STN Message Alert

Posted

Message

05/09/08

DOE-ME: Warning Message re COLS in DOE-SE

We have received several questions regarding the Membership warning alerting users to a difference between the Corporation of Legal Settlement (COLS) as reported in DOE-ME data and the COLS reported in a DOE-SE (Special Ed) collection:

[STN]: This student's corporation of legal settlement that was reported on DOE-SE by Corp [ID of another corp] does not match what was reported by [your Corp ID].

This warning means that you are reporting a COLS in your ME submission that is different from what someone reported earlier this year in an SE record. If you get this warning, please recheck your ME records and make sure they are correct.

Note: Some have tried to explore the issue further by looking for the SE records in the Student Detail screen (accessed via STN Lookup). However, because of the sensitive nature of SE data, you will not be able to view SE records submitted by other corporations.

05/01/08

DOE-TB: Final Printable Claim Form Again Available

Because some people failed to print the Textbook Reimbursement printable claim form for signatures, we have restored the printable version for those who completed the Textbook Reimbursement submission process (i.e., submitted the data and completed the online claim form table). Only the final printable form is available. No additional records or changes are being accepted in the Application Center.

05/01/08

DOE-ME: Period 3 Collection Starts Today!

DOE-ME: Things to Know

The DOE-ME (Membership) period 3 collection opened this morning. Today (5/1/08) is the Count Day for this collection.

The DOE-ME is only required for Public and Charter Schools serving K-12 students.

If you have questions regarding the data submission process, please feel free to contact STN Support (stn_support@doe.state.in.us).

If you have questions about content or ADM definitions, please contact the Office of School Financial Management (317/232-0840).

Indiana Administrative Code still requires that Kindergarten students count as only 0.5 on the DOE-ME even if the students attend full-day Kindergarten.

Please recall that we have moved the "Signoff" (available during the Signoff period beginning on May 21) to the Collection Management window (found under Data Verification on the blue menu bar). You will also find a red X to delete ALL your data by school if you find it necessary to start over. (The "No Records" option will not be available for this collection, since all Public and Charter Schools are required to submit.)

05/01/08

DOE-AL: Collection Begins Today!

[This message applies only to Corporations and Charter Schools that have approved Alternative Education Programs.]

The DOE-AL collection for reporting students that participated in approved Alternative Ed programs will run from May 1, 2008, through July 23, 2008. This year, the Collection and Signoff periods will run concurrently, so you can sign off as soon as your corporation has confirmed the accuracy of the data submission.

This collection is only for Corporations that are fiscal agents for approved Alternative Ed programs.

Only Corporation-level users can submit data.
The list of Corporations (for Field 1) and their Program Numbers (for Field 2) is here: http://www.doe.in.gov/stn/pdf/alted_programs.pdf.

Field 1, Corporation Number, is your Corp ID, as the fiscal agent for the program. Use your number even though you submit data for ALL students in your program, including any that came from other corporations.

Field 7, Date Student Entered Program, is the program entry date for the current school year.

Dates before July 1, 2007, will be rejected.
A student who leaves a program and then returns during the same school year should have two records with two different entry dates.

An optional preformatted Excel worksheet has been created to assist you (http://www.doe.state.in.us/stn/docs/doe-al.xls). (The link can also be found on the DOE-AL information page accessible from the STN webpage.)

If you have questions regarding:

Definitions, program requirements, etc., contact Sue Foxx, 317/233-3598 or sufoxx@doe.in.gov.
File preparation, the data transfer process, etc., contact STN Support, 317/232-0808 or STN_Support@doe.in.gov.

04/30/08

DOE-TB: Collection Update!

Unfortunately we are unable to extend the Textbook Reimbursement (TB) submission deadline until tomorrow morning as we had hoped because the April 30 deadline is legally mandated. Therefore, the collection will end at midnight tonight as originally posted in the Supplemental TB Data Layout. We regret any inconvenience this situation may have caused.

