U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

Education Data Exchange Network (EDEN)

X004 – Children with Disabilities (IDEA) Not Participating in AssessmentsXML Specifications

Version 5.0

SY 2008-09

July 2009

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATIONX004 –Children with Disabilities (IDEA) Not

Participating in AssessmentsXML Specifications v5.0

This technical guide was produced under U.S. Department of Education Contract No. GS00F0049M–ED05P01299 with Perot Systems Government Services, Inc. Brandon Scott served as the contracting officer’s representative. No official endorsement by the U.S. Department of Education of any product, commodity, service or enterprise mentioned in this publication is intended or should be inferred.

U.S. Department of Education

Arne Duncan

Secretary

Office of Planning, Evaluation and Policy Development

Carmel Martin

Assistant Secretary

July 2009

This technical guide is in the public domain. Authorization to reproduce it in whole or in part is granted. While permission to reprint this publication is not necessary, the citation should be: U.S. Department of Education, Office of Planning, Evaluation and Policy Development, X004 – Children with Disabilities (IDEA) Not Participating in AssessmentsXML Specifications, Washington, D.C., 2009.

This technical guide is also available on the Department’s Web site at:

On request, this publication is available in alternate formats, such as Braille, large print, or computer diskette. For more information, please contact the Department’s AlternateFormatCenter at (202) 260–0852 or (202) 260–0818.

DOCUMENT CONTROL

DOCUMENT INFORMATION

Title: / X004 – Children with Disabilities (IDEA) Not Participating in AssessmentsXML Specifications
Revision: / Version 5.0
Issue Date: / July 2009
Security Level: / Unclassified – For Official Use Only
Filename: / X004 - Child w Disab Not Participating in Assessments v5.0.doc

DOCUMENT HISTORY

Version Number / Date / Summary of Change
1.0 / Version 1.0 or subsequent updates (i.e., 1.1, 1.2, etc) of this file specification is used to build files for SYs 2003-04 and 2004-05.
2.0 / Version 2.0 or subsequent updates (i.e., 2.1, 2.2, etc) of this file specification is used to build files for SY 2005-06.
3.0 / Version 3.0 or subsequent updates (i.e., 3.1, 3.2, etc) of this file specification is used to build files for SY 2006-07.
4.0 / Version 4.0 or subsequent updates (i.e., 4.1, 4.2, etc) of this file specification is used to build files for SY 2007-08.
5.0
State Review Version / June 2009 /
  • To accurately describe the data, changed the name of the file and data groups to “not participating in assessments.”
  • Replaced SY 2007-08 with SY 2008-09.
  • 1.0 – Revised language in paragraph on information requirement in this file.
  • 1.2 and 2.0 – Updated and reorganized guidance.
  • 1.2 require zeros at SEA level.
  • 2.1 Clarified medical emergencies.
  • 4.3 and 5.3 – Updated data file examples for SY 2008-09.

5.0
Final / July 2009 /
  • 2.0 Revised response to, “Which students should be excluded from this file?”
  • 6.0 – Added Appendix crosswalk including subtotals

RELEASE AUTHORIZATION

Name / Signature / Date
Author
QA
Release Authority

PREFACE

This document provides technical instructions for building files that can be submitted through the Education Data Exchange Network (EDEN). This document is used in coordination with the EDFacts Workbook, EDFacts Business Rules Guide and the EDEN Submission System User Guide.

EDEN is a centralized, coordinated repository of state reported, K through 12, educational data residing at the U.S. Department of Education. The EDEN Submission System is an electronic system that facilitates the efficient and timely transmission of data from SEAs to the U.S. Department of Education.

Contents

DOCUMENT CONTROL

PREFACE

1.0PURPOSE

1.1Changes from the SY 2007-08 File Specifications

1.2Requirements for Submitting this Data Group

2.0GUIDANCE FOR SUBMITTING THIS FILE

2.1Definitions

Invalid results

3.0FILE NAMING CONVENTION

3.1XML Specification Headings

4.0STATE EDUCATION AGENCY METRIC OBJECTS

4.1Category XML Object

4.2Table Type XML Object

4.3Agency XML Object

4.4File Transmit XML Object

5.0LOCAL EDUCATION AGENCY METRIC OBJECTS

5.1Category XML Object

5.2Table Type XML Object

5.3Agency XML Object

5.4File Transmit XML Object

6.0APPENDIX SY 2008-09 IDEA ASSESSMENT EDFACTS CROSSWALK

July 2009 / 1 / SY 2008-09

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATIONX004 –Children with Disabilities (IDEA) Not

Participating in AssessmentsXML Specifications v5.0

1.0PURPOSE

This document contains instructions for building XML files to submit EDFacts Data Group: Children with Disabilities (IDEA) Not Participating in AssessmentsTable, DG491. The definition for this data group is in the row “Table Name” in Table 4.2-1.

