2025-26 End-of-Year Special Education Updates

To:           Local Educational Agency (LEA) Representatives

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

Date:       May 26, 2026

Subject:  CALPADS Update FLASH #324

2025–26 End-of-Year Special Education Updates

This Flash provides information regarding:

• Important Uses of End-of-Year (EOY) 1 Data Certified by the July 31, 2026 Close of the Amendment Window
• CALPADS Special Education Data 2025–26 Roadshows

Important Uses of EOY 1 Data Certified by the July 31, 2026 Close of the Amendment Window

Local educational agencies (LEAs) must approve their EOY 1 submissions by the July 17, 2026 certification deadline, which occurs before the amendment window opens. Special Education Local Plan Area (SELPA) approval is strongly encouraged by July 17, but it is not required at that time. However, SELPA approval is required by the close of the amendment window on July 31, 2026, for LEA submissions to be certified. For the 2025–26 academic year, certified EOY 1 data pulled from CALPADS after the amendment window closes will be used to calculate the following:

2027 Annual Monitoring Determinations: Definitions for these elements can be found in the Unified Annual Determination Letter (ADL) Data File and the Disproportionality Data File on the California Special Education Technical Assistance Network (CalTAN) LEA Monitoring Status web page at https://caltan.info/lea/search.

• School Age Intensive Determinations
  • Suspension Percentage
  • Absenteeism Percentage
    
    
• Preschool Intensive Determinations
  • Preschool Discipline Percentage
    
    
• Targeted Determinations
  • Graduation Dashboard Result
  • Suspension Dashboard Result
  • Dropout Percentage
  • Parent Involvement Percentage
  • Post Secondary Higher Education Percentage
  • Post Secondary Competitive Employment Percentage
  • Any Education or Employment Percentage
    
    
• Additional Monitoring Elements
  • Restraint/Seclusion Ratio
  • Restraint/Seclusion Data Review
  • Timeline Compliance Review (Indicators 11, 12, 13)
    
    
• Disproportionality for Discipline

State Performance Plan/Annual Performance Report (SPP/APR) Indicators: Definitions for these indicators can be found on the System Improvement Leads website in the State Performance Plan Indicator Guide: https://systemimprovement.org/resource/2024-2025-sppi-guide.

• 1 - Graduates
• 2 - Dropouts
• 4a - Discipline overall and 4b -Discipline by race/ethnicity
• 8 - Parent Involvement
• 11 - Child Find
• 12 - Early Childhood Transition
• 13 - Secondary Transition
• 14 - Post-school Outcomes

Review EOY Certification and Real-Time Reports to Ensure Data Accuracy

To ensure that the data being certified are valid and reliable, LEAs should generate and review the appropriate CALPADS reports to track their annual monitoring, indicator, and timeline data through the EOY reporting window.

Table 1 below describes the CALPADS EOY certification and supporting reports that LEAs should review for the various uses of certified EOY 1 data.

Table 1

Indicators and Monitoring Data and Related CALPADS EOY Reports

Table 2 below describes the CALPADS RealTime Reports that LEAs should review for each of the indicators and monitoring data elements that use real-time data as of the close of the EOY amendment window.

Table 2

Indicators and Monitoring Data and Related CALPADS RealTime Reports

Additionally, many indicator and monitoring outcomes are assigned to the District of Special Education Accountability (DSEA); therefore, it is critical that LEAs are aware of all students for whom they are the DSEA, and that their data are correct, accurate, and compliant. LEAs can use CALPADS Monitoring Report 16.14 – Students with Disabilities - Plan Student List by DSEA  (https://documentation.calpads.org/Reports/Accountability/Report16.14_StudentswithDisabilities-PlanStudentListbyDSEA/#report-1614-students-with-disabilities-plan-student-list-by-dsea), which is available year-round, to find the students for whom they are the DSEA.

CALPADS Special Education Data 2025–26 Spring Roadshows

The CDE Special Education Division is pleased to announce the following in-person training sessions to prepare LEAs for their 2025−26 EOY 1 submission to CALPADS. Registration links for these training sessions can be found on the CDE CALPADS Special Education Data Roadshows web page at:
https://www.cde.ca.gov/sp/se/ac/calpadsspedroadshows.asp.

Virtual participation is available at some events. Events offering virtual participation will note this in the schedule on the Special Education Data Roadshows web page.

These sessions will train local special education data coordinators and SELPA-level staff on the updates and changes for the 2025–26 CALPADS EOY Submission as well as other special education-related data. The training will cover:

• EOY CALPADS Data Submission and Reports
• What’s new for EOY
• Consolidation into EOY 1
• EOY Data and the Annual Determinations Letter (ADL)
• Monitoring Reports and Holding Timely Meetings
• Statutory Meeting Timelines
• Annual Determination Letter Timelines
• Looking ahead to Fall 2026–27

Attendees should bring laptops if possible.

SELPA staff, district, and site-level special education data coordinators are welcome to attend. CALPADS LEA administrators may attend only if space is available.

The host sites have agreed to extend participation to neighboring counties.
For questions about a specific session, please contact the site host directly:
A list of hosting agencies, along with hosts’ names and contact information, is available on the CDE CALPADS Special Education Data Roadshows web page at https://www.cde.ca.gov/sp/se/ac/calpadsspedroadshows.asp.

For general questions, or to request accommodations at any of these sessions, please contact Isabell Robertson, Office Technician, at irobertson@cde.ca.gov.