04/29/08

Supplemental Textbook Reimbursement

The Supplemental Textbook Reimbursement collection period ends on Thursday morning, May 1, at 8:00 a.m. and then moves into the required signoff period.

If your student information system allows, you can submit all currently eligible students and the Application Center will accept only the STNs not submitted last fall. (For this collection, we have turned off the "too-many-consecutive-errors" that normally stops file processing, so the file will continue to process even if a string of students submitted in the fall are rejected.)

Please note that the "Retrieve Student Data" feature has caused some confusion because it has not been updated for this supplemental collection. The initial download available before current records are submitted consists of the same aged 2006-2007 data available at the beginning of the fall TB collection. Once you have submitted data, however, the download should consist of records submitted for the current (supplemental) collection. We apologize for any confusion this may have caused.

04/28/08

Additional Information Posted

[This message applies only to Corporations and Charter Schools that have approved Alternative Education Programs.]

The DOE-AL data collection is scheduled to begin next week on Thursday, May 1. A revised version of the DOE-AL (Alternative Education) Data Layout has just been posted. (There has been no change to the file structure, but the document should be reviewed for additional information and guidance.)

Additional resources have also been posted on the DOE-AL Reference and Resources webpage, including a ten-minute online Training Video.

04/24/08

Special Services Count

April is the 3rd count for Special Education. It is an informational count only. It is your decision to resubmit data. If your numbers change drastically from 1 day then perhaps you should resubmit.

04/23/08

Special Services Count

I apologize for the delay in this response, the count date for SE period 3 was to be April 1. Please adjust your records accordingly. If you submitted for April 2 you can delete all the data submitted under Collection Management. Again, sorry for the delay and inconvenience. - Karla Carr

04/23/08

Memos re: FDK and ADM posted

Two important messages have been posted today under Communication Letters and Memorandum on the STN webpage:

Memorandum: Full-Day Kindergarten Grant Reminder
Memorandum: Third ADM count for all Corporations and Charter Schools

04/23/08

Race/Ethnicity Code Changes

As of today, April 24, 2008, the race/ethnicity codes on the STN Lookup data layout will not change for the 2008-2009 school year. We will implement the race code changes in 2009-2010 school year. The data layout for 08-09 will be posted within the month. The data layout for 09-10 will be posted with the changes for your review. Please review the STN Lookup Data Layout on the STN home page to assist with determining race codes, student name change form and duplicate STN's.

04/23/08

STN Support is continuing efforts to update and enhance the Data Layouts. Most modifications involve clarifications of existing instructions but we are reviewing recent legislation and changes in reporting requirements that may lead to some other changes for next year's collections.

An often overlooked feature can help you to stay on top of these revisions: If you want to see what's new, there is a link on the STN webpage, in a red bar just above the list of Data Layouts, labeled "Recent Postings." The "Recent Postings" page gives you the latest Data Layouts for each collection with their posting dates in reverse chronological order (i.e., most recent first).

The other thing we want to be sure you know is that each Data Layout has a "Change History" section at the end of the document, so that you can quickly check to see what's new for each version.

We hope that you find this information helpful. We know that change can be challenging and hope to keep you well informed as we prepare for the end of the current school year and the beginning of the next.

03/19/08

Memorandum: 2007-2008 Supplemental School Textbook Reimbursement

03/10/08

Two enhancements to the Application Center will be released today.

(1) Probably the most requested enhancement is “Make the red light go green!” This enhancement will allow the data transfer user to override the message “Last File Transferred has errors” and override the red exclamation mark on the scoreboard. When a file is transferred the error generated can be accepted by the user such as; “STN does not exist in the Application Center” or the error can be repaired manually (using the input form, delete student detail, resolve a conflict etc.) The message on the scoreboard will then change to “Last file transferred had errors, file accepted by override” and the exclamation mark will be green. For auditing purposes we will track information regarding the override process.

