glossary of terms - csis.fcmat.org · pdf fileglossary of terms for fcmat/csis, version 7.0...

Copyright © 2013 FCMAT/California School Information Services

FCMAT/California School Information Services

Glossary of Terms

for

Fiscal Crisis & Management Assistance Team/California School Information Services

Version 7.0

July 29, 2014

Glossary of Terms for FCMAT/CSIS, Version 7.0

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Table of Contents 1. Program Documents Hierarchy and Intended Audience .....................................................3

1.1 Program Documents Hierarchy ................................................................................................... 3 1.2 Intended Audience ....................................................................................................................... 4

2. Introduction ..............................................................................................................................4 2.1 Document Purpose....................................................................................................................... 4 2.2 Document Conventions ............................................................................................................... 4 2.3 Document Organization ............................................................................................................... 4

3. Commonly Used Acronyms .....................................................................................................5 4. Glossary of Terms ....................................................................................................................8


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Review Cycle

Review Cycle

Review Date Reviewer Status – Action Taken Version

Annual 20140729 Nancy Sullivan Updated to reflect terms currently in use. 7.0



1. Program Documents Hierarchy and Intended Audience

1.1 Program Documents Hierarchy

Fiscal Crisis & Management Assistance Team (FCMAT)/California School Information Services (CSIS) Program documents are organized into successive ranks in which all documents at one level are subordinate to the one above. The documents hierarchy format is as following:

A shaded box denotes the subject document,

Italics represent the category or grouping of the subject document.

Program Charter for CSIS

Policy DocumentsStrategic Plan for

CSIS

Plan and/or Procedure Document

State Reporting and Records Transfer System (SRRTS)

External SRRTS Documents

Communications & Projects

Standard Operating Procedures

Glossary of Terms


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1.2 Intended Audience

The Glossary of Terms for FCMAT/CSIS was developed for internal FCMAT/CSIS staff, as well as local education agency (LEA) staff, student information system vendors, or state policy makers who read any of the FCMAT/CSIS documentation.

2. Introduction

2.1 Document Purpose

The purpose of this document is to define technical terms used and CSIS Program terms within documents for the CSIS Program. Also included are some common education terms that may be unfamiliar to those local education agency staff who are new to education.

2.2 Document Conventions

The title page and header of this document should contain a version number in the form X.Y where:

X is the version number in sequence 1 through N

Y is the revision number in sequence .1 through .N

The first approved version of the document will be numbered 1.0.

Each new version represents substantial change to the document (for example, adding or deleting work products or processes) and will be serially numbered to the left of the decimal (for example 2.0, 3.0...) once it has been approved by FCMAT/CSIS management.

Minor revisions (that is, format or spelling) will retain the major version number and increment the revision number to the right of the decimal (for example 1.0, 1.1, 1.2…).

2.3 Document Organization

This document includes four sections:

Section 1 includes the FCMAT/CSIS Document Hierarchy and describes the intended audience.

Section 2 is an introduction to the document, describing the document purpose, conventions and organization.

Section 3 defines commonly used acronyms.

Section 4 includes a glossary of terms in alphabetic order.


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3. Commonly Used Acronyms

Term Definition

AADS Assessment/Accountability Data Storage

AMAR CDE’s Analysis, Measurement & Accountability Reporting Division

AP Advanced Placement

API Academic Performance Index

AVID Advancement Via Individual Determination

AYP Adequate Yearly Progress

CAASPP California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress

CAG California Department of Education and California School Information Services Advisory Group

CAHSEE California High School Exit Examination

CALPADS California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System

CARS Consolidated Application Reporting System

CASEMIS California Special Education Management Information System

CBEDS California Basic Educational Data System

CCCCO California Community College Chancellor's Office

CCTC California Commission on Teaching Credentialing, (AKA CTC)

CDE California Department of Education

CDHCS California Department of Health Care Services

CDIF County District Information Form

CDS County District School Number

CDSS California Department of Social Services

CELDT California English Language Development Test

CETPA California Educational Technology Professionals Association

CFS CALPADS File Specifications

COE County Office of Education

C&P FCMAT/CSIS’ Communications & Projects Department

CS FCMAT/CSIS’ Client Services Department

CSIS California School Information Services

CSPR Consolidated State Performance Report

CSU California State University


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Term Definition

CTC Commission on Teaching Credentialing, (AKA CCTC)

CTE Career Technical Education

CVR Certification Validation Rule(s)

EDEN Education Data Exchange Network

EDMD CDE’s Educational Data Management Division

EIA Economic Impact Aid

EL English learner. Also known as ELL, English Language Learner

ELA English-Language Acquisition

ELC Eligibility in the Local Context

EO English Only

EOY End of Year

ESD Elementary School District

ESEA Elementary and Secondary Education Act

FCMAT Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team

FCP File Creation Parameters

FRPM Free and Reduced Price Meals

GUI Graphical User Interface

HSD High School District

IB International Baccalaureate

IEP Individualized Education Program

IFEP Initially Fluent English Proficient

ITIL Information Technology Infrastructure Library

IRC Independently Reporting Charter

IVR Input Validation Rule(s)

