In response to the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) requirements, California Senate Bill (SB)1453 was enacted to derive data to satisfy Federal reporting requirements from the collection of longitudinal pupil data. Senate Bill 1453 requires: (1) the assignment of individual, yet non-personally identifiable Statewide Student Identifiers (SSIDs) to all K-12 students enrolled in California public schools; and (2) the establishment of the California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System (CALPADS) that includes statewide assessment data, enrollment data, and other demographic and program participation data needed to meet federal NCLB reporting requirements. California has completed the assignment of SSIDs through the California School Information Services (CSIS), and is in the early stages of developing CALPADS.

Current Status

California is in the process of moving from collecting numerous aggregate data collections containing redundant, inconsistent, and poor quality data, to a streamlined, flexible, educational data system that relies primarily on the collection of student and teacher level data. These data can be extracted and aggregated into various reports that satisfy state and federal requirements and provide a rich resource for research and evaluation.

In 1997, California established the CSIS program to build the capacity of local education agencies (LEAs) to implement and maintain comparable and effective pupil information systems, enable the accurate and timely exchange of pupil transcripts between LEAs and postsecondary institutions, and assist local education agencies to transmit state and federal reports electronically. However, participation in CSIS is voluntary and only about one quarter of the state’s LEAs participate in the program. To date, the primary emphasis of CSIS has been on assisting LEAs in meeting reporting requirements.

CSIS has developed a common file format for pupil transcripts and the infrastructure for transferring those records, but this process has not been utilized statewide since CSIS participation is voluntary.

As of June 2005, all students have been assigned an identifier, and CSIS and California Department of Education (CDE) are collaborating to implement the necessary processes for LEAs to maintain the SSID. California plans to have this process well established prior to the full implementation of CALPADS.

In December 2005, the CDE contracted with a vendor to assist in the development of the detailed Request for Proposal (RFP) vendor solicitation document to procure the software, hardware, and integration services to implement the CALPADS environment. This phase involves the detailed definition of the CALPADS functional requirements, the development of a State of California approved RFP document to solicit for a systems integration vendor, and the evaluation and selection process to select the CALPADS systems integration vendor. The CALPADS functional requirements definition effort has been underway since January 5, 2006.

Work to be accomplished with the State-wide Longitudinal Data System (SLDS) Grant awarded by the Institute of Education Sciences

The work to be accomplished with the California SLDS grant will focus on three areas:

1. Development of CALPADS;
2. Continued build out of California’s statewide student records transfer system; and
3. Support California’s participation in the School Interoperability Framework (SIF).

Development of CALPADS:
CALPADS is the lynchpin to California’s overall educational data system, enabling a transition from California’s current model that relies on numerous aggregate data collections. The SSIDs and CALPADS will enable the collection of student and teacher level data from which required state and federal reports can be produced. Specifically, the objectives of CALPADS are to:

1. Provide school districts and the California Department of Education (CDE) access to data necessary to comply with federal NCLB reporting requirements;
2. Provide a better means of evaluating educational progress and investments over time;
3. Provide LEAs information that can be used to improve pupil achievement;
4. Provide an efficient, flexible, and secure means of maintaining longitudinal statewide pupil level data; and
5. Promote good data management practices with respect to pupil data systems and issues.

As a foundation to the CALPADS efforts, the CDE is working to standardize the data it collects (names, definitions, and codes) in consideration of federal data standards in order to facilitate vertical reporting from LEAs, to the state, and to the federal government. In addition, the CDE will leverage the work done by CSIS and transition all California LEAs to a single more streamlined student and teacher data submission method under CALPADS environment.

Build out California’s student records transfer system:
California plans to expand the current CSIS K-12 record transfer system statewide beyond the LEAs that are already participating in CSIS. Work on this part of the project will include augmenting the current system to enable records transfers authenticated by the K-12 schools of attendance and simplifying the existing system’s user interface.

In addition, California is actively working with the California Community Colleges to develop ‘CCCTran,’ a central system of exchange and access for academic records between the K-12 and community college system. Phase I of the project will establish the transcript data format and the central exchange and access system with secure access and transmission. The value-added features of the Phase II will include combining and sorting data from transcripts, incorporating data from shared repositories, and providing academic data online to students.

Support California’s participation in School Interoperability Framework Association
California is participating in the SIF efforts, and will require CALPADS and other new systems to be able to accept SIF objects.