(2) This enhancement to the Application Center changes the name on the main menu from “Message Center” to “Data Verification”. Under Data Verification you will find several applications that will assist in the process of verifying the data for accuracy. For example, student data that can be claimed only by one school produces the Conflicts report. Collection comparison reports such as Pupil Enrollment missing Attendance will assist in the accuracy of Attendance data. Reports are available for each collection which must be reviewed for accuracy as well as approved and/or signed by the appropriate stakeholder. The Transcript Request log provides the “heads up” on student mobility; this also will assist with attendance and data accuracy. Applications previously found in the Message Center will remain while additional applications will become available.

This information will be posted in the Application Center Enhancements Document.

02/29/08

Core 40 ECA Barcodes

Q: I understand that you want all the lists of students in Algebra 1, Biology 1, English 11, and Algebra 2, even if the only barcodes we need are for the paper/pencil which will be Algebra 1 at the middle school and Algebra 2. After we send the list down to you for registration, will I only get labels back for the Algebra 1 at the middle school and Algebra 2? I don't want labels for Algebra 1 at the high school, Biology 1, and English 11 because they are taking it one line, and no use wasting my tax dollars on labels I don't need. How will you know which labels to send?

A: Yes, schools will only receive labels for Paper-and-Pencil tests. The Data Collection also collects information for those students in the online mode to register those students for testing.
Our vendor knows which tests to send labels for because corporations have designated PP or Online during the registration process with vendors.

02/25/08

ALERT - SE vs. CODA

Thank you for reviewing the Special Ed vs. Coda Summary Report. The differences you are finding may fall into one of these categories:
(1) Incorrect STN numbers reported to CODA or duplicate STN numbers with one reported to SE and the other to CODA.
(2) Incorrect corp of legal settlement for the student. Charter school numbers are not valid corporation of legal settlement numbers. Only public corp numbers are allowed. A list of Legal Corp of Settlement numbers can be found on the STN Home Page under Reference Lists: http://www.doe.in.gov/stn/docs/legal.txt
(3) Student records submitted in SE after CODA data submitted. The window for reporting data on SE remained open longer than the CODA window.
(4) Students in your corporation of legal settlement are incorporated into the CODA report. The DOE-SE collection requires data from your corporation on students that you serve and that the corporation of legal student for the student is accurate.
To assist you in verifying these totals we have changed the format of the Special Education vs. CODA Report and added “Students Reported by Corporation”. This report lists the student counts by grade that reported your corporation as the corp of legal settlement.

The DOE-SE collection window has closed and we do not expect you to “clean up” the data since the Dec 1 count was based upon the CODA data. We do however, recommend that you continue to use this report as a tool to reconcile data being reported on CODA and the DOE-SE. The Data Manager should continue to work with the Special Education Director in your corporation on future collections of DOE-SE. Again thank you for time and effort.

02/18/08

ALERT - CODA vs SE

FYI: On the DOE-SE report the totals are reported for those students that your corporation/school serves. On CODA the students are reported in their corporation of legal settlement. We are in the process of producing a report that will list the count of students by exceptionality that are legally settled in your corporation but being served by another corporation. Then the totals should balance. A message will be sent to the listserv when this report is available. Thank you for checking your data and your reports.

02/14/08

ALERT - CODA vs SE

The comparison report now reflects accurate totals. Please review the totals on SE for accuracy and determine why the totals to not match the totals reported to CODA.

02/12/08

ALERT - CODA vs SE

It has been reported that the report that compares CODA and DOE-SE by exceptionality codes are not reflecting accurate data on the DOE-SE. We will send another message when this issue is resolved. Thank you for checking your reports.

02/12/08

DOE-ISTEPBAR (Retest): No Signoff

There will be no signoff for the DOE-ISTEPBAR Retest collection. Please ignore the reference to this in the Data Layout instructions. All records present in the Application Center when the collection closes at the end of the day on February 18 will be converted into labels.

Please be sure to select a sort option (if you prefer something other than the default option) before the collection closes.

02/12/08

Spring Core 40 Registrants

To provide clarification: The numbers that the corporations enter on the Questar, ACT, or Pearson site determines the NUMBER of booklets that they receive for PP. Boxes for PP materials are packaged per this NUMBER (with an overage). The students uploaded at IDOE STN Application Center generates the student barcode labels and pre-registers students for online testing.