KCSOS Kern County Superintendent of Schools

LCAP Local Control and Accountability Plan

LCFF Local Control Funding Formula

LEA Local Education Agency

LEP Limited-English Proficient

NCLB No Child Left Behind Act

NSLP National School Lunch Program

ODS Operational Data Store


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Term Definition

PESC Postsecondary Electronic Standards Council

PS Postsecondary

RFEP Reclassified Fluent English Proficient

ROC/P California Regional Occupational Center and Programs

RT Records Transfer

RTM Requirements Traceable Matrix

SBAC Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium

SBE State Board of Education

SEID Statewide Educator Identifier

SELPA Special Education Local Plan Area

SIF School Interoperability Framework

SIS Student Information System

SNAP Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program

SNOR Student National Origin Report

SSID Statewide Student Identifier

TANF Temporary Assistance for Needy Families

TES Transcript Evaluation Service

UC University of California

UCOP University of California Office of the President

USD Unified School District


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4. Glossary of Terms

Term Definition

Academic Performance Index (API)

The Academic Performance Index is a numeric index (or scale) that ranges from a low of 200 to a high of 1000. The API is used is to measure the academic performance and growth of schools in California. A school's score on the API is an indicator of a school's performance level. The statewide API performance target for all schools is 800. A school's growth is measured by how well it is moving toward or past that goal. A school's API Base is subtracted from its API Growth the following year to determine how much the school improved in a year.

Acceptance Testing Acceptance testing is a process in which a group of software end-users, or clients of the system, test the system’s new functionality to ensure that the modifications made to the system meet the documented requirements, as well as verifying that the rest of the system is not negatively impacted.

Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP)

Under the federal accountability provisions in the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, all public schools and school districts, are evaluated for Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP). Schools and school districts are required to meet AYP criteria on four measures: participation rate, percent proficient (also referred to as Annual Measurable Objectives or AMOs) in English-Language Arts and mathematics, API as an additional indicator for AYP and graduation rate. Each of these four areas has specific requirements. See also No Child Left Behind.

Advanced Placement (AP) Advanced Placement is a program that offers high school students the opportunity to receive college credit for their work during high school. A College Board develops and maintains the list of approved courses that represent various subject areas that meet AP criteria. This College Board also supports: the selection of taught courses, colleges that define their policies related to AP grades and the development and coordination of the administration of annual AP examinations.

Agile Software Development

Agile software development is based on iterative development, in which requirements and solutions evolve through collaboration between cross-functional teams that are individually and collectively responsible for the quality of the software. Agile methods generally promote: 1) a disciplined project management process that encourages frequent inspection and adaptation, 2) a leadership philosophy that encourages teamwork, 3) self-organization and accountability, 4) a set of engineering best practices that allow for rapid delivery of high-quality software and 5) a business approach that aligns development with customer needs and company goals.

Amendment Window As used with CALPADS, the amendment window is the period after the initial certification deadline during which LEA staff can make modifications to their data and recertify the data to address any errors or omissions in the originally certified data. CALPADS amendment windows have certification deadlines; all corrections need to be completed by the amendment window deadline and recertified.


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Term Definition

Anomaly As used within CALPADS, an anomaly is a potential error in an SSID. There are three types of anomalies, 1) multiple identifier anomalies (also known as MID anomalies) that occur when a SSID appears to have been issued to more than one student, 2) concurrent enrollment anomalies (also known as CCE anomalies) when a single student appears to be enrolled in more than one local education agency or school and 3) exit reason discrepancies (also known as ERD anomalies) that occur when there is a conflict between an exit reason and a subsequent enrollment record, such as a new enrollment for a student who was exited as a high school graduate.

Assessment/Accountability Data Storage

The Assessment/Accountability Data Storage in CALPADS is used for processing assessment and accountability reports and snapshots and holding assessment results.

Batch Processing As used in CALPADS, uploading one or more CALPADS files containing multiple records for automatic processing rather than using online maintenance for creating, editing and saving records in CALPADS.

Breadcrumbs Breadcrumbs are links back to each previous page the user navigated through to get to the current page. Breadcrumbs are used as a navigation aid to help users navigate web sites.

CalFresh Program The CalFresh Program, federally known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), provides monthly electronic benefits to eligible households that can be used to buy most foods at many markets and food stores.

California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP)

California’s new statewide student assessment system established January 1, 2014. For additional information, visit CDE’s website at http://www.cde.ca.gov/ta/tg/ca/

California Basic Educational Data System (CBEDS)

The California Basic Educational Data System (CBEDS) is an annual data collection administered by the California Department of Education in October. CBEDS data are reported through an Online Reporting Application called CBEDS-ORA. The purpose of CBEDS is to collect information on student and staff demographics. There are two separate forms used to collect this data, the County/District Information Form and the School Information Form. For more information, visit http://www.cde.ca.gov/ds/dc/cb/.

