CALPADS Update Flash #302

To:           Local Educational Agency (LEA) Representatives

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

Date:      May 15, 2025

Subject:  CALPADS Update FLASH #302

Parent/Guardian Field Validation Changes

The California Department of Education (CDE) collects parent/guardian information to assist in student identification for the purposes of assigning Statewide Student Identifiers (SSIDs) and to determine inclusion in the Socio-Economically Disadvantaged (SED) accountability student group. The Parent/Guardian Highest Education Level Code should be self-reported by the parent or guardian during the student’s enrollment process.

The parent/guardian name fields are not required to be populated because sometimes this information is not known, or Local Educational Agencies (LEAs) may choose not to submit this information if it is not appropriate to collect, such as when students’ privacy and safety are of concern. However, among other reasons, LEAs are encouraged to populate the parent/guardian names because this information helps all LEAs more accurately identify the SSIDs of students transferring into the district and determining whether two SSIDs should be merged to resolve multiple identifier (MID) anomalies. Additionally, this data supports statewide matching processes, such as identifying students in foster care or migrant students.

Providing the highest parent education level of a parent/guardian helps identify students who might meet one of the criteria for the SED student group for accountability purposes. Please refer to the Socio-Economically Disadvantaged Subgroup information in the CALPADS User Manual (https://documentation.calpads.org/Glossary/AccountabilitySubgroupData/Socio-EconomicallyDisadvantagedSubgroup/#matrix-for-parent-ed-level-inclusion-in-sed).

To improve the quality of parent/guardian data and address gaps in existing validations, the CDE is consolidating existing validations into a new set of more comprehensive, effective, and understandable validations. The validation changes to the Student Enrollment (SENR) file, and Parent/Guardian fields in the Student Information (SINF) file are summarized below.

Parent/Guardian Fields on Student Information (SINF) File

For the reasons mentioned above, LEAs are strongly encouraged to populate the following fields on the SINF file:

For Parent/Guardian 1:

• 2.39 – Guardian 1 First Name
• 2.40 – Guardian 1 Last Name
• 2.38 – Parent Guardian 1 Highest Education Level Code

For Parent/Guardian 2:

• 2.41 – Guardian 2 First Name
• 2.42 – Guardian 2 Last Name
• 2.50 – Parent Guardian 2 Highest Education Level Code

Purpose of the Parent/Guardian Field Validations and Updated Guidance

Validations have been updated for the Parent/Guardian fields to support improved data quality and streamline reporting. The following provides an overview of the purpose of these validations and the updated guidance.

Note: This updated guidance supersedes the information provided in the CALPADS Update Flash #260 that addressed the reporting of highest education level for each parent (https://www.cde.ca.gov/ds/sp/cl/calpadsupdflash260.asp).

While LEAs are not required to submit parent/guardian information for every student, it is important to ensure the quality of the data that are submitted. These validations seek to ensure:

• If a parent/guardian is submitted for only one parent/guardian, the information is entered under Parent/Guardian 1 and not Parent/Guardian 2.
• If Parent/Guardian 1 information is submitted, all three fields for that parent (First Name, Last Name, Parent Guardian 1 Highest Education Level Code) are required to be populated.
• If Parent/Guardian 2 is submitted in addition to Parent/Guardian 1, both the First Name and Last Name of Parent/Guardian 2 must be populated, but the Parent Guardian 2 Highest Educational Level Code is optional.

LEAs are strongly encouraged to populate the Parent/Guardian 2 First Name and Last Name fields because of their value in helping LEAs to identify the SSIDs of students transferring into their districts and to determine whether to merge multiple identifiers. This data also supports matching processes for SUN Bucks and identifying migrant students in the Migrant Student Information System (MSIN). LEAs are also strongly encouraged to populate the Parent Guardian 2 Highest Education Level Code field, but they are not required to populate this field.

Previously, LEAs were required to populate the Parent/Guardian 1 Highest Education Level field even if the parent/guardian names were not provided for Parent/Guardian 1. With the validation changes outlined below, LEAs will not be required to populate the Highest Education Level field if the Parent/Guardian 1 names are not provided.

These validation modifications are now in production. The specific validations that have been added or disabled for Parent/Guardian 1 information are listed in Table 1 below, and those for Parent/Guardian 2 are listed in Table 2 below.

Table 1: Parent/Guardian 1 Field Validations

Abbreviations used in the table that are not otherwise defined:

CDD – Certified Data Discrepancy
DD – Data Discrepancy
EOY – End of Year

Table 2: Parent/Guardian 2 Field Validations

Is Reporting the Highest Education Level for Each Parent Required?

As reflected in the validations described in Table 1 and Table 2:

• For students enrolled with primary, secondary, or short-term enrollments, LEAs will be required to submit the Parent/Guardian 1 Highest Education Level Code if the Parent/Guardian 1 First and Last Names are provided.
• If the Parent/Guardian 2 First and Last Names are populated, the Parent/Guardian 2 Highest Education Level Code may be populated and is not required.
• Though reporting the highest education level for Parent/Guardian 2 is optional, LEAs are strongly encouraged to report this information if it is available because it increases the quality of SED data.

Note: LEAs are not required to update historical records, but if updates are made, the revised validations will help avoid triggering unnecessary errors.

Parent/Guardian Highest Education Level Code Changes

The definition for the Highest Education Level Code 15 – Decline to State has been updated in CALPADS Code Sets Version (v) 16.1 as follows:

Table 3: Decline to State Definition Change

Use of Highest Education Level Code in Identifying Student Inclusion in the Socio-Economically Disadvantaged Accountability Student Group

Table 4 identifies when a student is identified for inclusion in the Socio-Economically Disadvantaged (SED) accountability student group based on the highest education level of their parent(s)/guardian(s). Note: all CALPADS reports reflecting the SED student group will be updated prior to Census Day to reflect these rules.

Table 4: Determining Inclusion in SED Student Group Based on Highest Parent Education Level