02/04/08

We are experiencing a problem processing ISTEPBAR files. We will resolve this as quickly as possible and let you know when the Application Center will be able to accept these files. We apologize for the inconvenience.

02/04/08

The Application Center is experiencing problems processing STN Lookup (DOE-STN) files. We apologize for the inconvenience and will let you know when this issue is resolved.

02/04/08

Highly Qualified Verification Data Collection

Public School Superintendents have received information today (in the SAMS mailing) regarding the HQ Verification process. Please note that this verification will be available in the Application Center beginning Monday (2/4/08) afternoon.

For further information regarding this process, please see:
http://www.doe.in.gov/super/2008/02-February/020108/memo_accreditation.pdf

01/22/08

Indiana high school graduation rates released

01/22/08

Letter to the Editor: Annual Performance Report Cards

01/18/08

STN Survey

Please take a few minutes of your time to provide us with your feedback on a proposed enhancement to the STN Application Center. You can find this survey on the STN home page or go directly to: http://mustang.doe.in.gov/dg/IT/STNQUICK.cfm

01/17/08

Update: Publication of 2007 Annual Performance Reports

Please note the following updates related to the publication of the 2007 Annual Performance Reports:

Background

In a letter delivered on Jan. 11, 2008, the Chairs of the Indiana General Assembly Education Committees notified Superintendent of Public Instruction Suellen Reed that 2007 amendments to the statutory language for calculating high school graduation rates (codified at IC 20-26-13) do not reflect the legislature’s intent. As high school graduation rates are a key element of the Annual Performance Reports (required under IC 20-20-8), Indiana Department of Education staff is now working to comply with the legislature’s request to recalculate and “publish graduation rates for 2007 that reflect the legislature’s original intent….”

Preview link to revised Graduation Rates

The 2006-07 graduation rate (Class of 2007) that will be published in the 2007 Annual Performance Report will be the percentage of students who entered Grade 9 in fall 2003 and graduated in four years or less. This is the first publication of this method for calculating graduation rates. The 2005-06 graduation rate (Class of 2006) that appeared in the 2006 Annual Performance Report included all students that graduated that year (not limited to those students who graduated in four years or less as legislators’ have now instructed).

Please find the revised graduation rates for your corporation and schools via the following secure link (Corporation Number and PIN required):https://mustang.doe.in.gov/AP/logingrad.cfm

Public Release of Annual Performance Reports

Graduation rates for the Class of 2007 and all other data included in the 2007 Annual Performance Reports will be accessible to the media and the public on Jan. 22 at www.doe.in.gov/apr. In light of these extenuating circumstances, the Chairs of the House and Senate Education Committees have supported the Indiana Department of Education’s request to extend the deadline for publication of the 2007 Annual Performance Report from Jan. 31 until Feb. 15, 2008. Accordingly, the Department of Education will consider a school corporation that publishes the Annual Performance Report on or before Feb. 15, 2008 to be in compliance with the Annual Performance Report publication requirement in 511 IAC 6.1-1-4. This extension should provide the time needed for local schools and newspapers to coordinate the publication of these reports.

The Indiana Department of Education will notify local media directly about the Annual Performance Report publication extension, and superintendents will be copied on that message.

Additional clarification regarding School Corporation Expenditure Goals

Indiana Code 20-42.5-3-5 (www.in.gov/legislative/ic/code/title20/ar42.5/ch3.html) requires that each school corporation set goals for the four expenditure categories in the law (Academic Achievement, Instructional Support, Overhead & Operations and Nonoperating) that will increase the school corporation's allocation of taxpayer resources directly to student instruction and learning (defined as the sum of expenditures for Academic Achievement and Instructional Support). In the area of the Annual Performance Report located immediately after the corporation level information section, please include narrative text (including percentage goals if available) describing the expenditure goals set by the local school board. Newspapers can add such text when they prepare the report for publication.

