Friday, September 30, 2016

Critical ELPA Data Update From DE

**This communication provided by Dr. Jobi B. Lawrence, Director, Title III, Iowa Department of Education, (515) 281-3805.

We know that the timeline for getting abbreviated ELPA21 scores has created a very fast-paced process for districts to work with parents on parental notification and meaningful data driven conversations regarding LIEP program waivers. We also know that data files that were sent to Superintendents may have some missing data due to student transfers, testing issues in the spring, etc. We are working with individual districts to help them locate missing data and districts are working together to transfer data for students that have moved within the state. These issues are a normal part of transitioning between assessment systems, and we don’t anticipate these issues in future ELPA21 administrations.

All of these scenarios may create a delay in reporting “final” accurate information for a small number of ELs in our system related to SRI reporting. We have met with the legal team at the Department and collaborated with the SRI team as well to provide the following supportive guidance:

  • Districts need to report the students based on the data they have on Oct. 1, 2016 (if they are missing ELPA data, the student remains coded with a status of “1” in the system unless they have a parent waiver on file in which case they can be coded with a status of “2” pending data that may permit exiting).
  • When we locate the data for students who may be missing in a district file we will work with that district to clean up their SRI reporting after the certification deadline passes.
  • If districts have students who were waived last year and they are working on meeting with parents to secure the waiver for this year, the student must be coded “1” until the waiver is signed. Our Legal Counsel concurred. Again, understanding that we will work with the districts that have waiver dates to make adjustments after they receive the parent signatures. This will be a “corrective” process on our end in collaboration with LEAs.
We are working hard to provide the best transition possible from IELDA to ELPA21 and we greatly appreciate everyone’s continued patience as we work towards improving our assessment system for ELs.

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