New: July Certification Timeline

*Help tickets related to July Certification are to be submitted by 6/30/2026. Please do not wait until the last minute to ask for assistance.

Census Date: Tuesday, 6/30/2026 - all required July data is to be submitted, validated, corrected and ready for certification

Nightly Validations End: Wednesday, 7/1/2026 - beginning Thursday, 7/2/2026, validations, when needed, must be run manually utilizing the ReRun Validation button on the DEX Validate page.

Certification Begins: Monday, 7/6/2026 - July data is locked - if data corrections are required and a validation is necessary, request a validation on the Certify page.

New: July Certification Update

Special Education Evaluation and Termination

For the 2025-2026 school year, it has been determined that the source of truth for the Special Education Evaluation and Special Education Termination datasets will be PowerSchool Special Programs. 

The July certification in Data Exchange consists of 13 datasets including Special Education Evaluation and Special Education Termination. In order to complete certification sign off, each dataset in the July Certification must be acknowledged by checking a checkbox for each dataset. If sign off is not completed for the entire July collection, the certification summary PDF required for audit purposes is not generated. IDOE does recommend that sign off is completed for the July certification with the understanding that the acknowledgement of the Special Education Evaluation and Special Education Termination datasets will be defined as a “best effort” by a notation in some manner on that dataset when completing sign off. Please note: For all other datasets, this acknowledgement is a statement that data is complete and accurate. For the 2026-2027 school year, Data Exchange will be the source of truth for Special Education Evaluation and Special Education Termination. More communication about next steps will be coming soon from the Office of Special Education. 

New: Please Review Course Outcomes

Schools with missing Course Outcomes will be receiving email communication from the Office of School Accountability early next week. Please note: Course Outcomes are expected for any student enrolled and attending at any point during the school year. Reporting of the Student Academic Record is the mechanism used to gather information on the number and type of courses students attempt to complete or complete throughout the school year in compliance with IC 20-20-8-8. It is required reporting for all grade levels and all school types. More information can be found here. 

Please note that high school course data is a key component of the State Accountability calculations.  Please review your Course Outcomes data with extreme care. If the high school courses you have submitted are inaccurate, it will significantly impact accountability calculations used in the accountability model and other data collections. 

Important:
The July Certification window is the final opportunity to correct course data. No course corrections will be accepted after this window closes for any reason.

Important Notes:

CC-8 exclusion messages will help identify instances where course transcript records (outcomes) requiring section data have been reported but no section data (student schedule) exists. In order to certify these Course Outcomes, section data must be provided. 

CC-8 exclusion messages will not trigger when no student section or course transcripts have been provided. *Development will be releasing a fix for this to help schools identify enrolled students with attendance and no section data provided. 

How to Troubleshoot Missing Course Data in DEX if 0 Course Outcomes reported:

Navigate to the Data Exchange Validation Portal (DEX) tile from the LINK portal. 

• Validate page > check for errors and exclusions on Course Outcomes dataset - Resolve first 

• If there are no errors and exclusions > Proceed to the Review page

• From the Review page > filter on the school ID with missing course outcomes

• Find Student Section Associations in the list of Resources

• If this value is 0, Student Sections (schedule) have not been reported. If this value is 0, no validation messages are being triggered*. Must ensure student sections, staff sections, and course transcript records are submitted, validated and in Certified status on the Course Outcomes roster.

How to Troubleshoot Missing Course Data in DEX if 0 Valid Records:

Navigate to the Data Exchange Validation Portal (DEX) tile from the LINK portal. 

• Validate page > check for errors and exclusions

• Resolve all errors and exclusions

• Review the Course Outcomes roster on the Validate or Certify page in DEX

• Ensure Course Outcomes for each student enrolled and attending at any point in the school year are in Certified status on the roster

How to Troubleshoot Missing Course Data in DEX if 0 Course Outcomes reported for at least one student:

Navigate to the Data Exchange Validation Portal (DEX) tile from the LINK portal.

• Validate page > check for errors and exclusions on Course Outcomes dataset - Resolve first

• Use the Attendance Roster to compare with the Course Outcomes roster to ensure Course Outcomes have been reported for each student included for Attendance. 

• From the Review page > filter on an STN with missing Course Outcomes

• Find Student Section Associations in the list of Resources

• If this value is 0, Student Sections (schedule) have not been reported. If this value is 0, no validation messages are being triggered*. Must ensure student sections, staff sections, and course transcript records are submitted, validated and in Certified status on the Course Outcomes roster. 

