| Q | When I submit data to CALPADS, I get errors about "invalid characters". What could be causing this? | | A | There is a known bug in CALPADS that generates errors when the Parent/Guardian field in Aeries contains non-alpha characters like "/". Until CALPADS corrects this problem in their system, you need to open the SINF file using Notepad and replace all slash characters with blanks. |
|
| Q | When doing the ODS Audit process, I click on the "Evaluate Records and Create New SENR File" button. Then I get a message: "SENR File created. 0 Records Extracted". Why? | | A | You probably selected the wrong File Delimiter when you imported the file. Change the selection and re-import the file. It might also be that you did not have any schools selected from the list on the right-hand side of the form. The ODS Audit process will only evaluate the schools selected. |
|
| Q | What do I put into the "STU.ED Use Date" field on the Create CALPADS Extracts form? | | A | Start first by reading the description of this field on the Help tab of the form. Here is also another way to explain the use of that field:
You need to first, figure out how good your ENR data is. Determine the date after which data in ENR is good. Put that date into the "STU.ED Use Date" field. Determining the "goodness" of your ENR table is not something that Aeries support can do for you. You need to do that on your own. You need to figure out how long you have been on Aeries and how long you have been updating your district database. If you have incomplete ENR data, you can go back into prior years, build the ENR data in that year and then use the form: "Pull ENR From Another Database" to copy it into the following school year. Continue to do that until you get to the current year. Then you have good ENR data going back to the school year you started with. |
|
| Q | How do I import my SEIDs? | | A | In the Aeries District software, open the Create CSIS Data Files form. There is a tab called "Load SEID" that can be used to import the SEID values into the Aeries Staff (STF) table. |
|
| Q | How do I know if I need to perform the "Data Reconciliation" process? | | A | All districts need to perform a "Data Reconciliation" when you start using CALPADS and should be done at least once every two months thereafter. Please refer to the "Getting Started with CALPADS" document: www.aeries.com/Support/downloads.asp?catid=886914049. |
|
| Q | Which Reconciliation Approach should I use? | | A | Aeries districts should use Approach #1. Aeries has a built-in reconciliation process called the ODS Audit. Refer to the Getting Started with CALPADS document for more information. |
|
| Q | What are the quick steps for performing the Reconciliation process. | | A | In Aeries, this is called the "ODS Audit". The first step in the process is to go to CALPADS and get the file from them. Then you import the file into Aeries, let Aeries process the data and create a new file. Then take that new file and send it up to CALPADS to fix their data. You can find more detailed information in the "Getting Started With CALPADS" document here. |
|
| Q | Do I need to work from a "Snapshot" database? | | A | NO. Make a backup of your database(s) on Info Day and place it aside, just in case you need to come back to it. You shouldn't need this backup, but it doesn't hurt to have it. Continue to work out of you live database and extract data from your live database. |
|
| Q | Do I need to enter an NSLP Free and Reduced Start Date? | | A | No. If you leave the Eligibility Start Date empty, Aeries will use the current enrollment range and school year to extract that information. |
|
| Q | What do I do if I did not do the End of Year Enrollment Update in CSIS? | | A | First check with CALPADS to find out what they will require. Because the Start Date values for last year's students will probably not match what Aeries thinks the Start Date should be, you need to be able to do a ODS Audit process for last year's students or you need to manually update that information in CALPADS. The only alternative is to do an Enrollment Update from Aeries and manually adjust the file to make sure the Start Dates match. But that process would probably be more cumbersome than just updating the records in CALPADS. The easiest way would be if the ODS Audit process could work against last year's data, but you need to verify that CALPADS will accept it in "batch" format. |
|
| Q | What is Reconciliation? | | A | In Aeries, we call this process the “ODS Audit”. It will take data from CALPADS and compare it against the data in Aeries. It then creates a file to be submitted to CALPADS to correct the data in the CALPADS ODS. That way, subsequent enrollment update submissions will be more successful. See “Getting Started With CALPADS” documentation for steps to complete the process. |
|
| Q | Do I need to convert my existing Ethnicity information to the new Race and Ethnicity fields? | | A | No. The CALPADS extract from Aeries will convert this information on the fly. But for certain reports in Aeries, you need to convert your existing data to the new fields. You can do this by using the Macro called: "Populate New Race and Ethnicity Fields." |
|