01/14/08

Domain name change

The Indiana Department of Education has adopted the state’s IN.gov domain name for web (www.doe.in.gov) and e-mail (name@doe.in.gov) addresses. Though both the new (doe.in.gov) and former (doe.state.in.us) addresses will remain operational for the foreseeable future, some schools have reported difficulties receiving messages from department staff due to local spam-filter security settings. Please instruct your local IT staff to make any adjustments to these settings as needed.

01/14/08

AYP Student List now available for 2006-2007

The list of students used to calculate Average Yearly Progress has been made available in the Application Center.

To view the list, select "AYP Student List 2006-07" under Lookup on the blue menu bar.

12/07/07

ISTEPTC - ISTEP+ Update December 6, 2007

Greetings!

1. Reminder #1...the RES Window (Record Editing System) closes on Sunday evening, December 9, at 11:59:59

Remember—this will be your ONLY opportunity to correct ISTEP+ demographic data.

For your convenience, we have posted a “link” to RES from the Test Coordinator’s Corner.

You will need your CTB UserID and Password to access the secure RES tool. If you need assistance, please contact the CTB/ISTEP+ Help Desk by calling 800-282-1132 or via email at <CTB_ISTEP_Helpdesk@ctb.com>.

You can access information about RES and a training demonstration of RES on the Test Coordinators Corner. The recorded training lasts approximately ten minutes.
http://www.doe.in.gov/private/istep/welcome.html

To access the Test Coordinator’s Corner:

UserID= istepcor and the Password= educator1987

2. Reminder #2…INORS (Indiana Online Reporting System) is in a “Read Only” state until December 9

What does this mean?

When the site is in a “Read Only” state, the following is true:

1) You will have access to the site and all reports within the site. The exception is the Rescore
Request Form since the window for submitting requests does not open until December 10.

2) Administrators will NOT be able to add, edit or delete users.

3) Users will not be able to change any information in the User Settings screen (password,
password reminder question, name, email)

4) First time users logging in while the site is in Read Only will get the following:
       a) They will receive the End User Service Agreement
       b) They will not receive the First Time Logon Page, where they are usually asked to fill in an
                   answer to a password reminder questions and their email address. After accepting
                   the End user Service Agreement they will access the Home Page.
   Once the site is out of a “Read Only” state, these users will receive both the End User Service
   agreement and the First Time Logon Page, upon their next login.

By now, you should have received an email from CTB containing the User ID and Password information you will need to access INORS. (FYI…nonpublic schools who report to a Diocese or the Lutheran Schools office should contact those offices for User ID and Password information)

For your convenience, we have placed “training modules” on the Test Coordinator’s Corner so you can review any/all portions of the web trainings.

The MOST IMPORTANT piece to review is information about the “Rescore Request Form”…as this will be submitted online ONLY—no more waiting at the fax machine!

Keep in mind that many of the online reports contain FERPA-protected data.

A note about printing…If you download the PDF reports and want to print those
(which is a selection on the INORS menu), please be aware that some reports have data on the front AND the back; other reports have data on the front and a “backer text” of Dr. Reed’s signature, etc. on the back. Be sure to print both sides of reports that contain data. If you want to save ink, print only the front (these pages are odd-numbered). Again, this is only applicable if you select “PDF Reports” under “Downloads” on the INORS menu.

3. Delivery of Test Results

We are still on schedule to deliver test results according to the following schedule:

                   Applied Skills Images… On or before December 7

            If you have not received your Applied Skills Images by the end of the day
tomorrow (December 7), please contact the CTB/ISTEP+ Help Desk first thing
on Monday morning at 800-282-1132.

4. Reminder #3…Rescore Request Window opens first thing Monday, December 10

The rescore window is open from December 10 through January 18.

Remember…rescore requests will be submitted online ONLY this fall!

Directions are posted with other INORS training modules in the Test Coordinator’s Corner.

5. Reminder #4…Online Enrollment for Spring 2008 GQE Retest begins Monday, December 10

The window to order materials for the Spring 2008 GQE Retest is December 10 – December 19.