CaliforniaColleges.edu CaliforniaColleges.edu is the web site sponsored by California Education Roundtable that enables users to: 1) explore colleges and careers, 2) plan and pay for college and 3) review college admissions requirements for California Community Colleges, California State University (CSU), University of California (UC) and California Independent Colleges.

California Community College Chancellor's Office (CCCCO)

The Chancellor’s Office is the administrative branch of the California Community College system. Located in Sacramento, this state agency provides leadership and technical assistance to the 112 community colleges and 72 community college districts in California. It is also responsible for allocating state funding to the colleges and districts. In 2014, the California Community College (CCC) system served approximately 2.1 million students and represents the largest system of higher education in the nation. For more information about CCCCO, visit http://www.cccco.edu/.


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Term Definition

California County Superintendents Educational Services Association (CCSESA)

California County Superintendents Educational Services Association is a statewide network representing the 58 county superintendents. For more information, visit http://www.ccsesa.org/.

California Department of Education (CDE)

The California Department of Education provides leadership, assistance, oversight and resources to the California school system. As described in more detail on the CDE website (http://www.cde.ca.gov), the CDE’s mission is:

“California will provide a world-class education for all students, from early childhood to adulthood. The Department of Education serves our state by innovating and collaborating with educators, schools, parents, and community partners. Together, as a team, we prepare students to live, work, and thrive in a highly connected world.”

California Department of Health Care Services

The California Department of Health Care Services’ (DHCS) mission is to preserve and improve the health status of all Californians. DHCS works closely with health care professionals, county governments and health plans to provide a health care safety net for California’s low-income and persons with disabilities. DHCS and DSS work with the CDE on State-level data matching for direct certification of eligibility for free school meals.

California Department of Social Services

The California Department of Social Services (CDSS) mission is to serve, aid, and protect needy and vulnerable children and adults in ways that strengthen and preserve families, encourage personal responsibility, and foster independence. CDSS and DHCS work with the CDE on State-level data matching for direct certification of eligibility for free school meals. CDSS also provides data on foster youth for the statewide foster matching process.

CDE/CSIS Advisory Group (CAG)

The California Department of Education and California School Information Services Advisory Group meets regularly to discuss and review new or revised CALPADS reporting requirements. CAG meetings are open to any LEA or vendor representatives who wish to attend.

California Educational Technology Professionals Association (CETPA)

California Educational Technology Professionals Association (CETPA) is an association of Educational Technology Professionals (technologists) within California. Founded in 1960, the major emphasis of the association's activities are directed towards improving administrative information processing in public education within California and to prepare its membership to better meet and support the technological needs of the instructional program. For more information about CETPA go to http://www.cetpa-k12.org/.

California English Language Development Test (CELDT)

The California English Language Development Test, instituted by Assembly Bill 748, must be administered to all students whose home language is not reported as English. The CELDT has three purposes: (1) to identify new students who are English learners in kindergarten through grade twelve; (2) to determine their level of English proficiency; and (3) to annually assess their progress in acquiring listening, speaking, reading and writing skills in English. The CELDT is not aligned with the State Board of Education’s English Language Development Standards, and so is scheduled to be replaced by the English Language Proficiency Assessments for California (ELPAC). The target year for operational administration of the ELPAC is the 2016-17 year, funding permitting.


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Term Definition

California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE)

State law, enacted in 1999, authorized the development of the California High School Exit Examination, which students in California public schools are required to pass to earn a high school diploma. Effective for the 2005-06 School Year, every California public school student attempting to earn a high school diploma is required to pass the CAHSEE, as well as meet all other state and local requirements.

California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System (CALPADS)

California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System was authorized by SB 1453 in 2002. Per statute, the goals of the system are to provide: 1) school districts and the California Department of Education access to data necessary to comply with federal NCLB reporting requirements; 2) a better means of evaluating educational progress and investments over time; 3) LEAs information that can be used to improve pupil achievement; and 4) an efficient, flexible and secure means of maintaining longitudinal statewide pupil level data.

CALPADS Code Sets The CALPADS Code Sets contain lists of valid data element code values and associated code definitions.

California School Information Services (CSIS)

The California School Information Services (CSIS) is a statewide program charged with facilitating the exchange and reporting of student information by local education agencies (LEAs) to the California Department of Education (CDE), other LEAs, postsecondary institutions and other State agencies if authorized by law. One of CSIS’ responsibilities is to assist local education agencies with the California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System (CALPADS).The California Legislature authorized the CSIS Program in 1997 under AB 107, Chapter 282 of 1997, item 6110-101-0349 and placed it under the custodianship of the Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team (FCMAT) administered by Kern County's Superintendent of Schools.

California Special Education Management Information System (CASEMIS)

The California Special Education Management Information System (CASEMIS) is a student-level data collection for children receiving special education services.