| Q | Can I do an Identifier Request without getting all the code translations and the STU.ED Use Date in? | | A | Somewhat. Code Value Translations and all options need to be populated before performing any CALPADS Extracts. But for new students, the "STU.ED Use Date" won't be a factor because for new students, their STU.ED date should be very recent and the ENR data for those students should be valid for this school year. |
|
| Q | Can you explain why both Student Enter Date (STU.ED) and Enrollment History (ENR) are used for reporting Student School Enter Date to CALPADS? | | A | Student School Enrollment Start Date is the single most important value in CALPADS Reporting. If the system can't figure out when a student started attending a school, nothing else matters. That is why Aeries gives you the option of having either good ENR data or good STU.ED data and provides a threshold for determining when to use these two resources. Your ENR data should always be accurate for the current year because it is managed on the fly by Aeries. It is getting good data for prior years that can be difficult. |
|
| Q | How do we manage the local mapping of our courses to the Course Group State codes as provided in the CALPADS code sets? | | A | On the Course table in the bottom right you will see a CBEDS number field. That is the Course Group State field for CALPADS and the numbers are correct but many are listed that say “No Longer Used” because they were dropped. Also, you can use 6012 for courses you do NOT want to report and Aeries will know not to extract them. |
|
| Q | Is there any documentation to explain what the codes mean for MST.HQT, the Highly Qualified dropdown? | | A | You can use the CALPADS Code Sets document and various NCLB documents to determine which value to use. You should also consult with the person in your district in charge of credentialing. |
|
| Q | What are the Deadlines for CALPADS? | | A | You can find this information on the CALPADS Website: www.cde.ca.gov/CALPADS. |
|
| Q | Do I need to delete Classified staff from the STF Table and leave Certificated only? | | A | No. As long as they do not have any STJ (Staff Job Assignments) records, they will not be extracted. |
|
| Q | For Student Primary Residence Code (SSD.HMT) do I have to populate this field for every student? | | A | This is a Required Field in CALPADS, but using the Code Value Translations tab on the Create CALPADS Extracts form, you can translate a Blank to "200" (Permanent Housing). This information is not analyzed by CALPADS until the end of the year, so by the end of the year, you do need to evaluate all of your students and populate actual values for the sake of accuracy. |
|
| Q | How to set up security for site users who now need access to District for CALPADS access? | | A | Your schol level users should not need access to the district database because all information can be input from the school level. Eventually, Aeries will allow site-level users to create their own SSID Request files, but this will only be enabled after CALPADS stabilizes. |
|
| Q | I am trying to add new SSID #s received from CALPADS into Aeries and getting an error that this is not a valid CSIS number. Why am I getting this and how do I fix this? | | A | SSIDs assigned by CSIS used a different validation algorithm than is being used by CALPADS now. Eagle Software is working with CALPADS to determine their validation rules and will implement them into Aeries as soon as possible. Until then, you need to import the SSID results into the system using the batch method, or use the Query Change form to enter the value. |
|
| Q | If we currently house our NSLP (Free and Reduced Meals) eligibility data in the FRM table at the school level, does the CALPADS extract look at the FRM table for data? Or do we need to move this data to the FAR table at the district level? | | A | Currently the CALPADS extract only looks at the FAR table in the district database. This information is not currently be used by CALPADS. An option will be added to the extract form to pull this information from either the school level FRM table or the district level FAR table. |
|
| Q | I don't want to use code "F" and "R" for Free and Reduced Meals Eligibility. Can I use different codes? | | A | Currently only the "F" and "R" codes are acceptable for CALPADS reporting. This might be translatable later as the extract system is enhanced. |
|
| Q | Do you know if there is a code for teacher assignments for grades 9-12 Special Ed self-contained? Also, where are Elementary course assignments now coded? | | A | There is an Other Fields Tab on the TCH table....that is where you add a CBEDS code of 1000 to all Self-Contained Classes and the on the Instr. Strategy there is a flag for Sp Ed. |
|
| Q | What CBEDS Code should we use for "Lunch"? | | A | Use code "6012" and Aeries will automatically skip this course and not extract it. |
|
| Q | What do I do if I have a course section that falls into more than one Instructional Strategy and one of those is Special Education? | | A | For the 09/10 reporting year, if you have a course section that falls into more than one Instructional Strategy and one of those strategies happens to be special education (special day class), then you should select special education. Special education should trump all other strategies. In future years we will revise the CALPADS specifications so that you can submit these independently. Additionally, if the choice comes down to choosing between the EL strategies and home and hospital strategies, then select Home and Hospital. |