Directions will be posted in the Test Coordinator’s Corner before Monday

12/04/07

DOE-LASBAR

As always, bubbling will override the data submitted on the label.

12/04/07

Alert: Homebound

A data layout for 07-08 collection of Homebound (DOE-HB) has been posted with updated information and is opened in the Application Center. At this time, because of the confusion of the reporting period, we will CLOSE 07-08 HB and open back up 06-07. We will open 07-08 HB on Dec 24th. Any data you have submitted for 07-08 will be available on the 24th. Please make note of the following issues:

(1). Report students that are homebound that overlap the collection periods by reporting a record for each school year( or reporting period). The ending date for 2006-2007 would be Dec 1, 2007 and reported on the 06-07 HB collection. The starting date for 2007-2008 would be Dec 2, 2007 until the student returns and will be reported on the 07-08 HB collection.

(2).Report data for students that receive instruction at home or at a hospital due to injury or illness that are absent from school for a minimum of twenty (20) consecutive instructional days during the collection period, Dec 1, 2006 through Dec 2, 2007.

(3). Special Education students with an IEP that are homebound (Code 13) are NOT included in this report solely because they are homebound.

11/30/07

Alert: Chronic Illness

Chronic Disease Report (DOE-CH) for the 2007-08 School Year

The number of students who have a chronic disease will be reported on the DOE-CH Chronic Disease Report. This corporation level report will be collected electronically on DOE-Online, corporation number and PIN access is required. Only 1 record per corporation is expected. It is not a collection in the STN Application Center.

It is a count of students by the list of chronic conditions referenced in the Memorandum for the corporation. A student can be counted in multiple conditions but should be counted only once in the unduplicated column. The unduplicated count is the total number of students with chronic conditions. Though this is not a special education report, some of the data could be available from special education teachers and related service personnel if the student has chronic conditions in addition to their disabilities.

The count will be taken on December 3, 2007. All students enrolled in your schools on December 3, 2007 that have chronic conditions should be included in this report. All school information should be combined into one corporation report. The deadline for submittal of this information is January 11, 2008. The DOE-CH form will open on December 3 on DOE-Online. The URL is: https://dc.doe.state.in.us/doeonline/login.aspx corporation number and PIN access is required.

The count of certified nurses (licensed by DOE Professional Standards) was collected on the DOE-CE Certified Employee report as of October 1. The count of Registered nurses (not licensed by DOE Professional Standards) was collected on the DOE-NE Non Certified Employee report as of October 1.

If you have questions concerning the submittal of the DOE-CH, please contact the EIS Help Desk at 317-234-5276 or the DOE-Online support at stn_support@doe.in.gov.

11/29/07

DOE-SE: Count Day is Dec 3

Because December 1 falls on the weekend this year, the Period 2 Special Education (SE) Count Day will be Monday, December 3, 2007. (The SE collection will also begin on that day.)

11/29/07

DOE-ME: Count Day is Dec. 3

Because December 1 falls on the weekend this year, the Period 2 Membership (ME) Count Day will be Monday, December 3, 2007. (The ME collection will also begin on that day.)

11/27/07

ALERT - ISTEP STN Correction

Please be advised that you should log in as a corp user to see a list of the invalid STN's that need correction. If you log in as a school user and do not have any listed for the "All" filter, you do not have any for that school. You should involve your ISTEP Test Coordinator to resolve the records that have limited information (i.e. partial last name, no birth, etc.). The corp office has or will receive a memorandum regarding access to the proficiency roster.

11/26/07

Memorandum: Missing or Invalid STN Numbers

11/21/07

LAS Links Update

Greetings!

1. Online Enrollment (a.k.a. Ordering Materials)

Just a reminder…this year we will use Form A, and the window for ordering additional materials is:

November 26 – November 30

Online enrollment serves two purposes:

1) To order additional materials

2) To indicate the number of students you expect to participate in the Spring

2008 LAS Links test administration

Be sure to go online and enter information, even if you do not expect students to participate in the assessment—there is a place to indicate “non-participating” on the site.