New: Help Desk Ticket Portal

It is anticipated that the new Help Desk Ticket portal will go live Monday, June 22, 2026. The current helpdesk link will direct school users to the new portal for creation of a help desk ticket for DEX support.

New: 2026 Accountability Calculation

For the 2026 Accountability calculation, IDOE will use a 1.67 final numeric grade as the cutoff for determining whether a student earned the equivalent of a C or better. This applies only to 2026 and is intended to ensure that no student is incorrectly excluded during this transition year 0.

NEW: July Certification Dashboard Information

July Certification Course Outcomes Refresh

Beginning Monday, June 22nd, the July Certification Dashboard will updating a 6:00 am, 12:00 pm and 3:00 pm daily.

July Certification Dashboard User Guide Updated (Accountability Course Outcomes)

Updates have been provided to the July Certification User Guide. Find the User Guide in Knowledge Hub > State Accountability.

July Certification Dashboard - Assistant Principal Role

The Staff Association, Assistant Principal role has been added to allow access to the July Certification Dashboard. This update will provide the assistant principal the ability to assist with reviewing the dashboard.

Reminder: Reporting Graduate Record - Waiting for AP Score

AP scores will not be available until mid-July. For graduates that may qualify for an Enrollment Honors Plus seal but will not know until the AP scores are available, wait to report the Graduate record until the October 2026 certification cycle. This will require that a single-day SSA record with entry/exit prior to the first day of school, primary true, and exit code 34 be provided for the 2026-2027 school year so that the graduate data can be reported and certified in October 2026. The record will as a 2026 graduate. DO NOT REPORT THE GRADUATE RECORD FOR JULY 2026 CERTIFICATION, EXPECTING TO UPDATE THE RECORD IN OCTOBER 2026.

REMINDER: GCE Math Guidance

Because of the extensive updates to the Indiana Academic Standards and the ILEARN assessment, the state must undergo the standard setting process this summer. Below is a clear look at the upcoming timeline and how schools can support families in the meantime:

Upcoming Timeline

• July: Schools and corporations will receive access to a dashboard containing raw scale scores.

• August 11th: The State Board of Education will review and approve the new "cut scores."

• Immediately Following August 11: Schools can use the dashboard to finalize which students reached "At or Above Proficiency" for Grade 3 ILEARN Mathematics.

Interim Recommendations for Schools
While schools wait for final results, the IDOE suggests monitoring current data points to guide preliminary conversations with families:

• Review Checkpoints: Monitor Grade 3 ILEARN Mathematics Checkpoints for "At or Above Proficiency."

• Predictive Data: Look for students with an 80% or greater prediction of achieving proficiency on the ILEARN summative.

Communicating with Families

• When discussing this data with families, we recommend exercising caution and emphasizing that any Grade 3 or Grade 4 placement is temporary until formal results are released in August.

• It will be important to talk with families about which temporary placement they feel most comfortable with—either beginning in Grade 4 with the possibility of moving back or starting in Grade 3 with the option of moving forward once scores are finalized.

Regardless of the provisional placement, please ensure that the students receive appropriate remediation between test attempts, and that summer school is offered so families have every support available as their student prepares for the next opportunity.

IMPORTANT GCE (Retention Exemption) REMINDERS

1. When to Report GCE

A student who qualifies for a Good Cause Exemption (GCE) but has not passed IREAD is still required to take the IREAD assessment during the Summer administration window. The GCE does not remove the requirement for Summer testing.

Because students must continue testing, the GCE must not be reported to Data Exchange until the school year in which the retention exemption will actually apply.

For a GCE to be valid for reporting, the student’s Special Education (SE) program record must already exist and indicate eligibility on or before June 26, 2026.

Students must continue to take IREAD in both spring and summer administrations until one of the following occurs:

• They pass the assessment, or

• They are promoted to grade seven.

This remains true even if the student has been granted a GCE.

2. JULY CERTIFICATION TROUBLESHOOTING: DON’T FORGET to REVIEW GCE ERRORS

Review all Good Cause Exemption (GCE) errors regularly. Resolving GCE errors must be the first step when troubleshooting any July datasets. If a GCE error exists for a student, the student will not load into validation for any dataset until that error is corrected

REMINDER: Multiple Outcomes-Same Course Code in the Same Term

School Year 25-26:

By current Ed-Fi design, there can only be one outcome per course code per term considered unique. Although the ODS (DEX Review page) may display multiple rows for the same course code within the same term, they should be considered one record and the record will be validated as such. Schools should be aware of how the SIS is averaging grades and summing credits in this scenario. You will find the summed credits and the averaged final numeric grade appear on both records in the ODS (DEX Review Page) and schools should understand that only one course outcome is being validated for that term. To verify, review the Certify page in DEX > Course Outcomes > Roster.