California State University (CSU)

The California State University is a postsecondary institution system that in 2014 included 23 campuses, approximately 447,000 students and 45,000 faculty and staff. CSU offers a variety of higher education opportunities helping undergraduate and graduate students achieve their academic goals. For more information about CSU go to http://www.calstate.edu/

Census Day Census Day is the day within the Academic Year on which an official count is taken. For the Fall data collection, Census Day is the first Wednesday in October.

Certification The action taken by a local superintendent to indicate that data received and processed for a submission are complete and correct. Additionally, SELPAs, COEs and CDE also have certification roles at higher levels in the K-12 hierarchy.

Client Services (CS) Client Services is a department within FCMAT/CSIS that provides training and support services to end-users, such as LEAs.

Code Table A Code Table is a list of valid data element code values and the associated code definitions.

Commission on Teaching Credentialing (CTC)

The California Commission on Teaching Credentialing (CCTC) works to ensure that those who educate the children of California are academically and professionally prepared. For more information, go to, http://www.ctc.ca.gov/.


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Term Definition

Continuous Enrollment Continuous Enrollment is enrollment from Census Day through the first day of test administration. Students who were not enrolled for more than 30 consecutive calendar days are not considered continuously enrolled.

County / District / School (CDS) Number

County / District / School Number is a number assigned by the CDE that uniquely identifies each local education agency and school. Each ID is a 14-digit number. The format is as follows: the first 2 digits represent the county code, the next 5 digits represent the district code and the last 7 digits represent the school code.

County Office of Education (COE)

A County Office of Education is an entity that is defined by its specific geographic service area within the state. Generally, the COE provides a variety of education and community services to school districts within the county’s geographic boundaries. The state of California has 58 COEs.

Certification Validation Rule (CVR)

A Certification Validation Rule describes each validation rule to be applied to the various aggregates for a specific submission. Each validation is documented in the CALPADS Error List. The document lists the validation rule trigger, and various other parameters as needed for the validation rule to operate properly.

Data Data are unprocessed raw or elemental pieces of information, for example student demographic, information that is stored in the student’s attending school’s SIS. Data is normally stored in a database or a file.

Data Element A Data Element is a specific piece of data. The CALPADS File Specifications include the data elements used in CALPADS.

Data Exchange Specifications

Data Exchange Specifications describe the format of data that are sent from FCMAT/CSIS to its clients and data received from its clients. Each file and record is described with its physical attributes, naming, batching and schedule for exchanges.

Department of Finance (DOF)

The California Department of Finance serves as the Governor’s chief fiscal policy advisor, works to promote a responsible funding resource allocation through the State’s annual financial plan and is responsible for ensuring the financial integrity of the State. For more information about the California Department of Finance go to http://www.dof.ca.gov/DOF.asp

Departmentalized Classroom

A departmentalized class is one in which the instructor teaches a specific subject or subjects to several different groups of students. This type of classroom organization is usually found in the middle, junior, and high schools.

Direct Certification Direct Certification is the federally mandated process through which school-age recipients of CalFresh (formerly known as Food Stamps) and CalWORKs benefits are certified as eligible for free school meals without further application. LEAs may implement Direct Certification by using either a local data match through their county’s Department of Social or Welfare Services and/or using the State-level data matching system available through CALPADS.

Ed-Data The Ed-Data website, http://www.ed-data.org, provides educators, policy makers, the legislature, parents and the public quick access to timely and comprehensive data about K-12 education in California.


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Term Definition

Electronic Data Interchange (EDI)

Electronic Data Interchange is a legacy industry data communication standard protocol and format for exchange of data between computer systems. More clearly, EDI is electronic communication of business transactions (such as orders, confirmations and invoices) between organizations. Third parties provide EDI services that enable organizations with different equipment to connect. Although interactive access may be a part of it, EDI implies direct computer to computer transactions into vendor databases and ordering systems.

Elementary School District (ESD)

Elementary School District is the legal distinction used to indicate a school district that includes only primary (Kindergarten through grade five or six) schools.

End of Year (EOY) Submissions

The End of Year submissions are four CALPADS submissions that occur at the end of the school year. The submissions include EOY 1 (course completion and career technical education), EOY 2 (program participation and homeless counts), EOY 3 (discipline), and EOY 4 (CAHSEE Waivers and Exemptions).

English Language Proficiency Assessments for California (ELPAC),

English Language Proficiency Assessments for California (ELPAC) will be the replacement for the California English Language Development Test (CELDT). The goal is to have the ELPAC operational by the 2016-17 year. Additional funding is needed to achieve this goal. The ELPAC will be aligned with the State Board of Education’s adopted English Language Development Standards.

Extract File / Record Layout

Defines the clients’ requirements for data. The Extract Record layouts define the physical characteristics of the data that the client expects to receive. Additionally, the layout is usually accompanied by a list of definitions for each of the elements in the layout. The document may also include validation criteria that the client expects the data to meet.

Failure Failure is the inability of a system or component to perform its required functions within specified performance requirements. A failure is characterized by the observable symptoms of one or more defects that have a root cause in one or more faults.

Fall 1 Submission The Fall 1 submission is a CALPADS submission that collects enrollment, graduates, and dropouts, as well as English Learner and Title III eligible immigrant data.