You should have received a memo with directions for Online Enrollment. A link to the Online Enrollment (Ordering) User’s Guide is posted on the IDOE LAS Links homepage at http://www.doe.in.gov/lmmp/LAS_links.html for your convenience.

If you have any questions regarding the Online Enrollment site, please contact the CTB/Indiana Help Desk at 800-282-1132.

2. Barcode File

For Spring 2008, LAS Links student information will be printed on Barcode Labels for your convenience. The STN Application Center will have a “draft” file for you to review and update prior to printing barcode labels. (Talk with your “data person” if you are not the one who uploads ISTEP+ data for barcode labels.)

The window for you to update the file is

December 3 – December 14 (at 4:00 p.m. EST)

Note: If you do not make updates to the file, you will need to “bubble” the information on students’ tests.

3. Spring 2008 Testing Window

The LAS Links testing window is

February 1 – March 14

4. January Workshops

You can now register for one of the LAS Links Pretest Workshops to be held in January. See dates and details at the very bottom of this email message. Be sure to register online by January 5, 2008.

5. LAS Links ListServ

An important note about this ListServ….

The LAS Links ListServ was created to provide each corporation LAS Links Test Coordinator with updates regarding the LAS Links assessment. The ListServ is not open to additional subscribers. However, you are welcome to forward part (or all) of the information to other staff members in your school corporation as you deem appropriate. Thank you for helping other staff members understand that we cannot add them to the ListServ.

6. If you need assistance….

Please direct questions regarding the LAS Links assessment (materials, testing dates, barcode files, etc.) to:

Colin Riessen, Assessment Project Coordinator

Email: criessen@doe.in.gov
Toll Free: 888-544-7837 x 2
Local: 317-232-9050

Please direct questions regarding English Language Learners to:

Division of Language Minority and Migrant Programs
Toll Free: 800-382-9962

11/21/07

Invalid STN Cleanup

We have just received our first preliminary data from the fall ISTEP results that need your immediate attention. We have matched the data from CTB against the data in the STN Lookup by name and birth to obtain the correct STN number. There are about 2,100 records statewide that still have STN numbers that do not conform to the rules (must be 9 characters, cannot contain special characters, or blank).

You will have until November 30, 2007 to make the corrections in the Application Center. Go to Data Transfer>Input Forms>ISTEP/LAS STN Correction>2007-2008. Correct the STN for each student listed for the 2007-2008 school year. The information shown comes from the results of the tests being bubbled and may contain multiple errors; however, the only correction that can be made is to the invalid STN. Date of birth, grade and names are represented to help identify the correct STN and cannot be corrected. Valid STN numbers incorrectly reported cannot be changed at this time.

If you have questions, please contact the Division of Educational Information Systems Help desk at 317-234-5276 or 800-527-4931.

11/21/07

STN Posting

The data layout for DOE-SE has been reposted stating the exact count days.

11/21/07

STN Posting

The data layout for LAS Links Barcode Labels has been posted. This collection, to obtain preprinted labels, begins December 3 - 14. Please read the data layout for instructions.

11/20/07

Memorandum: DOE Dropout/Mobility Report Reopened

11/15/07

ECA Barcode Labels Signoff

If you are not submitting for ECA barcode labels this period please indicate you have "no records" in the Application Center under Message Center>Collection Management.

Make sure you signoff starting at 4:00pm EDT today through Midnight on Friday the 16th.

