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Charter School Data Management

Don’t Have a Data Lead at Your Charter School? No Problem!

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At EdTec, we believe that success is built upon collaboration. Our team of charter experts forms a strong partnership with your school, providing the strategic insight needed to keep you firmly on track towards your educational goals. We meet charter school leaders exactly where they are, offering expert guidance and comprehensive solutions to troubleshoot challenges, streamline processes, and create efficiencies.

Your Compass in the Sea of Data

Our team works with you to maximize your system’s features and benefits. We offer support with scheduling, report cards, and gradebook and GPA setup, and we can also create custom reports. Our team can also provide training as well as extend year-round helpdesk support to your team.

We recognize that charter schools operate within a unique landscape, and that’s why our support is charter-specific and real-time. You’ll have consistent access to a dedicated member of our team who specializes in charter schools. There is no wasted time spent navigating call menus or re-explaining an issue to a different support person unfamiliar with your school’s history and the specific requirements charters must meet.

Fuel Growth Through Student Achievement Analysis

Numbers tell a story, and we’re here to help you decipher it. Our experts perform comprehensive student achievement analyses, showcasing your school’s growth and progress. Our analysis includes an overview of school-wide performance, longitudinal cohort analysis, and insights into performance of grade levels and subgroups on state and local assessments, such as NWEA and i-Ready. We can also compare your school’s performance to state and local benchmarks,, Our analysis allows you to identify where things are going well as well as where extra supports may be needed, empowering you to make decisions that bolster student success.

Harness the Power of Learning Management Solutions

Through our partnership with Otus, a K-12 all-in-one Data, Assessment, and Learning Management Solution, you’ll have t a holistic view of your student’s performance by collecting and using data from multiple sources.

Create and share formative and summative assessments, track progress over time, differentiate instruction, and deliver personalized learning. Customization allows you to view performance by student group to ensure all students are growing and on pace to meet their goals. EdTec provides the Otus platform to charter schools large and small with attractive solution pricing and charter-specific, customized support.

Chart Your Course with Confidence

Navigating the waters of charter applications and renewals can be daunting, but you don’t have to go it alone. Our team of experts provides guidance to ensure your charter applications and renewals are not only strong and compliant but also aligned with your school’s vision and goals. With EdTec by your side, you can confidently steer your charter through the process with grace.

Plan for Renewal with Confidence

EdTec works with schools to develop strong, compliant, and successful charter renewal applications. Our expert team provides support with narrative development and student performance analysis, all while making sure your school’s goals are in alignment with your mission and vision. and budget creation.

Shape College-Ready Futures with Postsecondary Data Analysis

Through our partnership with the National Student Clearinghouse® EdTec offers the StudentTracker® for High Schools service to charter schools bundled with EdTec’s robust, charter-specific data services.

StudentTracker® for High Schools provides information about your graduates’ college enrollment, persistence, and completion. EdTec acts as your data lead, managing the data upload and reporting process. This valuable postsecondary data and analysis resource empowers schools to track goals tied to college readiness and completion and demonstrate progress for renewal and other compliance requirements.

Actionable School Plans in Partnership with Seasoned Charter Experts

At EdTec, we’re advocates, collaborators, and partners in your mission to provide an excellent education for your students. Our data and assessment services are designed to empower you with the tools, information, and insights needed to bolster student outcomes and fulfill the mission and vision of your charter.

Ready to harness the power of data? Reach out to us today to learn more about our charter school data and assessment services!

California Charters, Stay Calm and Focus on Your LCAP Submission and the 2019 Dashboard!

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By Jennifer Reyes, Ed.d., Educational Support Services Manager; Chris Lim, Senior Director of Data Management; and Annice Weinstein, Senior Manager, Assessment Data and Analysis 

April 16, 2019

California charter leaders, as you enter the last few months of the school year, pay attention to these important tasks to help you stay on top of your LCAP submission as well as ensure accurate reporting on the 2019 Dashboard.

CALPADS Submissions and the Dashboard

Demographic data reported to CALPADS informs the subgroup information reported on the CA School Dashboard. The CA Department of Education (CDE) typically extracts this information shortly after CAASPP testing is completed, so review the 8.1 ODS report in CALPADS to be sure the right demographic information is reported for each student: race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status, homeless, foster, English learner, and disability status. For corrections, update the information in your student information system (SIS) first, then push an updated extract up to CALPADS, so the original source of your data (your SIS) is accurate and matches what’s in CALPADS.

We also recommend you push up an enrollment update to CALPADS prior to testing to make sure all students enrolled at your school are represented in TOMS.

The end-of-year submissions (EOY 1, 2, and 3) provide information on program eligibility, chronic absenteeism, suspension rate, and other disciplinary incidents, as well as college and career readiness. EOY information is also used to determine graduation rates along with cumulative enrollment, which the CDE uses to determine which students will factor into each of the Dashboard calculations.

LCAP Annual Update

Coordinate with your staff to gather the data necessary to update all the measurable outcomes defined in your LCAP. You’ll notice that some of the measures may be a year old (SBAC scores or graduation rate from 2017-18),but do your best to gather current data when available (example: local assessment data). Gathering the data early will give you a chance to share progress with your stakeholders and get their feedback, as well as use the data to determine if the actions or services you implemented are showing the results you anticipated. If they aren’t, this is the perfect time to update your plans in the 2019-20 LCAP.

If you haven’t been coding your finances to align with your LCAP goals, actions, and services throughout the year, you’ll need to start reviewing your general ledger to identify how each of the expenses line up with your LCAP. The Annual Update requires you to include your estimated actual expenditures for each action/service, including the funding source (base, supplemental/concentration, title funds, CSI), so this task can take some time.

