NEW: TIDE Alternate Tester Flag

To ensure that the Test Information Distribution Engine (TIDE) reflects the correct Alternate Tester demographic flag, public corporations and non-public schools may select the “Alternate Tester” 'accommodation’ for I AM in their student information system (SIS). This ‘accommodation’ is only required when a student with a finalized IEP or Service Plan does not require any assessment accommodations for I AM or only has universal features and designated features for I AM. Corporations and non-public schools do not need to input the “Alternate Tester” 'accommodation' in their SIS if TIDE is reporting the Alternate Tester flag correctly. Once indicated in a schools’ SIS and lands in Data Exchange as an "Accommodation", TIDE will reflect the Alternate Tester flag within 48 hours or less. 

If your SIS vendor has not implemented the “Alternate Tester” ‘accommodation’ and you need to identify a student's Alternate Tester status in TIDE, template 014 may be utilized to upload the ‘accommodation’ to Data Exchange, which will then be reflected in TIDE within 48 hours or less.

NEW: Prior Validation Roster and Valid Count

When reviewing the validation results on a prior validation run, you will notice that the counts for Roster and Valid will display 'NA”. We have come to understand that any time a validation is completed, the counts for Roster and Valid columns for all validation runs (current and prior) will be the same. The counts for Errors, Conflicts, Exclusion, and Warnings will remain unchanged on prior validations. If a comparison of Roster and Valid counts between the Current validation and prior validation is necessary, it is suggested that a screenshot of the validation page is saved and the roster downloaded before starting a new validation.

Office of Information Technology

NEW: Credit Corrections Guidance

A State Accountability Dashboard will be released by the end of March. Schools are encouraged to review this dashboard to identify missed courses that would impact their school's Accountability grade and report missed courses as Credit Corrections using the "**** Credit Corrections" method credit types so that they are certified for July 2026 course outcomes. Missing course outcomes can be provided to DEX via SIS vendor or template. Knowledge Hub guidance for reporting course outcomes is provided here for your convenience.

REMINDER: Help Us Help You

When creating a help desk ticket, please make sure you are including all necessary information required for a specialist to investigate your concern in a timely manner. In recent weeks there has been an increase in the number of tickets that do not include important pieces of information and then requires that the specialist respond to the customer asking for basic information that is required to begin troubleshooting the concern. It is suggested that all tickets contain the following information at a minimum.

• STN/SPN

• Error message that is being triggered

• Screenshots that will provide necessary information needed to understand the issue

• Identify the system where you see the concern (Data Exchange, Special Programs, Student Information System, etc)

• If reporting a vendor issue please provide vendor support case/ticket number in your help desk ticket

REMINDER: Office of School Finance

REMINDER: Membership Conflict Petition Process

The window to submit a membership conflict petition is now open. This memo details the process. Friday, March 13, is the deadline for a school corporation or charter school to file a petition. Contact IDOE’s Office of School Finance with any questions.

Office of Education Options and Quality

REMINDER: Non-Public School Community: Choice Membership Appeals Process

The February data cycle closed on February 13, and all data should be certified. House Enrolled Act 1515 allows for a Choice parent, or Choice school, on behalf of a Choice parent, to petition the Department for a student left off the Membership report to be placed into the school’s report and retroactively paid, if they believe the student should have been included in the Membership report.

The process remains the same as it was for fall membership. Please review this memo for details about the process and the petition form. Petitions must be submitted using the form and should be emailed to choiceschool@doe.in.gov.

Appeals must be received within two weeks of the date that payment letters are provided to schools.

REMINDER: Office Hours for 2025-2026

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. Office Hours sessions are offered on Tuesday and Thursday on certain weeks to accommodate Business Owner sessions on specific data sets.

Dates Currently Scheduled

Tuesday, 3/3/2026 1:00 - 2:30 pm ET - open forum

Tuesday, 3/10/2026 10:30 - 12:00 pm ET - focus on Special Education Evaluation and Special Education Termination - presentation by Brandon Myers

Tuesday, 3/17/2026 1:00 - 2:30 pm ET - open forum

Tuesday, 3/24/2026 10:30 - 12:00 pm - open forum

Tuesday, 3/31/2026 1:00 - 2:30 pm - open forum

Don’t Forget to Check Knowledge Hub

UPDATED 2/27/26: Change Log - find the Change Log in the School Support Hub to find guidance documentation that has been updated.

RECENTLY UPDATED: DEX Reporting in Development - find the DEX Reporting in Development log in the Communications Hub. This log is provided to inform schools of items that are currently under consideration, approved for development, in development, or deployed to DEX.

UPDATED: Known & Resolved Issues - find the Known & Resolved Issues log in the Communications Hub of Knowledge Hub. This log provides the status of Known Issues related to DEX reporting.

Indiana Commission for Higher Education

2026-2027 Course Eligibility Memo

The following guidance on eligible courses for the 2026-2027 school year has been developed to support implementation of the new high school diploma. A few clarifying updates have been made in the memo following its release on Friday, January 16. Contact IDOE’s Engagement Team or the Indiana Commission for Higher Education’s CTE Team with any questions.

Office of Curriculum and Instruction

Auto-Enrollment Office Hours Recording

On Thursday, January 29, IDOE hosted a live office hours for counselors and administrators serving students in grades six through eight. The webinar recording can be found here. The session included a brief overview of the latest guidance, followed by Q&A. Questions answered during the session can be viewed in the parking lot, which is available in the office hours slides. Contact IDOE’s Office of Curriculum and Instruction with any questions.

Office of Student Pathways and Opportunities

The submission window for Alternative Education New Program Proposals for operation in the 2026-2027 school year that do not have a currently approved alternative education program is now open through March 31, 2026. The proposal link can be found here, under Documents and Resources. Currently approved alternative education programs that wish to establish a new alternative education program should consult with the IDOE’s Alternative Education Team for guidance. Contact IDOE’s Alternative Education Team with any questions. 

Ed-ID Reminder: Updates to STN and SPN

Recently there has been a number of instances where STN/SPN merges have been necessary in order to cleanup newly created IDs when all that was necessary was an update to the existing ID. Guidance for requesting an update to an existing ID can be found in Knowledge Hub > Ed-ID Support Hub > How to Submit and Update Request. Please note that if an update is required to an SPN that has an LVIS account, the staff member must first log into the LVIS application and request an update. Once that update is completed in LVIS, it will be copied over to Ed-ID. You may also use this jotform link to request assistance from Educator Licensing. https://form.jotform.com/213124706847961