The data collected using this file specification are required by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), Section 618. The data will be used as responses in Table 6, “Report of Participation and Performance of Students with Disabilities on State Assessments.” The data are also used for monitoring the programs and activities under IDEA. The appendix contains a crosswalk between this file and the applicable sections of Table 6.

A separate document contains the non–XML file formats. General guidance for constructing all file types may be found in the EDFacts Workbook.

1.1Changes from the SY 2007-08 File Specifications

Other than the editorial changes and guidance updates listed in the document history on page ii, there have been no other changes to this file specification.

1.2Requirements for Submitting this Data Group

This section contains two tables that summarize the reporting requirements. The first table contains the reporting period, the education units included or excluded, the type of count, and zero count reporting. The second table contains the required categories and applicable totals.

Table 1.2-1 Children with Disabilities (IDEA) Not Participating in Assessments, Core Reporting Requirements

SEA / LEA / School
Reporting Period / State-specific assessment testing window
Education units reported / Include SEA / Operational LEAs that had students with disabilities (IDEA) during the assessment testing window / File not submitted at the school level
Education units not reported / Closed, inactive, or future LEAs
Type of count / Once for each academic subject / Once for each academic subject at the LEA where the student was enrolled during the reporting period
Zero counts / Required / Not required

The following table indicates the valid combinations of categories and the subtotals and/or totals needed for this file. An “X” in the column indicates that the column must be populated when reporting that particular category. The total indicator must be either “Y” (Yes) or “N” (No). If the record is for a detail count, specify an “N” (No). If the record is for a subtotal specify a “Y” (Yes).

Table 1.2–2: Children with Disabilities (IDEA) Not Participating in AssessmentsTable, Required Categories, and Applicable Totals

Category Set / Table Name / Academic Subject (Assessment) / Grade Level (Assessment) / Reason for Not Completing Assessment / Total Indicator / Comments
Category Set A / NIDEACMPASSTM / X / X / X / N / Student Count by
Academic Subject
(Assessment), Grade
Level (Assessment), and Reason for Not Participating in Assessments
Subtotal 1 / NIDEACMPASSTM / X / Y / Subtotal by Academic Subject (Assessment)

2.0GUIDANCE FOR SUBMITTING THIS FILE

This file specification is used to collect the number of children with disabilities (IDEA) who did not participate in one or more state academic assessments under ESEA, as amended.

See below for additional guidance concerning this file:

Which students should be reported?

Report children with disabilities (IDEA) who did not participate in one or more state academic assessment required by ESEA or received an invalid score. This includes students who were in attendance for both the full academic year (FAY) and those who were not in attendance the full academic year. The definition of children with disabilities (IDEA) is in section 4.2 of the EDFacts Workbook. Please note that definition in the Workbook is all inclusive. For purpose of this file, the phrase “Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP), or a services plan” should be removed. Data on the academic achievement of students who are parentally-placed in private schools are not required to be reported under IDEA.

Revised! Which students should be excluded from this file?

Exclude children with disabilities (IDEA) who are parentally-placed in private schools and served through services plans.

Exclude children with disabilities (IDEA) who participated in the assessment, received a valid score, and for whom a proficiency level was assigned.

Are data by science required to be reported in this file?

No.For SY 2008-09, reasons why children with disabilities (IDEA) did not participate in the science assessment are optional.

What grade levels should be reported?

Records for an LEA need only include those grade levels offered at the LEA. For example, if the highest grade in an LEA is 6th, the records for that LEA do not need to include grades 7th through 12th.

For reading and mathematics, records should only include the grades assessed under ESEA, as amended; that is grades 3 through 8 and one high school grade.