It’s also a good time to start planning for that final round of stakeholder engagement prior to Board approval.  This will allow you to get quality input on your draft LCAP so that your entire school community is represented in the plan.  You will be able to include these efforts in the stakeholder engagement section and show that you are meeting this LCAP requirement.

One last item to start preparing is your responses to how you’ve addressed each of the local indicators. You will need to present the information at a regularly scheduled board meeting either at the end of this school year or the start of the next school year. Your overall score – Standard Met or Standard Not Met – will be entered by your Dashboard Coordinator next fall, but since you will be including that information in the LCAP Annual Update, it makes sense to prepare your narratives for the Dashboard local indicator reporting at the end of 2018-19.

The end of the school year will be here before we know it! We recommend planning ahead and allotting time to get these items right, as they have a significant impact on your school. For additional questions on the LCAP, Dashboard, or CALPADS submissions, please contact LCAP360@edtec.com.

CALPADS Update for CA Charter Schools

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By Gerald Cockrell, Data and Categorical Program Specialist

September 19, 2018

For California charter schools, it can be hard to stay on top of all the changes to CALPADS. Use the list below as an easy checklist to make sure your school isn’t forgetting anything this year. Check out our previous CALPADS post to see our list of the most important CALPADS reports to prepare for Fall 1.

Important Changes to CALPADS for the 18/19 School Year

  • There are new CALPADS submission certification deadlines for ‘18-‘19 and they are much earlier than previous years. Please plan accordingly, especially for the Fall 1 submission which now ends around Thanksgiving instead of the end of January.
    • Fall 1 Certification Deadline: 11/21/18
    • Fall 1 Amendment Window Deadline: 12/7/18
    • Fall 2 Certification Deadline: 2/1/19 (No Amendment Window)
    • EOY 1 – EOY 3 Certification Deadline: 8/17/19 (No Amendment Window)
  • In addition to the shorter submission windows CALPADS also has a significant outage planned for 9/21-10/01 to make major system changes. Please plan accordingly. It’s also important to get any SSID’s or other information from CALPADS you may need for assessment or ELPAC testing.
  • New students with a non-English primary language must have an ‘18-‘19 enrollment record and a “TBD” SELA record in CALPADS in order for them to show up in TOMS and be tested with the Initial ELPAC.
  • This update is not new, but it is important enough to warrant an annual reminder: all National School Lunch Program (NSLP) Free and Reduced Price Meal (FRPM) applications for the year MUST BE RECEIVED BY 10/31/18 for the student eligibility to count towards your official FRPM or LCFF Unduplicated counts.

To help you prepare for Fall 1 and make sure your charter school’s data is accurate for funding and accountability, check out our previous CALPADS post about the most important CALPADS reports.

Get Your School’s Performance Data Renewal Ready!

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By Annice Weinstein, Senior Manager, Assessment Data & Analysis

December 14, 2017

Charter renewal is a very time intensive process, and it can be even more demanding if you haven’t already collected the necessary performance data. The following three steps will set you up to have your data ready when the time comes to start working on your renewal petition, so you can focus your energy on putting together a sound analysis and a strong narrative that highlight your school’s achievements!

  • Download your student level data files for state tests as soon as the state makes them available. These files may not be available in your account when it’s time for renewal, so it’s best to download the files annually as they are released. For example, the Test Operations Management System (TOMS) currently stores just two years of summative test results, so make sure to have your LEA CAASPP coordinator download the files as soon as the state indicates they are ready. You can find the files in TOMS (https://caaspp.ets.org/) under Reports (on the left), LEA Reports. Scroll down to the bottom to download the Student Results Report-Student Score Data Extract for each year available. CalTAC has recently removed the 2014-15 files, so you may need to contact them directly if you didn’t already download these files. You may reach CalTAC at 800-955-2954 or caltac@ets.org.
  • Keep track of your comparison schools. Does your authorizer require comparisons to specific schools? Are there other schools in your area, or schools with demographics or programs similar to yours, that you strive to outperform? If most of the relevant comparison schools are within the same district, take a look at the California School Dashboard Five-by-Five grids to see how your school stacks up on the Dashboard indicators: http://www6.cde.ca.gov/californiamodel/. And keep an eye on your Academic Accountability Report with the California Charter Schools Association (CCSA): http://snapshots.ccsa.org/aar. CCSA produces a Similar Students Measure that will give you an idea of how your school’s performance on the SBAC compares to that of demographically similar schools.
  • Select LCAP performance metrics that track longitudinal progress for the same set of students. This will help you stay on track with annual data collection and give you a boost when you want to share your longitudinal progress on local assessments with your authorizers. The metrics can include performance on NWEA MAP, developmental reading assessments, or i-Ready. Working the tests into your LCAP metrics is a good way to ensure that you review progress annually and have the data necessary for your renewal.

Keep Calm and Review Your CALPADS Reports!

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By Gerald Cockrell, Data and Categorical Program Specialist

November 13, 2017

Given the large amount of data reported for CALPADS Fall I, and the multitude of certification reports available, it can be difficult to determine which data are the most important and where to find them!  To help ease the frustration, we’ve created a list of the most important reports and included detail about the information each report contains and who should be reviewing them.

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There are many other reports available as well, but starting with the ones listed in this table will provide a clear view of the data that affect your funding and accountability.  As a reminder, special attention should be paid to FRPM data, EL data, and high school graduate data.

If you have any concerns about the data being reported for Fall I, feel free to reach out to EdTec’s data team to discuss how we can help. You can reach Gerald at gerald.cockrell@edtec.com, or 213.292. 6620 x414.