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Frequently Asked Questions About Data
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Expected Releases on Ed-Data |
| January 2010 - |
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2008-09 teacher salary data |
| March 2010 - |
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2008-09 statewide, county office, and district financial reports and district financial comparisons
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| May 2010 - |
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2009 Base API scores and rankings
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| Fall 2010 - |
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2008-09 graduates and dropouts by ethnicity |
| September 2010 - |
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2010 Accountability Progress Reporting (APR), including API Growth and AYP |
| October 2010 - |
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2009-10 profile reports, including school and district comparisons |
| November 2010 - |
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2009-10 English learner and special programs profile data |
| Year-Round - |
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District bond and parcel tax election results |
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Where Do We Get the Data? |
The California Department of Education (CDE) collects, analyzes, and publishes fiscal, demographic, and student performance data from schools, districts and county offices of education. That's where most of the data on Ed-Data come from. The Ed-Data Partnership does not modify the data received from the CDE.
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Academic Performance Index - API (school, district, state):
API data are distributed by CDE's Policy and Evaluation Division. "Base" API data are generally released in May, while growth API scores are available in late August or early September as part of the APR. The online source at CDE for these data is http://www.cde.ca.gov/ta/ac/ap.
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Accountability Progress Reporting - APR:
The CDE combines Growth API, AYP, and PI data into the APR, which are released in late August or early September. The online source at CDE for these data is http://www.cde.ca.gov/ta/ac/ar.
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Adequate Yearly Progress - AYP:
This federally required report is based on test scores for schools, districts, counties, and the state. It is part of the APR released in late August or early September. The online source at CDE for these data is http://www.cde.ca.gov/ta/ac/ay.
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Bond and Parcel Tax Elections (district):
Results from the two major elections (spring and fall) are usually posted to Ed-Data within a few weeks of the election. The time lag ensures that the data posted reflect final rather than preliminary voting results. While school districts usually hold their elections in conjunction with other entities, elections can happen at any time because school districts may also schedule their own dates. Bond and Parcel Tax Election data are collected and prepared by our Ed-Data partner
EdSource.
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Comparisons (school and district):
The updates to school and district comparison reports depend on the
profile and
financial
reports. In general, when new profile or financial data are posted on Ed-Data, the corresponding comparison reports are updated as well.
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Education Issues and Background:
Articles on this page are updated as new information becomes available and time permits. They are prepared by our Ed-Data partner EdSource.
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Financial Statements (district and county office of education):
The Ed-Data financial reports enable you to access unaudited financial information for school districts and county offices of education in a variety of ways. Beginning with 2003-04, these entities reported their financial information in a standard format called the Standardized Account Code Structure, or SACS. The instructions for SACS are in the California School Accounting Manual. The year-end unaudited data are collected by CDE's Financial Accountability and Information Services Unit and are generally available by March. The online source at CDE for these data is
www.cde.ca.gov/ds/fd/fd.
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How California Compares: Because these documents include national as well as state data, the time lag before the data become available is considerable. They are compiled as the national data are released. Most of the comparison data are from the National Education Association (NEA), supplemented with information from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES).
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Profiles (school, district, county and state) and Comparisons:
Ed-Data profile reports rely on data from several CDE sources. Most of them come from the California Basic Educational Data System (CBEDS) and the California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System, (CALPADS). Ed-Data publishes portions of the profile data three times a year as they become available. In general,
- demographic data are published in October,
- language census and categorical program data are published in November.
The online source at CDE for these data is
www.cde.ca.gov/ds/sd/cb and
api.cde.ca.gov/
In addition, most demographic data can be seen in individual subject reports on the CDE's DataQuest site at
http://dq.cde.ca.gov/dataquest/
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Program Improvement - PI :
Schools that receive federal Title I funds go into the intervention program if they do not make AYP for two years in a row on the same indicator. The list of PI schools is part of the APR released in late August or early September. The online source at CDE for these data is http://www.cde.ca.gov/ta/ac/ti/programimprov.asp.
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STAR (school, district, county and state):
Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) results are not currently available on Ed-Data. The California Department of Education website has full details of both California Standards Tests and the CAT/6 (which replaced the SAT-9) for every school, district, county and the state at
http://star.cde.ca.gov.
That site also has breakdowns by categories, such as ethnicity, language, gender, income, and more.
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Data Problems and Corrections |
Schools, districts and county offices of education submit different data collections to CDE throughout the year. Every effort is made to catch errors or misinterpretations of the data. However, information is not changed after it has been certified and released by the CDE.
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Make note of the fiscal year.
Because data are reported by fiscal year, what may appear as incorrect information may simply be data from an older period that will be correct once the newer year's reports are posted. For instance, if a school changed its name, address or became a charter school in August 2008, the new information will not show in the Ed-Data reports until the 2008-09 profiles are posted in the Fall.
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The majority of data problems noted are address and telephone number changes.
Because addresses and telephone numbers come from official data files at the CDE, it may be that the school or district has not informed the CDE of the new information.
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To report changes
The most current addresses and telephone numbers on file with the CDE are available on the county-district-school (CDS) web page at
http://www.cde.ca.gov/re/sd.
This is also the page that school or district staff should use to report changes to their CDS information.
- Why some percentages don't make sense. Sometimes our tables draw on data collected at different times, such as enrollment (collected in October) and the number of EL students (collected in February), which can skew the resulting percentages, particularly in very small schools. This problem also occurs with percentage calculations for Free and Reduced Price Meals, special programs, and others. For more information see this related explanation.
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Source Files/Downloading Data |
With the exception of school and district comparison reports, which include a "download" button for an Excel file, downloads of the Ed-Data databases are not provided. However, researchers can find most of the original data files on the following CDE web sites:
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Where Can I Find Out About . . . |
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Data questions not answered by the above may be directed to Ed-Data using our Feedback page or by sending e-mail to
Ed-Data@cde.ca.gov. Please contact the district of interest directly if you have questions about its budget.
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