If submitting data for science, records should only include the grades assessed under ESEA; that is, one grade in each of the following grade spans:

  • Grades 3 through 5
  • Grades 6 through 8
  • High school (that is grades 9, 10, 11 and 12)

If your state administers science assessments in more than one grade in any of these grade spans, report the results for each of the grades in which the state administers science assessments to meet science assessment requirements under ESEA.

Why do the permitted values include both grades 9 through 12 as well as a value for “High School?”

The permitted values are provided so SEAs have more flexibility. For high school grades, assessment results can be reported by specific grade levels or by using the permitted value for high school. Data reported by specific grade levels (9, 10, 11, and 12) and high school will be used for reporting results of statewide assessments in high school.

How are assessment of students in grade 9 reported?

ESEA as amended requires assessments in grades 3 through 8 and high school. In ESEA, high school is explained as grades 10, 11, and 12. Students who took assessments in grade 9 should be reported either under grade 9 or as high school.

To what grade levels are students assigned?

Students should be assigned to the same grade levels used for purposes of reporting under ESEA, as amended.

What are the permitted values for reason for not participating an assessment?

The permitted values are:

  • EXEMPT – Parental exemption, this is also referred to as “parental opt-out”.
  • ABSENT– Absent during the testing window
  • EXPOTHER – Did not participate for other reasons
  • NOTNCLB –student took an out–of-grade level assessment (See definition in section 2.1).
  • NOSCORE –Student who received an invalid score (See definition in section 2.1)
  • MEDICAL – Did not take assessment due to medical emergency (see definition in section 2.1)

How does the EDFacts data crosswalk to Table 6?

A crosswalk to Table 6 is in the appendix.

Do other files collect related data?

Yes. There are several files specifications that are used to collect data on statewide assessments. Section 5.3 “Relationship among files” in the EDFacts Workbook explains how these files relate to one another. Specifically, the students reported in this file are also reported in N/X081 as follows:

Students reported in this file / Reported in category set C of N/X081 as not participating

2.1Definitions

The following definitions related to reasons for not participating:

Invalid results

Assessment results that cannot be used for reporting and/or aggregation due to problems in the testing process (e.g., student does not take all portions of the assessment, student does not fill out the answer sheet correctly, student receives accommodations or modifications that threaten test validity) or changes in testing materials that result in a score that is deemed by the state to be incomparable to scores received by students who took the assessment without these changes. The students whose test results are determined to be invalid are counted as nonparticipants.

Out-of-grade level test

An assessment taken at a grade level below which the student is currently enrolled. Students who are tested out-of-level, for the purposes of this data collection, are considered to be nonparticipants because out-of-grade level tests do not result in a valid score.

Medical Emergencies

On March 29, 2004, the Department announced a policy that students who are unable to participate in the state assessment during the testing and make-up windows because of a significant medical emergency will not count against the school’s participation rate. A May 19, 2004, “Dear Colleague” letter provided additional guidance acknowledging that there may be circumstances beyond an LEA's control when a student cannot be assessed at any time during the testing window due to a significant medical emergency (e.g., a student is hospitalized due to an accident). In these cases, the school or LEA should not be penalized for that student's absence due to the documented significant medical emergency. Therefore, when determining the percentage of students taking an assessment, states do not have to include a student with a significant medical emergency in the participation rate calculation. States desiring to use this flexibility are responsible for determining what constitutes a significant medical emergency. This guidance is posted on the Department’s website at

3.0FILE NAMING CONVENTION

Being able to readily identify any particular file transmission is an important consideration for users of the EDEN Data Submission System. Being able to identify a particular file can greatly facilitate any technical assistance that may be requested by the state. A maximum of 25 characters (including the file extension) is allowed for the file name. The following is the naming convention for Children with Disabilities (IDEA) Not Participating in Assessments file submissions:

sslevCWDIDEANAvvvvvvv.xml

Where:

ss= Two–characterUSPSState Abbreviation for the submitting SEA.

lev= Three–character abbreviation for the level submitted. Use:

SEA for a State Education Agency Children with Disabilities (IDEA) Not Participating in Assessmentssubmission

LEA for a Local Education Agency Children with Disabilities (IDEA) Not Participating in Assessmentssubmission

Filename= CWDIDEANA (no more than nine characters).

vvvvvvv= Up to seven–character alphanumeric string designated by the SEA to uniquely identify the individual submission (e.g., ver0001, v010803).