Fall 2 Submission The Fall 2 submission is a CALPADS that collects teacher demographics, staff assignments, student course enrollment, and English Learner services data.

Fatal Error A fatal error is an error that causes the termination of processing. In CALPADS, fatal errors must be corrected to get the record uploaded successfully.

Free and Reduced Price Meals

Free and Reduced Price Meals refers to federally reimbursable meals served to eligible children whose parent/guardian have applied for and qualified because the family’s income meets the eligibility requirements threshold as well as students who are automatically been determined to be eligible for free or reduced price meals through Direct Certification or another means of determining eligibility.

Feeder School Feeder School is the K-12 school from which students graduate or matriculate to another school. When a student is promoted to a grade level higher than the highest grade at his/her current school, the student is then transferred from their feeder school to a receiver school. See also Receiver School.


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Term Definition

Filter A filter enables the user to refine the data displayed in order to more easily locate the information needed. For example, the user may filter on grade-level to display only kindergarten students.

Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team (FCMAT)

Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team helps California's LEAs fulfill their financial and management responsibilities by providing fiscal advice, management assistance, training and other related school business services. Kern County Superintendent of Schools (KCSOS) is the administrative and fiscal agent for FCMAT. For more information, visit http://www.fcmat.org.

Graphical User Interface (GUI)

Abbreviated GUI, pronounced as “GOO-ee,” is a computer software program interface that takes advantage of the computer's graphics capabilities to make the program easier to use. In addition to their visual components, GUIs also make it easier to move data from one software application to another. A true GUI includes standard formats for representing text and graphics.

Hardware Computer system hardware is any physical device used to capture, process, transmit and / or store data.

High School Completer High School Completers are students who graduated from high school and students who:

Passed CHSPE (and did not receive a standard High School diploma)

Completed the GED (and did not receive a standard High School diploma)

Received a Special Education Certificate of Completion

High School District (HSD)

High School District is the legal distinction used to indicate a school district that includes only secondary (Junior High and High) schools.

Identifier An Identifier is a unique string of digits that identifies a specific individual. The identifier for students is commonly called the Statewide Student Identifier. The Statewide Student Identifier (SSID) is intended to be a unique number assigned once per student statewide and will be used to track a students’ progress over time along with grouping individual students’ records together over their entire academic career. Each student’s Statewide Student Identifier will follow the student’s records when they travel throughout the state. The unique identifier for certificated staff is called the Statewide Educator Identifier (SEID).

Individualized Education Program (IEP)

The Individualized Education Program is a quasi-contractual agreement to guide, orchestrate and document specially designed instruction for each student with a disability based on his or her unique academic, social and behavioral needs.

Information Systems (IS) The Information Systems is a department within FCMAT/CSIS and is responsible for software development, testing and configuration management.

Information Technology Infrastructure Library

Information Technology Infrastructure Library is a set of best practices for IT service management. ITIL is owned by the Office of Government Commerce in the United Kingdom. ITIL consists of a series of publications giving guidance on the provision of quality IT services and on the processes and facilities needed to support them. See www.itil.co.uk for more information.

International Baccalaureate (IB)

International Baccalaureate is a group of three educational programs and their respective examinations, as established by the International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO) designed to offer students challenging coursework. For more information, visit http://www.ibo.org/.


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Term Definition

Input Validation Rule (IVR)

An Input Validation Rule describes each validation rule to be applied to each incoming data element for a specific submission.

K-12 K-12, pronounced “Kay through 12” or just “Kay 12,” is the abbreviation for Kindergarten through 12th grade that is the American designation for primary and secondary education.

Kern County Superintendent of Schools (KCSOS)

Kern County Superintendent of Schools is a county office of education physically located in Bakersfield, California. KCSOS is the administrative and fiscal agent for FCMAT. The mission of KCSOS is to advocate for children, provide leadership, education and support for students, school districts and the community through programs, services and fiscal accountability. For additional information about KCSOS go to: http://www.kern.org.

Key Performance Indicator A key performance indicator is a measure of performance that is used to help an organization define and evaluate how successful it is.

Limited English Proficient (LEP)

Limited-English proficient (LEP) is an official term used in federal legislation for students whose proficiency has not yet developed to the point where they can fully participate in an English-only instructional environment. English learner (EL) is used as a more positive alternative to “LEP” student. EL refers to students whose first language is not English and encompasses both students who are just beginning to learn English and those who have already developed considerable proficiency.

Local Education Agency (LEA)

Local Education Agencies include (1) any local education agency as defined in Section 198 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 USC 3381), (2) the owner of any nonpublic, nonprofit elementary or secondary school building, or (3) the governing authority of any school operated under the Defense Dependents’ Education System provided for under the U.S. Defense Department’s Education Act of 1978 (20 USC 921, et seq.). Typically, the term is used to refer to districts, county offices of education and independently-reporting charter schools.

Local Code Mapping In the content of CALPADS, local code mapping refers to the process of correlating local codes to CALPADS codes.

Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP)

Under the LCFF each LEAs is required to prepare a Local Control and Accountability Plan, (LCAP), which describes how the LEA intends to meet annual goals for all pupils, with specific activities to address state and local priorities identified pursuant to EC Section 52060(d).

Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF)

Local Control Funding Formula was included in the Enacted Budget for California beginning in 2013-14. It provides local education agencies with a base grant for all students and supplemental and concentration grants based upon the unduplicated counts of English Learners, foster youth, and students from low income households. LCFF increases flexibility and accountability at the local level.

Local Identifier The Local Identifier uniquely identifies students in a district- or school-level student information system and is created by this local system.

Longitudinal Data Longitudinal data tracks the same type of information on the same subjects at multiple points in time.


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Term Definition

Lost Transfer Lost transfer refers to a student who was exited from one school with a code indicating the student was expected to enroll in another California public school but did not subsequently enroll in another California public school.

Mapping Mapping is the physical rearrangement of data from one format (such as a relational database) to another format (such as a flat file).

Matriculating Class A matriculating class is the group of students being promoted from the highest grade level served in their current school (the feeder school) and moving to new school(s). An example is the graduating 8th grade class in a 7-8 middle school that matriculates to the 9th grade receiver school. See also Feeder School and Receiver School.

Metadata Metadata is information about data. Metadata defines data, itemizes associated attributes, describes how electronic data relates to real world items, notes business rules and how they affect certain data items, tracks how, when and who collects and/or changes data values. Data that is used to describe other data. Data definitions are sometimes referred to as metadata. Examples of metadata include schema, table, index, view and column definitions.

National School Lunch Program (NSLP)

The National School Lunch Program is a federally assisted meal program operating in public and nonprofit private schools and residential child care institutions. It provides nutritionally balanced, low-cost or free lunches to children each school day.

Although not technically correct, some individuals say “NSLP” when they are actually referring to all of the school nutrition programs, including, but not necessarily limited to the School Breakfast Program, the School Lunch Program, and the Special Milk Program. For more information see http://www.cde.ca.gov/ls/nu/sn/.

No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act

The No Child Left Behind Act is the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act that occurred in 2001. For a full copy of the NCLB Act go to: http://www.ed.gov/policy/elsec/leg/esea02/107-110.pdf and for additional information about NCLB: http://www.ed.gov/admins/lead/account/nclbreference/index.html.

Operational Data Store (ODS)

An operational data store is a type of database often used as an interim area for a data warehouse. The contents of the ODS are updated through the course of business operations. An ODS is designed to quickly perform relatively simple queries on small amounts of data (such as finding the status of a customer order), rather than the complex queries on large amounts of data.

Operational Data Store Replicated (ODSR)

The ODSR is a copy of the ODS that contains changes in suspense records.

Online Public Update for Schools – County-District-School (OPUS-CDS)

OPUS-CDS is a web-based application used by authorized LEA CDS coordinators to notify the California Department of Education (CDE) of updates to information contained in the Public School Directory, such as contact information, personnel, agency name, school type, grade span, etc. OPUS-CDS also contains resources related to the use of this application. For more information, visit http://www.cde.ca.gov/ds/si/ds/opuscds.asp.

Postsecondary (PS) Postsecondary is a formal instructional program whose curriculum is generally designed for students who have completed the requirements for a high school diploma or its equivalent. This includes programs whose purpose is academic, vocational and continuing professional education and excludes avocational and adult basic education programs.


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Term Definition

Postsecondary Electronic Standards Council (PESC)

Postsecondary Electronic Standards Council (PESC) is a non-profit, community-based, 501 (c)(3) umbrella association with the mission to enable cost-effective connectivity between data systems to accelerate performance and service, to simplify data access and research, and to improve data quality along the education lifecycle.. For more information, visit http://www.pesc.org/.

Problem A problem is the cause of one or more incidents. The cause is not usually known at the time a problem record is created and the Problem Management Process is responsible for further investigation.1

Production Production is the status of a software computer program when it is being used for a purpose other than when the software is being implemented or tested. Once the computer software program has been designed, developed, tested and implemented into the intended network or system the program is then considered to be in production.

Privacy and Confidentiality

Privacy is the ensuring that individuals maintain the right to control what information is collected about them, how it is used, who has used it, who maintains it and what purpose it is used for. Confidentiality is the ensuring that information is not accessed by unauthorized persons.

RACI Matrix A RACI matrix is a model used to define roles and responsibilities. A RACI matrix contains a list of tasks and an indication of who is responsible, accountable, consulted and informed.

Receiver School A receiver school is a school to which new students are promoted and transferred to a grade level higher than the highest grade in their previous school. For example, students who attending a K-6 elementary grade school and completed grade 6 are promoted to the receiver school as new 7th grade students. See also feeder school.

Record Layout See Extract File / Record Layout.

Regression Testing

Regression testing is any type of software testing which seeks to uncover bugs that occur whenever software functionality that previously worked as desired stops working or no longer works in the same way that was previously planned.

