Nightly validations will resume Monday, 7/21/2025, at 5:00 pm ET. Validations are currently being happening during the school day to allow development staff to monitor progress. You may manually run validations at any time during the day.

Just a reminder that school calendars must be provided to DEX before Student School Association (Enrollment) data is provided and validated.

It came to our attention during this week’s Office Hours session that the code 12-WIDA Screener MLL descriptor was not available for use. This issue has been resolved with code 12-WIDA Screener returned to the 2025-2026 Descriptor list.

Be advised that the Corporation Test Coordinator staff assignment should be provided to Data Exchange and must also be provided via DOE Online.

REMINDER: GCE validations are running again grade 4 enrollment data at this time.

You will find the following GCE guidance posted to Knowledge Hub > School Support Hub > Reporting Guides > Enrollment.

• Guidance has been added to How to Report Enrollment / WithdrawalPreview

• Template 015 (Student School Association) has been updated to include the new ‘GradeLevelReasonDescriptor’. NOTE: Template 015 tutorial has not yet been updated.

• Find under Tutorials a GCE Support video and slide presentation prepared by the Office Of English Learners,

• There is a new section found under the Tutorials menu titled 'Good Cause Exemption (GCEs).

  • Find here the https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vDfP4l1HnI3qUPebmzg6PZTzr1MCu-bq/view?usp=drive_link

Office hours sessions are currently being scheduled with specific topics and open forum sessions. Please refer to the Calendar on the Upcoming Events page in Knowledge Hub. As the new school year begins, Office Hours sessions will again be offered on Tuesday and Thursday on certain weeks to accommodate Business Owner sessions on specific data sets.

Tuesday, 7/29/25 - 10:30 - 12:00 pm- IDOE Special Programs -Brandon

Thursday, 7/31/25 - 10:30 - 12:00 pm - Template training - Michelle Tubbs

Tuesday, 8/5/25 - 1:00 - 2:30 pm - open forum

Thursday, 8/7/25 - 1:00 - 2:30 pm - DEX Attendance walk through - Selina Snelling

Tuesday, 8/12/25 - 10:30 - 12:00 pm - open forum

Thursday, 8/14/25 - 10:30 - 12:00 pm - Template Q&A - Michelle Tubbs

Tuesday, 8/19/25 - 1:00 - 2:30 pm - open forum

Thursday, 8/21/25 - 1:00 - 2:30 pm - Multilingual Learners - Adam Pitt

Tuesday, 8/26/25 - 10:30 - 12:00 pm - open forum

Tuesday, 9/2/25 - 1:00 - 2:30 pm - open forum

Tuesday, 9/9/25 - 10:30 - 12:00 pm - open forum

Tuesday, 9/16/25 - 1:00 - 2:30 pm - Calendar,Attendance,Pupil Enrollment - Vanessa Bachle

This morning, IDOE launched a new statewide platform for managing Individual Education Programs (IEPs) and Individual Learning Plans (ILPs) for the 2025-2026 school year. Developed in partnership with PowerSchool, IDOE Special Programs will replace the current IEP and ILP platform.

Educators will access the new IDOE Special Programs system via the LINK portal by having the “Student Support Plans” role assigned to them. Ideally, these roles should be set within your local SIS. Those providing cooperative access will need their LINK Security Coordinators to enter this role via the LINK Security Portal for the new school year. A login guide for educators may be found here.  

After initial Student Support Plans are assigned, further permissions will need to be provided within IDOE Special Programs by the person listed as IEP/ILP Support in DEX.  These folks are not necessarily technicians, rather technical in their knowledge of IDOE Special Programs and the IEP/ILP system.  They are responsible for providing system access to users within 48 hours of receiving certification within IDOE special Programs. The IEP/ILP Support persons (PowerSchool’s Technical Contacts for this application) are the users' first layer of support if assistance is needed in accessing IDOE Special Programs or managing security within IDOE Special Programs. 

Access to most IDOE applications depend on the accurate role assignment within the LINK Portal. All superintendents and leaders of non-public schools should login to LINK and review/update who their Security Coordinators are.   

• Instructions for organization leaders on how to designate/update the security coordinators is found here. 

• New public and Choice schools setup of the LINK portal is found here. 

• If you are a new superintendent or the organization leader of a non-public school and need the first account configured, please email link@doe.in.gov.

The LINK Portal is able to recognize all public, charter, and accredited non-public schools’ local Google G-Suite or Microsoft 365 accounts. IDOE configures the organization’s leader as the first account, and then this person logs in to designate up to two security coordinators, who are responsible for overseeing the setup of roles for others in the organization.  Contact link@doe.in.gov with any questions.

Security coordinators for all public, charter, and accredited non-public schools are responsible for ensuring their organization’s key contacts for the upcoming school year are set. Required contacts are Superintendent, Principal, Special Education Director, and Chief Technology Officer. Additional contact descriptors can be found here. 