11/15/07

Chronic Disease Report

THERE IS NO FORM AVAILABLE TO REPORT THE CHRONIC DEISEASE COUNT AT THIS TIME! The “average daily membership” (ADM) is completed each year beginning on the second Friday following Labor Day, December 1st or the date closest to that date when school is in session (this year December 3) and in May. This year only, the legislature asked that schools count students with chronic conditions, so on December 3, each school corporation will count the number of chronic conditions on students enrolled on this day. Since some students have more than one chronic condition, you will count as many as they have and that becomes your duplicated count. In addition to the duplicated count which includes special education students with chronic diseases, and homebound student, there will be an unduplicated count taken also. Again, please contact the person in your school corporation who has the responsibility for completing this report .They are knowledgeable about this process. They will be filing your data into their system The reason you are identifying the conditions now, is that on December 3rd, you will check to see if that student is still enrolled in your school corporation as a student. You are not to count students no longer enrolled. You will find all the information that was sent to the superintendent on October 30th on the IDOE website, listed under Data Collection, Communication, Letters and Memoranda. It has also been posted on the school nurse list serve several times already. I have already had favorable reports from school nurses who are working on this count telling me that the information will be most helpful to them as they prepare their yearly reports.
- Phyllis Lewis, MSN

11/14/07

Memorandum: Charter School Student Address Verification

11/13/07

1. Reminder….Clarity or GRT? (data format selection)

You may click on the link below OR go to the ISTEP+ Test Coordinator’s Corner to enter the format for your electronic copy of the ISTEP+ Fall 2007 data. Since you will not be allowed to change during the course of the school year, please make sure you have consulted your data folks and are certain of the format you want. You MUST make your selection by Friday, November 16.

If you choose the GRT format (flat file), remember that neither CTB nor IDOE provides any support beyond ensuring that you have a valid data file.

Note: If you do not choose Clarity or GRT, you will automatically get the data in the same format you received last year.

You will need your corporation/school number and PIN to make a data format selection.

The URL is http://mustang.doe.in.gov/ISTEP/FORMAT/2007/data_format_login.cfm

2. Online Reports Training

The face-to-face training sessions for INORS (Indiana Online Reporting System) went very well yesterday! If you are participating in a WebEx training, be sure to call in, as well. (Refer to your confirmation for details.)

WebEx Training Details (Note: All times are EST)

Dates/Times:

Date	Times
Tuesday, November 13	10:00 – 12:00
Tuesday, November 13	1:00 – 3:00
Wednesday, November 14	10:00 – 12:00
Wednesday, November 14	1:00 – 3:00
Thursday, November 15	10:00 – 12:00
Thursday, November 15	1:00 – 3:00

3. User ID and Password for Online Reports

Between November 12 and November 14, you will receive an email from CTB containing the User ID and Password information you will need to access INORS. (Please don’t delete the email message from CTB!)

Beginning November 27, you will be able to access your Fall 2007 ISTEP+ results online.

4. STN Clean-up

STN “clean-up” will occur via the STN Application Center. The window is

November 20 – November 30

The purpose of this clean-up is to address missing and/or incorrect STNs. Have your data person
check the STN Application Center to see if you have any data to correct.

5. RES Window (Record Editing System)

The RES window is

December 3 – December 9

Once again, the ISTEP+ demographic data may be corrected via the Record Editing System or “RES” process. You will have one week (December 3 - 9) to make any needed changes to your ISTEP+ data using CTB’s Record Editing System (RES). This will be your ONLY opportunity to correct ISTEP+ demographic data. After all changes/corrections are processed, CTB will release “electronic” data.

You will need your CTB UserID and Password to access the secure RES tool. If you need assistance, please contact the CTB/ISTEP+ Help Desk by calling 800-282-1132 or via email at <CTB_ISTEP_Helpdesk@ctb.com>.

You can access information about RES and a training demonstration of RES on the Test Coordinators Corner. The recorded training lasts approximately ten minutes.
http://www.doe.in.gov/private/istep/welcome.html

UserID= istepcor and the Password= educator1987

We will be sending this same information to superintendents to make sure everyone knows about this one and only opportunity to correct data.

6. Delivery of Test Results

We are still on schedule to deliver test results according to the following schedule:

Online results… November 27

Paper results… On or before November 30

Applied Skills Images… On or before December 7

7. Rescore Request Window

Rescore requests will be submitted online ONLY this fall! (Directions are provided during the INORS trainings.) The rescore window is

December 10 – January 18

Watch your email for more updates—November and December are busy months in terms of ISTEP+!