Is there a minimum number of days that a student must be in the approved alternative program before they get reported on the DOE-AL?

Yes, the student must be enrolled in the alternative program for at least five days. (Note that this is five days of enrollment rather than five calendar days.) If the student was with you more than once for five or more days each time, the student would have multiple AL records with different entry dates. Eligibility and Outcome codes could also be different each time.

I have a student who began the year in our alternative program and then returned to the regular classroom. Now this student is back in the alternative school - do I report two entries for this student with different outcomes?

Our Alternative Program is open to all students and some don't fit the categories in Field 5, Eligible Student. How do I report these?

Report only those students that attend and fit into one of the "Eligible Students" categories. These descriptions are based on the regulations governing placement and reimbursement (IC 20-30-8-10). Check with your Alternative Education program director; they have been submitting these data for several years before the report was moved into the Application Center.

What grade should be given to a 5th year senior?

A student from another corporation now attends our alternative program. Do we have to get their STN and include them in our report?

Yes, all students in a joint program should be reported by the one corporation that is the fiscal agent for the alternative program or school.

How should I code a student who leaves the alternative program for a homebound situation?

Code 6 since the school continues to provide service.

What should the outcome code be if a student is withdrawn prior to completion to be home schooled?

Code 6: "Transferred/returned to other school setting prior to completing the alternative education program"

Do alternative ed programs that are located in detention centers report the DOE-AL?

Yes, beginning this year, these programs do report on the DOE-AL.

Do all public school corporations have to report this? I cannot get to the checkbox to indicate "none to report."

This is a required collection only for public school corporations and charter schools that are the fiscal agents for approved Alternative Education Programs. No other corporations can or should submit data. Unless your corporation has an approved program, you will not have access to the Input screen or "none to report" checkbox. A link to a list of approved programs by corporation can be found under "References Lists."

My student information software doesn't have a DOE-AL report generator. What is the best way to submit my data?

If you only have a few records to submit, you can use the Input Form (Data Transfer > Input Forms > Alternative Education Input). If you have a number of students to report, you may want to do a file transfer. A preformatted Excel worksheet has been provided for your convenience (http://www.doe.in.gov/stn/docs/doe-al.xls) but any of the three standard file formats (positional, comma-delimited, or XML) can be used (If you use the Excel spreadsheet, be sure to download a copy rather than using it in a Browser window in order to access all features of this file.)