate assignments are submitted to CALPADS or the educators who triggered the exceptions have appropriate assignments in 2020−21.
5. Populate Field 9.34 – Middle School Core Setting Indicator for courses taught in a Middle School Core Setting: Another common data issue that generated an exception type of “CALPADS Code” was when Field 9.34 – Middle School Core Setting Indicator on the CRSE record had not been populated by the LEA for a middle school course being taught as part of a Middle School Core setting. It is important for LEAs to properly populate the Middle School Core Setting Indicator field for courses taught as part of a middle school core because the credentialing requirements are different. If this indicator is populated, the exception is pre-determined in CalSAAS as “Core Setting.” Pre-determined exceptions lessen LEA workload because LEAs do not have to work to resolve them, unless their Monitoring Authority asks for more information.
6. Appropriately assign staff to homeroom and teacher assistant/teacher preparation courses. Exception type “CALPADS Code” was triggered when teachers were assigned to State Course Codes 9216 - Teacher Preparation/Student Assistant, and 9217 – Homeroom, did not hold a full credential.
   
   Courses in whichstudents receive grades or credits require the assigned staff member to have a full credential based on a Bachelor’s degree and student teaching. Credentialing requirements for staff assigned to courses in which students do not receive grades/credits, are more flexible. Specifically, courses in which students receive no curriculum, instruction, assignments, exams, and/or elective credit, may be assigned to staff who are Interns, or who hold a Waiver, Provisional Internship Permit (PIP), or Short-Term Staff Permit (STSP). Currently, there is not a way for LEAs to designate courses in which grades/credits are not earned, which impacts assignment monitoring through CalSAAS.
   
   For 2020−21, State Course Codes 9216 - Teacher Preparation/Student Assistant, and 9217 – Homeroom, will be identified as exceptions if assigned staff are not fully credentialed. Such assignments can be resolved in CalSAAS by selecting “Appropriate Assignment” as the determination and explaining in CalSAAS that students do not earn grades/credits in the course.
7. Ensure teacher librarians are assigned to appropriate courses: Exception type “CALPADS Code” was triggered when teacher librarians assigned to courses mapped to State Course Code 9214 – (Teacher Librarian) Information and Digital Literacy and Digital Citizenship, did not hold a Special Class Authorization in Information and Digital Literacy.
   
   The scope of instruction that a Teacher Librarian Credential allows the holder to conduct is limited to instructing students in “accessing, evaluating, using and integrating information and resources in the library program.” If the instruction goes beyond that scope, then the librarian needs to hold the Special Class Authorization in Information Literacy, Digital Literacy, and Digital Citizenship, regardless of whether the instruction is pull-out/push-in or a stand-alone departmentalized course.
   
   To address this issue in 2020−21, the CDE will modify the definition of State Course Code 9214, to specify that if the teacher is providing this course in a pull-out/push-in fashion, then the course is limited to “instructing students in accessing, evaluating, using and integrating information and resources in the library program.” The CTC is also working to modify CalSAAS to not trigger an exception on teacher librarians with an Education Service Job Classification Code of 27 – Itinerant or Pull-Out/Push-In Teacher, who are assigned to State Course Code 9214.
8. Ensure teachers have appropriate English Learner authorizations. Exception type “English Learner” was often triggered on assignments based on teachers’ English learner (EL) authorization(s) when EL students were enrolled in their course sections. Field 9.20 – Education Service Code on the CRSE file captures the English learner services being provided to English learners in a course section. If the teacher does not have the appropriate EL authorizations to provide the services specified, an exception is generated. The Education Service Code field should be populated based on the services actually being provided to any ELs enrolled in the course. If there are no ELs enrolled in a course, it is not necessary to populate the course with an EL service.
   
   LEAs should review the EL services being provided in each course and ensure that the teachers teaching those courses have the appropriate EL authorizations. Some specific resources are provided below that provide information on which credentials and authorizations are appropriate for each EL service and for teachers teaching courses mapped to State Course code 9104 – English Language Development.