Reporting Calendar A Reporting Calendar documents all From/Through and other consumer-driven date parameters for each data submission.

Requirement In terms of software engineering and development, a requirement is a description of what a system should do. The requirements phase may be broken down into requirements elicitation (gathering the requirements from stakeholders), analysis (checking for consistency and completeness), definition (writing down descriptive requirements for developers) and specification (creating an initial bridge between requirements and design).

Requirements Management (RM)

Requirements Management is a department within FCMAT/CSIS. RM captures the changing and emerging data and system requirements. RM also develops strategies for the collection of specific data collections.

1 ITIL Version 3 Glossary published by Office of Government Commerce, United Kingdom, 2007.


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Term Definition

Requirements Traceability Matrix

A requirements traceability matrix is used to verify that all stated and derived requirements are allocated to system components and other deliverables such as Use Cases, FCP’s, Program Specifications, etc. Taking the time to cross-reference each requirement to a deliverable ensures that a deliverable is consistent with the system requirements. A requirement that cannot be mapped to a deliverable is an indication that something is missing from the deliverable. Likewise, a deliverable that cannot be traced back to a requirement may mean the system is delivering more than required.

Risk A risk is an event that may or may not occur. If necessary, a contingency plan is developed to ensure the mitigation strategy can be implemented should the risk occur.

Root Cause Root Cause is an underlying factor that caused a non-conformance and possibly should be permanently eliminated through process improvement.

Schools Interoperability Framework (SIF)

The Schools Interoperability Framework is the US national kindergarten through 12th grade (K12) specification for modeling educational data and information in an XML format as well as a specification for sharing that information between software applications in the educational space. For more information, visit http://www.sifinfo.org/.

Service Catalog The Service Catalog is an ITIL term for the complete list of current services that an organization provides or those available for deployment. Typically the Service Catalog includes a description of each service, the intended audience, how to access the service, and other pertinent information.

Service Level Agreement A service level agreement is an agreement between the IT service provider and the customer. It describes the IT service, the service level targets and the responsibilities of the IT service provider and the customer.

SharePoint SharePoint is a software application used by FCMAT/CSIS to organize, store and retrieve electronically all documents produced by the program.

Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC)

The Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium is a multistate consortium working collaboratively to develop a student assessment system aligned with a common core of academic content standards for English language arts/literacy and mathematics. As a Smarter Balanced governing state, California is a decision-making member. Smarter Balanced assessments are designed to measure student progress toward college and career readiness. For more information, see http://www.cde.ca.gov/ta/tg/sa/index.asp.

Snapshot A snapshot is point-in-time data captured for reporting purposes. In CALPADS, snapshot reports are created nightly during the certification window until the data are certified or the certification window closes.

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is a federal program that offers nutrition assistance to eligible, low income individuals and families. In California, the program is called the CalFresh Program.

Special Education Special Education is direct instructional activities or special learning experiences designed to meet the educational needs of students with disabilities. For more information, visit the United States Department of Education web site at http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/osers/osep/index.html.


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Term Definition

Special Education Division (SED)

Special Education Division is a unit within the CDE that collects and provides resources for serving the unique needs of students with disabilities, so that each student will meet or exceed high standards of achievement in academic and nonacademic skills.

Special Education Local Plan Area (SELPA)

A Special Education Local Plan Area (SELPA) is the service area covered by the local plan for providing special education services to individuals with disabilities in that area under the state and federal law (EC 56195.1). In California, SELPAs may be school districts or county offices of education within particular geographic areas. SELPAs include districts joined together so that they can provide services to students with special needs and that are located geographically nearby and individual districts with large student enrollment that act as their own SELPA. Each SELPA develops a local plan describing how it will provide special education services to its intended students.

Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR)

The Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) Program was the student testing program used in California for student and school accountability purposes until replaced by the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP) in January 2014. For more information, visit http://www.cde.ca.gov/ta/.

Standard Operating Procedure (SOP)

Standard operating procedure is used to describe a procedure or set of procedures to perform a given operation or evolutions or in reaction to a given event. SOPs are usually written and apply to a given unit or formation and are standardized across that unit or formation.

State Board of Education (SBE)

The State Board of Education is the governing and policy-making body of the CDE. The SBE sets K-12 education policy in the areas of standards, instructional materials, assessment and accountability. The SBE adopts textbooks for grades K-8, adopts regulations to implement legislation and has authority to grant waivers of the Education Code. The SBE has 11 members and is appointed by the State Governor.

Statewide Educator Identifier (SEID)

The Statewide Educator Identifier is a unique identification number assigned to each certificated staff member. SEIDS are issues by the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing.

Statewide Student Identifier (SSID)

The Statewide Student Identifier is a unique student identifier assigned to each K-12 pupil enrolled in a public school program or in a charter school that will remain with the student throughout his or her academic 'career' in the California public school system.

Structured English Query Language (SQL)

Structured English Query Language is an ANSI/ISO standard set-based, declarative language designed to manipulate and retrieve data stored in a database.