Courses with Different Credit Types 25-26 School Year:

For schools needing to distinguish a Dual Credit and Regular Credit course outcome occurring in the same term, schools should utilize a mini term to create a distinct term that will allow both outcomes to be certified. Please work with SIS vendor support in understanding how to update an outcome to a mini term properly.

Dropped Courses:

Mini terms do not need to be created for dropped courses. When a dropped course and another valid outcome exist for the same course code within the same term, IDOE does not require a separate “No Grade Awarded” record. The validated outcome for that term will be the earned grade/credit outcome in that term, not the dropped section.

School Year 26-27 and Beyond:

With an anticipated target release in January, 2027 - IDOE is planning to collect the full historical transcript data from schools in order to overcome the current technical limitation of the Ed-Fi model. Through this method, we will collect the data from schools without transformation (collapsing of courses, summing of credits for multiple records in the same term).

*Please note: For the collection of current year Course Outcomes each year, the use of the mini term will still be a relevant best practice for distinguishing current year outcomes and preserving accurate section data, however, the full historical transcript will be used as the authoritative record on which to run our accountability calculations for 2027-2028 and to support the dynamic monitoring of progress toward Indiana’s new diploma.

REMINDER: Office Hours for 2025-2026

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.

Tuesday, 6/23/2026 - 1:00 - 2:30 pm ET - open forum

Tuesday, 6/30/2026 - 10:30 - 12:00 pm ET - open forum

Tuesday, 7/7/2026 - 1:00 - 2:30 pm ET - open forum - Last session for the 2026 school year.

Tuesday, 8/4/1026 - 10:30 - 12:00 pm ET - First session of the 2027 school year.

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 of Accountability

2026 Cohort Locking Soon

The 2026 cohort will lock on Tuesday, June 30. Please check your cohort reports for accuracy and pay special attention to any students with an Unknown cohort status. The Unknown cohort status is a dropout status and counts against the graduation rate. Many Unknown cohort statuses can be fixed by the school/corporation via data entries. Additional cohort specific details can be found in the Cohort & Graduation Rate section of the School Accountability & Accreditation Community on Moodle. The case-sensitive enrollment key for the Moodle community is AccountabilityCommunity. Contact the Indiana Department of Education’s (IDOE's) Office of School Accountability with any questions.

Office of School Finance

REMINDER: School Finance Form 9 Office Hours

The Office of School Finance will host Form 9 Office Hours to answer questions and provide guidance on completing the January–June Form 9 financial data submission due July 31, 2026.

Time: Mon, Jul 13, 2026 10:00 AM - 10:30 AM (UTC-05:00) Eastern Time (US & Canada)

We look forward to having you attend the event! Click here to join

REMINDER: June Workshop

Using the same format as last year, the June Workshop videos will be posted in the Public School Finance Community on Moodle (Key: PSCOM) by Friday, June 12. At that time, a question form will also be available for school personnel. On Tuesday, June 23, IDOE’s Office of School Finance will hold an office hours session to answer questions received through this process. Please email schoolfinance@doe.in.gov with  questions about the workshop.

REMINDER: 2026 Summer School Information

Please review this memo for important details regarding summer school funding for summer 2026, including courses eligible for reimbursement, the final cost report, key dates, and financial provisions. Contact IDOE’s Office of School Finance with any questions.

English Learning and Migrant

Update to Home Language Survey (HLS) Amendment Process

To streamline processes and improve efficiency, all HLS amendment requests must be submitted via Jotform beginning Monday, March 30, 2026. Previously, amendments were submitted via fax to IDOE. Any amendments submitted via fax after this date may be experiencing delays, as the fax inbox is no longer monitored. Submission requirements, including the HLS Amendment Form and the original HLS, remain unchanged. Please contact IDOE’s Office of English Learning and Migrant Education with 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.

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.

Office of Accountability

REMINDER: 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.

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: Enrollment Reminder - Hold STN Updates Until Student’s Officially Enrolled

Schools are reminded that STN updates should not be requested for students who are anticipated to transfer but are not yet officially enrolled. Please refrain from initiating STN updates while these students remain actively enrolled at their current school