CALPADS
CALPADS is the foundation of California’s K–12 education data system, comprising student demographic, program participation, grade level, enrollment, course enrollment and completion, discipline, and statewide assessment data. The student-level, longitudinal data in CALPADS enables the facilitation of program evaluation, the assessment of student achievement over time, the calculation of more accurate dropout and graduation rates, the efficient creation of reports to meet state and federal reporting requirements, and the ability to create ad hoc reports and responses to relevant questions. CALPADS provides local educational agencies (LEAs) with access to longitudinal data and reports on their own students, and it gives LEAs immediate access to information on new students, enabling the LEAs to place students appropriately and to determine whether any assessments are necessary.
In order to meet the requirements of California Education Code Section 60900, LEAs shall retain and report to CALPADS individual pupil and staff records, including:
- Statewide Student Identifier (SSID) data
- Student enrollment and exit data
- All necessary data to produce required graduation and dropout rates
- Demographic data
- Other data elements deemed necessary by the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, with approval of the State Board of Education, to comply with the federal reporting requirements.
For Special Education purposes, it is required to report twice a year, at Fall 1 which is typically the first Wednesday of October (Census Day) and End-Of-Year (EOY). This process is completed through an integrated, secured Application Programming Interface (API).