April Special Education Certification Signoff Extended

April Special Education Certification will remain open until Wednesday, April 15th at 4:00PM EST. Schools still working with DEX Data Reporting Support, PSSP and/or OSE and needing a validation after ensuring the issue is resolved on the Review page in Data Exchange, may request a validation from the Certify page in Data Exchange.
To request a validation: Data Exchange Validation Portal > Certify tab > Review and Certify button > Request Validation hyperlink (bottom left corner).
Please Note: Validations will only be processed periodically from 4/10/2026 at 4:00 PM EST through 4/12/2026. Validation approval time will quicken Monday, 4/13/2026 - Wednesday, 4/15/26.

REMINDER: Data Exchange 1:1 Tutoring Opportunity

Just a quick note: when requesting 1:1 DEX Tutoring, please avoid choosing Tuesdays as your suggested date. We want to make sure there’s no overlap with our Office Hours sessions. Thanks so much for helping keep everything running smoothly!

Data Reporting is excited to announce a new feature now available in the Knowledge Hub Communications Hub. A new button titled “1:1 DEX Tutoring” has been added to provide DEX users with personalized support.

This feature is designed for anyone who would benefit from one-on-one assistance with:

• Navigating within DEX

• Locating and understanding validation messages

• Using validation messages to correct data

• Finding and utilizing rosters to support accurate reporting

• And other general DEX functionality questions

Selecting the 1:1 DEX Tutoring button will direct users to the Knowledge Hub Support page, where several options are available. To request a tutoring session, choose “Schedule 1:1 DEX Tutoring” and complete the form. Users will be asked to provide two potential dates and times they are available for a 30‑minute session with a Data Reporting Support Specialist.

Please note: Tutoring sessions will be scheduled as time allows and should not be requested for any time sensitive or current collection related issues.  This feature is not intended for troubleshooting specific data issues (e.g., errors from the latest validation run or questions about excluded records on a roster). Those issues should continue to be submitted through the Help Desk link.

REMINDER: Office Hours for 2025-2026

Update: The video for EV-TR-HB session is posted to Special Education Evaluation, Special Education Termination, and Homebound Hospitalized tutorial page

Update: Office Hours Q&A for 3/10/2026 and 3/17/2026 that have been provided answers have been moved to Knowledge Hub “School Office Hours Question Responses”.

Office hours sessions are currently 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, 4/14/2026 1:00 - 2:30 pm ET - Stefanie Flanagin provides DEX Updates for 2026-2027 school year

Tuesday, 4/21/2026 10:30 - 12:00 pm ET - Course Outcomes presented by Chris McNamara

Tuesday, 4/28/2026 1:00 - 2:30 pm ET - open forum

Tuesday, 5/5/2026 10:30 - 12:00 pm ET - Cancelled - office closed Election day

Tuesday, 5/12/2026 1:00 - 2:30 pm ET - Summer School presented by Brenda Erbse

Tuesday, 5/19/202 10:30 - 12:00 pm ET - open forum

Tuesday, 5/26/2026 1:00 - 2:30 pm ET - open forum

Office of Accountability

NEW: School and Corporation Profile Window

The school and corporation profile amendment submission window for the 2026-2027 school year will be open beginning Wednesday, April 1, through Monday, August 31. In order to ensure IDOE maintains accurate information, all schools and 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 Accountability with any questions.

Office of Student Pathways and Opportunities

REMINDER: Alternative Education New Program Proposal Submissions for the 2026-2027 School Year

The submission window is currently open for new alternative education program proposals for the 2026-2027 school year for schools that do not currently have an approved alternative education program. The submission window closes on Tuesday, March 31. 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 IDOE’s Alternative Education team for guidance. Contact IDOE’s Alternative Education team with any questions.

Don’t Forget to Check Knowledge Hub

Change Log - find the Change Log in the School Support Hub to find guidance documentation that has been updated.

UPDATED 3/18/2026 : 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.

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.

Grad Plan Indicator - Grade 7

Here are a few things to know about reporting the indicator of a grad plan for 7th grade students.

1. The submission of the grad plan indicator to DEX is not the process for completion of the actual Grad Plan and schools should expect guidance regarding that process to come from Commission for Higher Education (CHE). 

2. The reporting of the grad plan indicator for a 7th grade student will be submitted via DEX. 

3. SIS vendors have been advised that DEX will now accept grad plan indicators beginning with cohort 2031. 

4. Some vendors may not have the ability to send a grad plan indicator for a student in grade 7 this school year. If needed, this may be optionally submitted via template. Template 036 and template instructions can be found here.

REMINDER: Summer School Process Changes

Please see the following memo outlining recent updates to the summer school reimbursement process in Indiana Code. Contact IDOE’s Office of School Finance with any questions.

REMINDER: 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.

REMINDER: 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