.xml= The three–character file extension identifying the Data Records.

3.1XML Specification Headings

The XML specifications are represented in a table with the headings:

  • Element – name of the XML element tag.
  • Attribute – name of the XML attribute tag.
  • Category Value – name of the category.
  • Char – the XML element or attribute characteristic as previously defined.
  • Definition/Comments – definition and additional comments related to formats or other business rules.
  • Permitted Values – disaggregated values for data elements.

The Char (characteristics) column in the XML format matrices accepts the following codes:

Table 3.1–1: EDEN XML Format Codes

Code / Characteristic
M / Mandatory Element/Attribute
O / Optional
C / Conditionally Required
MR / Mandatory and Repeatable Element
OR / Optional and Repeatable Element
CR / Conditional and Repeatable Element

4.0STATE EDUCATION AGENCY METRIC OBJECTS

In order to simplify the transmission process, the State Education Agency (SEA) has been separated into three (3) distinct metric and file transmit XML objects. The XML metric and file transmit objects are the same structure regardless of the metric information being transmitted. The structure contains a node that defines the SEA corresponding to the submitted metric. In addition, the structure contains nodes representing characteristics of the metric (Academic Subject (Assessment), Grade Level, etc.), the associated value, and whether the metric value is a subtotal. The metric objects are contained within the file transmission objects that define the group of values being submitted.

4.1Category XML Object

The category XML object is used to define the characteristics associated with a count. There may be zero, one, or more categories defined for a count. The XML object matrix is followed by an example of the object.

Table 4.1–1: SEA, Category XML Object

Element / Attribute / Data Element Name
(from Fixed Format document) / Category
Value / Char / Definition / Comments / Permitted Values
CATEGORY
TYPE / M / The category(ies) for the table type.
Academic Subject (Assessment) / ACADSUBASSES
Grade Level (Assessment) / GRADELVLASS
Reason for Not Completing Assessment / REASNOASSESS
VALUE / M / The category permitted value.
ACADSUBASSES / The description of the content or subject area of an assessment. / RLA – Reading (Language Arts)
M – Mathematics
S – Science (optional)
GRADELVLASS / The grade level (primary instructional level) at which students are assessed. / 03 – Grade 3
04 – Grade 4
05 – Grade 5
06 – Grade 6
07 – Grade 7
08 – Grade 8
09 – Grade 9
10 – Grade 10
11 – Grade 11
12 – Grade 12
HS – High School
MISSING
REASNOASSESS / Reasons why assessments in accordance with NCLB were not completed by children with disabilities. / EXEMPT – Parents opt out
ABSENT– Absent during
EXPOTHER – Did not participate for other reason
NOTNCLB – Students who participated in an out of level test (not in accordance with NCLB)
NOSCORE – No valid score
MEDICAL –Medical emergency
MISSING

Example:

<CATEGORY TYPE="ACADSUBASSES" VALUE="RLA"/>

<CATEGORY TYPE="GRADELVLASS" VALUE="03"/>

<CATEGORY TYPE="REASNOASSESS" VALUE="EXEMPT"/>

4.2Table Type XML Object

The table type XML object is used to define the type and value of the count. It may contain category XML objects to define additional characteristics. The XML object matrix is followed by an example of the object.

Table 4.2–1: SEA, Table Type XML Object

Element / Data Element Name
(from Fixed Format document) / Attribute / Char / Definition / Comments / Permitted Values
TABLETYPE
Table Name / TYPEABBRV / M / The number of children with disabilities (IDEA) who did not complete the state NCLB assessment requirements. / NIDEACMPASSTM
Total Indicator / TOTALINDICATOR / M / An indicator that defines the count level (i.e., detail level or subtotal level). / N – Specifies detail level
Y – Specifies a subtotal total level.
CATEGORY / MR / The categories used to define the characteristics associated with the count.
AMOUNT / Student Count / M / If the count provided is a subtotal, it must be equal to or greater than the sum of its parts.
EXPLANATION / Explanation / O / Submitted files will be processed through various edit checks. When unusual conditions are detected, warning errors may be issued, even though the data may be valid. When this occurs, an explanation responding to the warning may be submitted with the data, or after files have been processed. The U.S. Department of Education will verify explanations, and after verification, accept the data.

The following example includes three detail records and the three corresponding subtotals.