Dear County and District Superintendents and Charter School Administrators:

Important 2019–20 Data Collection UpdateCalifornia
Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System End-of-Year Submissions 

The California Department of Education (CDE) would like to congratulate local educational agencies (LEAs) for successfully certifying their 2019–20 Fall 2 submission to the California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System (CALPADS), during a time when LEAs were transitioning to distance learning instruction, curbside meal distribution, and working from home.

As we approach the end of the school year, our attention now turns to the annual CALPADS End-of-Year (EOY) submissions which opened on May 11, 2020. The initial certification deadline is July 31, 2020, and the final deadline is August 28, 2020. The CDE is aware of the impact the COVID-19 pandemic continues to have on schools and students, and consequently on any data collected and submitted to CALPADS. It is critical, however, that LEAs continue working to submit accurate data. The CDE will use this data to comply with ongoing state and federal reporting requirements and make this information available publicly through DataQuest, the CDE’s data reporting website.

It is important to note that, for the first time, the CALPADS EOY submission will require LEAs to submit and certify:

• New data on the use of behavioral restraints and seclusion for all students, which is required by law to be publicly posted.
• Special education data used for reporting and monitoring under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).

LEAs are also reminded to carefully review the 4-year adjusted cohort graduate rate (ACGR) data in the CALPADS Cohort Report, which provides performance information, such as whether graduates met eligibility requirements for the University of California or California State University.

Every year, some LEAs identify significant errors after the CALPADS EOY and ACGR data have been submitted and certified by LEAs, processed by the CDE, and used in accountability measures or publicly posted. At this point, it is too late for the CDE to incorporate any data changes for accountability measures or publicly posted data. LEAs can avoid such problems by ensuring that staff take full advantage of all training opportunities and carefully review the data before they certify. The CDE recently announced CALPADS EOY training opportunities provided by California School Information Services (CSIS). Attending these training sessions, which are completely free and conducted online, greatly increases the quality and timeliness of data submissions. LEAs should also attend training sessions provided by their student information system (SIS) vendors and work closely with their vendors to ensure that the files generated by their systems meet CALPADS requirements. This greatly minimizes the time and effort it takes to submit files, and it increases data quality.

Thank you in advance for your efforts to serve California's students during these challenging times. I appreciate the ongoing support of your staff, including LEA CALPADS Administrators and their staff, who through their work are playing a key role in so many critical functions.

If you have any questions about this letter, please contact the CALPADS/CBEDS/CDS Operations Office by phone at 916-324-6738 or by email at calpads@cde.ca.gov, or Glenn Miller, Administrator, by phone at 916-319-0529 or by email at gmiller@cde.ca.gov.

Sincerely,

Jerry Winkler, Director
Educational Data Management Division

JW:pm

cc: LEA CALPADS Administrators