CTC Assignment Monitoring Resources

The following username and password can be used to access all of the resources listed below:

Username**:  [NOTE: The username was included on the original Flash emailed to CALPADS LEA recipients on Feb. 5, 2021.]
Password**: [NOTE: The password was included on the original Flash emailed to CALPADS LEA recipients on Feb. 5, 2021].
**If you are a CALPADS Administrator or someone who requires this username and password information, please feel free to contact the CALPADS Operations Office (contact info at the bottom of this page), and please identify yourself, and please refer to this Flash (Flash #201) for reference, so that staff can more easily assist.

• Assignment Resources: https://www.ctc.ca.gov/credentials/cig2/assignment-resources
• California Statewide Assignment Accountability System (CalSAAS) Resources: https://www.ctc.ca.gov/credentials/cig2/calsaas-information
• Information on English Learner authorizations: https://www.ctc.ca.gov/credentials/cig2/calsaas-information/specific-exception-information
• Assignment School Training Modules: https://www.ctc.ca.gov/credentials/cig2/assignment-resources/assignment-school

Fall 2 Assignment Monitoring Checklist

Tips for Reviewing Report 4.3 – Staff Teaching Assignment Detail

Credential Analysts/Human Resources staff should:

• Verify that each teacher’s Total Years of Service are correct because this data is used to determine “inexperienced” teachers for ESSA reporting.
• Verify if any teachers in grades 5–8 are teaching departmentalized courses as part of a Middle School Core Setting; if so, ensure the Middle School Core Setting is set to “Y” for each course that is part of the core, including the “hanging 5th period.”
• Verify that the Local Assignment Option (LAO) Code has been identified for any teacher that is teaching a course based on Local Assignment Option (LAO) authorized by the local governing board authorization.

Curriculum and Instruction staff should:

• Verify that the State Course Code represents the correct content area that the teacher is teaching based on the standards used to develop the course.
• Verify that the Course Content Area Subcategory is correct if the subcategory is populated.
• For all departmentalized courses (any course code except 1000), ensure that the Departmentalized Course Standards Grade Level Range Code represents the range of grade level standards that are taught in the course.
• Verify that the Nonstandard Instructional Level has been populated for all courses that students are taking for college credit, with 23 – College Credit Only or 24 – Dual Credit. Or use appropriate college courses 9020, 9082, 9096, 9120, 9154, 9200, 9218, 9227, 9273, 9303 and 9358.
• Verify that the correct Education Service English Learners Code has been populated on the course record based on what EL services the teacher is providing to English learners in the class.
• If the course is being taught is in a non-English language, ensure the appropriate language is populated in the Instructional Language column, because these teachers require a bilingual authorization in that language.
• Verify that all special day classes (course sections where the majority of students are students with disabilities) have been populated with Instructional Strategy Code 700 – Special Education.
• Verify that all courses offered through home and hospital programs are populated with an Instructional Strategy Code of 300 – Home and Hospital.
• Ensure that all course sections being offered as part of an Independent Study program have an Independent Study Indicator of “Y.”
• For all online courses, ensure that: (1) the Distance Learning Indicator is set to “Y,” and (2) the Online Instruction Type has been populated.

Tips for Reviewing Report 4.5 – Non Classroom Based or Support Assignment Detail

Credential Analysts/HR staff should:

• Verify that staff with a Job Classification of 10 – Administrator are actually serving in positions requiring an Administrative Services Credential and have a Non Classroom Based or Support Assignment Code that represents their administrative assignment.
• Verify that staff with a Job Classification of 11 – Pupil Services are actually serving in a position requiring a Pupil/Personnel Services Credential and have a Non Classroom Based or Support Assignment Code that represents their pupil service assignment.
• Verify that staff with a Job Classification of 12 – Teacher, 26 – Non-Certificated Charter School Teacher, and 27 – Itinerant/Pull-Out/Push-In Teacher, actually are serving in Non Classroom Based Assignments where they provide no instruction to students and are assigned the correct Non Classroom Based or Support Assignment Code.

Tips for Reviewing Report 3.8 – Course Section Enrollment – Student List

Special Education Case Managers should:

• Verify any Alternate Special Education Placements in the classroom.

Credential Analysts/Human Resources staff should:

• For each course section reported on Report 4.3 with an Instructional Strategy Code of 700 – Special Education (use Local Course ID filter), verify that the primary and secondary disabilities of the students in that class, align with the teacher’s Education Specialist authorization.