LINK roles, including the key contacts, are designed to be sent from the local Student Information System (SIS) to Data Exchange/LINK. When a person has an account in the local SIS, this is where the LINK roles should be set, according to the SIS instructions. Otherwise, when the staff classifications are resynched/resent to Data Exchange/LINK, they will replace any roles set with what is in the SIS. 

• Security Coordinator Instructions can be found here. 

• ICHAMP (Indiana Complaint, Hearings and Mediation Process) will utilize the following LINK key contacts: Superintendent and Special Education Director. It is essential that these two key contacts are reviewed by security coordinators and updated based on any necessary changes. 

A list of key contacts assigned may be found here.

Beginning Monday, July 1, the LINK Security Portal is recognizing roles identified in both the prior and upcoming school years’ databases. Roles for the new school year are to be entered prior to Monday, September 1. This data may be provided directly from a school’s SIS. Staff not associated by this date will lose their access to IDOE systems. Prior year staff roles should not be removed. IDOE recommends roles be entered and managed in their local SIS; however, three options are available:

• Preferred option: Enter staff roles in the local student information system (SIS) per vendor’s instructions and send educator data for the new school year to the IDOE.

• Add a staff role manually for the new school year via the Security Portal.

• Upload templates via Data Exchange.

To avoid data loss, please refrain from using multiple methods for a staff member.  

IDOE is launching a new statewide platform for managing Individual Education Programs (IEPs) and Individual Learning Plans (ILPs) for the 2025-2026 school year mid-July. Developed in partnership with PowerSchool, IDOE Special Programs will replace the current IEP and ILP platform. All schools will have access to IDOE Special Programs starting in late July. 

Educators will access the new IDOE Special Programs system via the LINK portal by having the “Student Support Plans” role assigned to them for the upcoming school year.  Ideally, these roles should be set within your local student information system. Those providing cooperative access will need their LINK Security Coordinators to enter this role via the LINK Security Portal for the new school year beginning Monday, July 1. A login guide for educators may be found here. 

Reporting enrollment data as soon as possible will be newly important for the 2025-2026 school year due to new state laws around promotion to 4th grade and because access to the state’s new IEP system depends on this information. It is no longer necessary to wait until the first day of the school calendar to begin sending enrollment (SSA) records to Data Exchange (DEX). IDOE will begin showing data that has been provided to DEX on Tuesday, July 15, and will begin running validations against the data. 

• Allowing enrollment data to flow as soon as possible will alert school staff if there are any concerns with a student being reported in 4th grade. (Data Exchange will process 4th grade enrollments according to new promotion rules related to IREAD proficiency.) Schools will have time to determine if the student without a passing IREAD score qualifies for a Good Cause Exemption (GCE) to the retention statute. The earlier this data is submitted, the more time schools will have to determine if the student must be retained in 3rd grade, contact parents, make updates to student schedules, etc. The earlier schools have this information the better for school staff, parents, and students.

• Allowing enrollment data as soon as possible will also assist with the new IEP/ILP system, which is set to go live on Friday, July 18. PowerSchool Special Programs (PSSP) will begin ‘pulling’ enrollment data from DEX which in turn will allow school staff to have access to student files within the special program’s software. Staff access to an IEP/ILP is entirely dependent on accurate enrollment records being submitted to IDOE.

A new fillable Good Cause Exemption (GCE) documentation template for English learners is available to support the transition from IILP to IDOE Special Programs following the summer retest. While use of this form is optional, it is available to streamline documentation during this transition. To use the form:

• Download and open it in a PDF editor.

• Complete a separate form for each student for whom a GCE meeting is held.

• Maintain documentation and upload the completed forms to IDOE Special Programs once the system is live.

Contact IDOE’s Office of English Learning and Migrant Education with any questions.

IDOE has provided guidance regarding the process to exit eligible students from EL status through a review of additional evidence alongside WIDA results. The Exit Criteria for English Learners Guidance has been updated to apply to 2025 WIDA ACCESS and Alternate ACCESS results. Accompanying resources, such as training materials and Decision-Making Tool templates, can be found on IDOE's English Learning and Migrant Education webpage . Per the guidance, students provisionally determined proficient via an additional evidence review must be submitted to IDOE for approval prior to formally exiting. The window to submit these students is now open and closes Friday, August 22. Contact IDOE’s Office of English Learning and Migrant Education with questions.

The school and corporation profile amendment submission window for the 2025-2026 school year is open until Sunday, August 31. In order to ensure the Indiana Department of Education (IDOE) maintains accurate information, all schools and school corporations must provide notice when changes are made that affect school openings, closures, and reconfigurations. Information on the submission process can be found here. Contact IDOE’s Office of School Accountability with any questions.