Don’t Forget To Check Regularly

1. Known/Resolved Issues in Knowledge Hub > Communications Hub

2. In Development page in Knowledge Hub > Communications Hub (stay up-to-date with items under development for current school year)

3. DEXU (Data Exchange University) is now available by selecting the DEXU button on the School Support Hub in Knowledge Hub.

REMINDER: Application Center Reporting - Educator Evaluation Rating (ER) 2023

The ER2023 Data reporting guidance layout is currently posted to the Data Exchange Moodle Community under resources and in the Data Exchange Knowledge Hub at School Support Hub > Reporting Guides > Staff Employment > References > ER (Educator Rating) Data Layout 2023. Educator Evaluation Rating data will be submitted via the STN Application Center. The reporting window will open August 30, 2023 at 8:00 am ET and is set to close October 27, 2023 at 4:00 pm ET. The ER 2023 layout will be posted soon. Remember that this is a rating report for educator staff that were employed in the 2022-2023 school year.

REMINDER: Tips for the New Year

• When Calendar Grid on the October certification tab has zero days, check that the Calendar Dates Event Duration and EventMinutes data are completed.

• Did you remember to renew your Alternative Education Program for the 2023-2024 school year? There were a few corporations that forgot last year and were not able to submit Alternative Education student data for certification in July 2023.

• IDOE expects that all PK students enrolled and attending be submitted to DEX including student section associations and attendance data.

• Please submit student program records at the beginning of the school year for such things as Multilingual Learner, High Ability, Military family, Homeless, Food Service, Special Education, Title I, Alternative Education. You should not wait to add these records later in the school year.

• Note that IDOE expects that student attendance data for public, charter, and non-public schools be submitted every two weeks at a minimum.

• Calendar data must have been successfully submitted before any other data sets can be submitted to DEX.

REMINDER: Ed-ID Create/Update/Merge Requests Approval Wait Time

IDOE currently is working through thousands of Ed-ID requests. Each of these requests requires that a specialist investigate the request and possibly respond that documentation is required to support the request before approval is completed. Please know that specialists are attending to these requests on a daily basis and we thank you for your patience.

REMINDER: Resolution of Conflicts for Membership 2023

Beginning with the 2023-2024 school year, the department will no longer be brokering the resolution of conflicts after the certification date.  If, after the certification date, schools are unable to resolve an outstanding conflict, schools may petition the State Board of Education for an adjustment in their ADM count by providing the Board with evidence supporting an adjustment in their membership claim. The process for petitioning the board will be made available this fall and communicated in Dr. Jenner’s Friday message. IDOE wants to make sure each school receives full funding for the students they are serving and complete the Membership count within two-three weeks of the count date.  This process will help achieve both of these goals. See the attached memo for a more complete explanation of this change.

REMINDER: Student Academic Record Collection 

Changes implemented for reporting course enrollments (student academic record replacing course completion collection) and outcomes will impact all schools that report course-level data to IDOE. These updates are occurring to improve the completeness of academic records for each student, to support metrics on the Indiana Graduates Prepared to Succeed dashboard, and to monitor Graduation Pathways progress. The full memo is available here and the related FAQ document is available here. Contact IDOE's Data Exchange Team with any questions.

New Schools

New schools may find value in reviewing the information in the New School Onboarding Community in Moodle. This is a new community that was created to bring together the information that new schools need to get started.

REMINDER: Membership and Enrollment

As the membership census date approaches, enrollment questions have increased. Please read the following memos regarding residency requirements, out of state enrollment, and enrollment denial. Contact Cathy Danyluk with any questions.

REMINDER: School and Corporation Profile Amendment Window

The school and corporation profile amendment submission window for the 2023-2024 school year is open through Thursday, August 31. In order for IDOE to maintain 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: Adjunct Teacher Permit Reporting

The Indiana General Assembly authorized local governing bodies to hire adjunct teachers and issue adjunct teacher permits in 2022 and added authority for hiring adjunct teachers and issuing local adjunct permits to charter schools and non-public schools during the 2023 legislative session. Schools hiring adjunct teachers on locally-issued adjunct teacher permits are required to report certain information to IDOE at the time of employment. Fill out this JotForm to report adjunct teacher permits.

