CALPADS Update Flash #306

To:           Local Educational Agency (LEA) Representatives

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

Date:      June 11, 2025

Subject:  CALPADS Update FLASH #306

2024−25 End-of-Year Submission Reminders

Key End-of-Year Dates

The 2024−25 End-of-Year (EOY) submission opened May 6, 2025 and is currently in progress. Table 1 below lists key dates and deadlines.

Table 1: 2024−25 Key EOY Dates

Abbreviations used in the table that are not otherwise defined:

LEAs – Local Educational Agencies
SELPAs – Special Education Local Plan Areas

LEAs are reminded to upload any remaining files required to amend data at least one day before the close of the Amendment Window to ensure timely receipt of a revision to certify well before 11:59 p.m. on August 8, 2025.

Reminder of New Guidance: Certify EOY 3 First

LEAs are required to exit student enrollments and often update other enrollment and demographic data during the EOY 3 certification process. Therefore, if LEAs certify EOY 1, 2, or 4 before certifying EOY 3, any subsequent updates to enrollment/exit or demographic data in EOY 3 can create inconsistencies with the student data certified earlier in a different submission. This is particularly consequential for the students with disabilities (SWDs) data, which is certified as part of EOY 4. Specifically, if EOY 4 is certified prior to EOY 3, then the data used for state and federal reporting may not be accurate, and:

• Reports 16.22 and 16.23 (Special Education Status Reports) may NOT reflect all enrollment and exit data for SWDs; and
• Data on SWDs exiting special education may not be accurate.

Therefore, to ensure enrollment/exit, demographic, and program data are up to date for SWDs, it is recommended that LEAs certify EOY 3 first, followed by certifying an EOY 4 revision created on the same day and at the same time, or closely thereafter. This will ensure that all SWD data for enrollments and exits are included in the certified data, and that all demographic and program data are updated.

Certifying the Consolidated Application and Reporting System (CARS) data for Schoolwide Program (SWP) Schools

A school that receives Title I, Part A funds operate one of two programs:

• Schoolwide Program (SWP); or
• Targeted Assistance School (TAS) Program

A school is considered a Title I TAS school and is only considered a SWP school if it has met all the requirements to operate as a SWP school and has received approval of the SWP plan from the local governing board. Schools that are SWP do not have to submit Title 1 education program records for students to the California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System (CALPADS); TAS schools are required to submit such records to CALPADS as part of the EOY 2 submission.

Therefore, LEAs with schools that have been approved for SWP status are reminded to make sure that SWP schools have been identified in the Consolidated Application and Reporting System (CARS) by certifying the “2024–25 Title I, Part A Notification of Authorization of Schoolwide Program” form. While this form is part of the CARS Winter submission, which is currently closed, the form remains open to allow LEAs to identify schools as SWP if they have not done so already.

The SWP and TAS statuses are uploaded to CALPADS on a nightly basis. Therefore, if schools are not identified as SWP in CARS, the schools will be considered TAS in CALPADS. LEAs will then receive the fatal certification validation error CERT097 – Missing Title I Targeted Assistance Program Records, if no student program records with an Education Program Code of 122 – Title I Targeted have been submitted to CALPADS. LEAs will not be able to certify their EOY 2 submissions until resolving validation errors by identifying the schools as SWP in CARS.

Therefore, CALPADS LEA Administrators should communicate with their LEA Title I Coordinators to ensure that this form is certified in CARS for any schools with a SWP status. If they have not done so already, they should certify schools’ SWP statuses as soon as possible in CARS and well before the July 11, 2025 CALPADS milestone of no fatal errors. This ensures timely uploading of SWP statuses in CALPADS and prevents any issues with certifying the EOY 2 submission by the July 25, 2025 certification deadline.

Impact of the Secondary Direct Certification Match on Socio-Economically Disadvantaged Student Group

As shared during the September 2024 and May 2025 CALPADS Regional Meetings, the California Department of Education (CDE), as required by state law, will begin including results from a secondary Direct Certification (DC) match in the DC results extract starting July 1, 2025. This updated process supplements the initial DC match conducted by the California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) by incorporating additional CalFresh and CalWORKS participation data received from the California Department of Social Services (CDSS). Since the July DC results automatically populate CALPADS reports, LEAs may see an increase in the number of students in the socio-economically disadvantaged (SED) student group on various CALPADS 2024–25 EOY certification reports. No action is required from LEAs at this time. However, any LEAs that certify any EOY submission prior to the July DC match results populating in CALPADS (early July) may want to review their certification reports after the July DC match results are incorporated. This review will help assess any impact on SED counts and decide whether decertifying and recertifying any EOY submission is necessary.