|
| Q | What if the Instructional Strategy is English Learner? | | A | The CALPADS English Learner Accountability Office decided that they did not want to establish a "ranking order" for the EL strategies, so please use the one code you feel is most appropriate for the 09/10 school year. This is a local call. CALPADS will amend their program for the 10/11 school year so that they can capture that multiple strategies are taught in one course section. In addition, if the choice comes down to choosing between the EL Strategies and Home and Hospital strategies, then select Home and Hospital. |
|
| Q | Do we have to report Infants in CALPADS? | | A | School Districts each make a local determination of whether to track infants or not. Once you start tracking a student, you will always need to track that student. |
|
| Q | During the ODS Audit/Reconciliation process, I import 2000 records into Aeries, but only 500 get extracted into the SENR file. Is this correct? | | A | Yes. Only records that need to be changed are extracted into the SENR file you upload back to CALPADS. |
|
| Q | Where do I find the ART (CSIS Academic Records Transfer) extract form in Aeries? | | A | Records Transfer is still a CSIS function of the SRRTS systems. At the school level in Aeries, go to View All Forms, add filter, type in "CSIS", Open Create CSIS Data Files, "Create Records Transfer File" tab. Also, on our website under Support, Documents and Downloads, in the CSIS category, look for Records_Transfer_File_Layouts_K12_to_K12.pdf. This will give you K12-K12 Records Transfer Submission File Layouts. |
|
| Q | Special Ed enter date/ I have been putting in the date that student first received services in Special Education instead of the date they enrolled in my program. Do I need to change this? | | A | No, you should enter the date of their initial IEP. |
|
| Q | If the Race and Ethnicity for a student is "Intentionally Left Blank" do we have to create a code in the Code Table for this item or can we just leave it blank? | | A | Eagle Software advises that you create a code in the Code Table for this so that you can make sure that the field is populated correctly. Leaving it blank makes it difficult to determine if the field was left blank intentionally or in error. But, blank values will be correctly extracted to CALPADS if they are there. |
|
| Q | What student grade levels need to be translated on the Code Value Translation tab in Aeries? | | A | The extract from Aeries will automatically translate grade 0 to "KN" and will automatically add the leading zero to grades 1-9. You only need to enter translation values for grades higher than 12. |
|
| Q | Do I need to run the CBEDS Reports in Aeries? | | A | No. CALPADS reporting is based completely off of student enrollment information. The old "Counted in CBEDS" flag no longer applies for CALPADS reporting. You can still run these reports for your own information, but these reports will be changing soon to reflect how CALPADS breaks down students during Fall 1 Aggregations. When these reports are adjusted, they will also use student enrollment data to determine which students were enrolled on Information Day. |
|
| Q | What Date Range should I use when creating the ODS Extract in CALPADS? | | A | The Start Date you should use should be "7/1/2003". It is important to use a date that encompasses all the enrollment information that CALPADS has on your students. Otherwise, you will end up getting errors in CALPADS about Overlapping Enrollments. |
|
| Q | How do I generate the extract from CALPADS for the Reconciliation/ODS Audit process? | | A | Go into the CALPADS website. Then navigate to: Reports > Extracts > ODS Extracts. Select the "SSID Enrollment ODS Download". DO NOT use the "SSID Enrollment –Data Reconciliation", even though CALPADS instructions may tell you to. Choose a Start Date of "7/1/2003". Here is a screen shot:
 |
|
| Q | How do I handle my Graduates and Matriculating students in last year? | | A | If you didn't update these students with End Of Year and Graduation Status values last year and submit these students to CSIS, you need to now go back into last year and populate the Grad Status (STU.HSG) and the Date Graduated (STU.DG) fields. You do not have to populate End Of Year (STU.EOY) values unless you want to. Aeries will automatically extract the correct Exit Reason for students with the STU.HSG field populated. Then you need to complete the Reconciliation / ODS Audit process in last year to report these students to CALPADS. |
|
| Q | When I import the CALPADS ODS Download file into Aeries for the ODS Audit process, it tells me that some record were removed because of unmatched SSIDs? Is this something I should be concerned with? | | A | No - do not worry. The CALPADS ODS Download file often contains students who are no longer in your district. This is perfectly normal. The message is simply letting you know how many records the system found in the file and how many will be evaluated by the ODS Audit process. There is nothing you need to do to fix anything. This is all normal. |
|
| Q | Which Exit Code should I use when exiting a student from a "Secondary Enrollment?" | | A | CALPADS recommends using code "400 - Other". |
|