To be included in statewide educator workforce data, each adjunct permit holder must also create an account in the Licensing Verification and Information System (LVIS) if they do not already have one, and each permit holder needs a school personnel number (SPN). If the permit holder does not already have an SPN, the school employer must request one via the LINK Portal’s Ed-ID system. Contact IDOE's Office of Educator Licensing with any questions.

REMINDER: 2023-2024 Alternative Education Program Renewal 

All approved alternative education programs must complete the annual renewal application by Saturday, September 30. In order to remain an approved program eligible for alternative education funding, this renewal must be submitted by the September deadline and approved by IDOE's Office of Student Pathways and Opportunities. Upon submission of the JotForm, a confirmation email with a copy of the responses will be sent to the superintendent. Contact studentpathways_alted@doe.in.gov with any questions.

Good Cause Exemption (GCE) Reporting Process Update

Committees should begin convening to review student results in conjunction with overall academic performance for students who may be eligible for a GCE following the IREAD-3 Summer Retest. The committee should use the Process and Considerations for Issuing a GCE guide to support strategic decision-making and report GCEs via the GCE Intervention Plan Jotform, documenting the individualized interventions that are planned to support the student. Students who did not pass IREAD-3 this spring should receive additional support on foundational reading skills and reading comprehension to ensure lifelong access to other content prior to consideration for a GCE. Refer to IDOE’s guidance for school leaders regarding support and next steps for grade three students following the IREAD-3 administration. 

The GCE Intervention Plan Jotform provides a single-entry and multi-entry option for GCE reporting. Schools must report all IREAD-3 Spring and Summer Retest 2023 GCEs by Friday, September 1. Once GCE reporting is processed, schools can view students' GCE status through EdData via the Link Portal (IREAD-3 and ILEARN Report) in the Exemption Status column. Currently, this column displays IEP or ELL identifiers, when a GCE is in place for a given student. Contact IDOE’s Office of Student Assessment with any questions.

School and Corporation Profile Amendment Window

The school and corporation profile amendment submission window for the 2023-2024 school year opens Friday, March 31. In order to ensure the Indiana Department of Education (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.

Legislatively-Required and Other Guidance Surrounding Newly-Enacted Legislation

Following the close of each legislative session, the Indiana Department of Education (IDOE) immediately begins working to implement newly-enacted legislation impacting K-12 education, which includes compiling guidance for educators. Guidance is a product of robust cross-agency collaboration and partnership with countless stakeholders. Any future updates will be added to this comprehensive guidance document and shared via the weekly newsletter.

REMINDER: LINK Portal Setup and Review of Security Coordinators

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 the organization leader must log in to designate up to two security coordinators responsible for overseeing the setup of roles for others in the organization. All superintendents and leaders of non-public schools should log in to the LINK Portal and review/update their security coordinator information.

• Instructions for organization leaders on how to review/designate the security coordinators can be found here.

• New public and Choice schools registration process for the LINK Portal can be found here. 

• New superintendents or organization leaders of non-public schools who need the first account configured should email link@doe.in.gov.

REMINDER: Designation of Key Contacts

Security coordinators for all traditional public, charter, and accredited non-public schools are responsible for ensuring their organization’s key contacts for the 2023-2024 school year are set. Key contacts including the roles of Superintendent, Financial Contact, Special Education Director, Principal, Data Exchange Contact, etc. are needed for the 2023-2024 school year even if those contacts were provided last school year. 

For school corporations that have an Ed-fi student information system (SIS), key contacts and other staff role assignments should be entered and managed in the local SIS and then provided to Data Exchange/LINK for the new school year. However, all three options below are available:

1. Provide staff classifications in the local SIS per vendor’s instructions,

2. Add a staff type manually for the 2023-2024 school year via the Security Portal, or

3. Upload templates 008_StaffAssociation_StaffEdOrgAssignmentAssociation and 0009_StaffOrganizationContactAssociation into Data Exchange. 

Schools utilizing options two and three may cause overriding or loss of data. Schools should connect with their SIS vendor to better understand how to avoid data loss when providing data via multiple methods. 

IDOE will recognize active staff assignments/roles during the summer months from the 2022-2023 and 2023-2024 school years and will begin recognizing only the 2023-2024 school year assignments beginning Friday, September 1. Security coordinator instructions can be found here. Contact the Data Exchange Team with any questions.