Student Friendly Services (SFS)

Student Friendly Services, a California Post Secondary effort comprised of representatives to establish a common repository of college application and planning materials for 7-12th grade students. The web site for SFS is: www.californiacolleges.edu/.

Student Information System (SIS)

Student Information System, commonly referred to in FCMAT/CSIS documentation as the local SIS, describes the computerized systems used by each LEA to process student records for such things as attendance, grades, courses, discipline, etc.

Student National Origin Report (SNOR)

Prior to CALPADS, the Student National Origin Report was the form used by California Department of Education to collect the results of the annual count of eligible immigrant students.


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Term Definition

Suspense records Suspense records are assessment records that were loaded into CALPADS but due to a specific discrepancy, they did not match any SSID in CALPADS associated with the LEA.

System Administrator System administrator (sometimes abbreviated as sysadmin) is a person who manages the computer systems within an organization. The responsibilities of a system administrator and network administrator often overlap; however, the system administrator is more geared to the computer hardware and less on the network, although in many cases, system and network administrator are one in the same, especially in smaller companies. A system administrator is involved with operating system and hardware installations and configurations and may be involved with application installations and upgrades. A system administrator may also perform systems programmer activities.

Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)

The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program is a federal program designed to help needy families achieve self-sufficiency. California receives a federal block grant under TANF that partially funds the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids program, California’s welfare program to assist eligible needy families.

Test Case A test case is a set of conditions or variables under which a tester determines if a requirement upon a software application is partially or fully satisfied, according to the original requirement’s documentation. It may take many test cases to determine whether a requirement is fully satisfied. In order to fully test that all the requirements of an application are met, there must be at least one test case for each requirement unless a requirement has sub requirements. What characterizes a test case is that there is a known input and an expected output, which is worked out before the test. The known input should test a precondition and the expected output should test a post condition. Test cases are usually collected into Test Suites. A variation of test cases is commonly used during acceptance testing. See also Acceptance Testing.

Testing The purpose of testing is to discover errors. Testing is the process of trying to discover every conceivable fault or weakness in a work product. The process includes operating a system or component under specified conditions, observing or recording the results and making an evaluation of some aspect of the system or component. The process also includes analyzing a software item to detect the differences between existing and required conditions, (that is, bugs) and to evaluate the features of the software items.

Test Scenario A sequence of actions (execution conditions) that identifies behaviors of interest in the context of test execution.

Test Script Test script are the step-by-step instructions in a software test program that defines the actions and pass/fail criteria. For example, if the action is "to enter a valid account number," the expected result is that the data are accepted. Entering an invalid number should yield a particular error message. Test scripts may take the form of either documented textual instructions that are executed manually or computer readable instructions that enable automated test execution.

Transcript Evaluation Service (TES)

The Transcript Evaluation Service (TES) is a statewide initiative of the California Student Aid Commission, EDFUND and the University of California to improve student academic achievement in college preparatory courses. TES provides selected schools with evaluations of all student transcripts as well as training and support for schools to institute an action plan for college readiness for all students. For more information about TES go to: https://www.transcriptevaluationservice.com/.


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Term Definition

Translation Translation is the changing of data content from one set of code values to another. For example, changing the Gender data element from “Male” or “Female to a “1” or “2” code value.

Unified School District (USD)

Unified School District is the legal distinction used to indicate a school district that includes both primary (Kindergarten thru Junior High School) and secondary (High School) schools.

University of California (UC)

The University of California is a public university system within the State of California. In 2014, it had 10 campuses, a combined student body of more than 233,000 students, more than 190,000 faculty and staff and over 1.6 million living alumni. All campuses enroll both undergraduate and graduate students with the exception of the San Francisco campus, which enrolls only graduate and professional students in the medical and health sciences and Hastings College of the Law, which is the oldest law school in the UC system and is also located in San Francisco.

Validation In general, validation is the process of checking if something satisfies a certain criterion. Examples would be: checking if a statement is true, if an appliance works as intended, if a computer system is secure, or if computer data is compliant with an open standard. This should not be confused with verification.

Valid Code Combinations The CALPADS File Specifications Valid Code Combinations document details the code combinations that can be used together in CALPADS. For example, the exit reasons and grade level table shows which grade levels can be used with each exit code. Use of code combinations that are not included in the valid code combinations (e.g. PreK-grade 6 exit and 12th grade) will result in an error.

Verification In the context of hardware and software systems, formal verification is the act of proving or disproving the correctness of a system with respect to a certain formal specification or property using formal methods.

Warning Within the context of information systems, a warning is a system message that indicates there may be a problem. In CALPADS, users are able to proceed when they encounter warnings, but should investigate their data when warnings are received to verify that the data are correct. For example, a user may get a warning if they are enrolling a six-year-old in sixth grade. Since this scenario might happen in rare instances, the user would be allowed to proceed with the enrollment, but it would be best practices for the user to check the child’s date of birth before proceeding to make sure it is correct.