October 31, 2019

ATTENTION ALL NDE PORTAL USERS:

Please log onto your portal accounts and go to the My Profile tab and check to make sure your contact information (especially the email address) is up to date. It is very important to keep this information updated as the Department of Education uses the email address that is in the users’ Portal account to send vital information. Thank you!!

District Admin Sign Off – 2019-20 Fall and 2018-19 Follow up

Window Closes End of Day October 31.

Contact: NDE Helpdesk at ADVISERHelp@nebraskacloud.org

Public and Special Purpose Schools Only

End of day October 31 is the time for the District Administrators to approve the 2019-20 Fall and 2018-19 Follow-up collections. The submission window will close at midnight, October 31. Please Note: If you are going to submit a Request To Submit Data Late, please DO NOT approve your collections on October 31.

By approving these collections, the District Administrator certifies that to the best of their knowledge and belief that the information in these collections is true, complete and accurate.

To ensure accuracy in your data, before you approve, the list of reports provided should be reviewed for accuracy by the District Administrator and their staff. DO NOT APPROVE until these reports have been reviewed and are considered accurate.

2019-20 Fall collection – review the reports listed using the “As of October 1” reporting window.
2018-19 Follow up collection – review the reports listed using the reporting window indicated.

To approve:
Click on the District Admin Sign Off found on the ADVISER Validation Home page.
Review the list of reports for each collection.
Click on the Edit button, then click in Approve box.

SPED Proportionate Share Worksheet for Non-Public Schools – 2020-2021

OPEN: November 1 – December 15

Contact: Greg Prochazka (402 471-4314 or greg.prochazka@nebraska.gov)

Public Schools Only

All school districts (including districts that do NOT have approved/accredited non-public schools or exempt home schools located within the district‘s jurisdiction) are required by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) to complete and submit the 2020-2021 IDEA Proportionate Share application. This collection is found under the Data Collection tab in the portal. An activation code is required to access this collection. Activation codes can be obtained from the District Administrator.

This collection is based on the October 1, 2019 child count of eligible children with disabilities (ages 3-21) and determines the amount of IDEA funds that must be expended for eligible parentally placed children with disabilities in an accredited/approved nonpublic school and/or an exempt home school within the school district boundaries.

SRS Updates (2018-19 and 2019-20)

Contact: SRS Helpdesk (srshelp@esucc.org)

For districts who have selected ADVISER data publishing through SRS, the system has published 2018-2019 and 2019-2020 data and continually monitors for changes. New, changed or deleted records are synchronized with ADVISER every few minutes and records with an error status are retried every hour automatically.

The ADVISER data for your district is available under the Reports tab in SRS. You may choose to view your students’ 2018-2019 or 2019-2020 ADVISER data, and links are available from that report to make data corrections if needed.

Infinite Campus districts have noticed that their SPED records may disappear from ADVISER after syncing data with Infinite Campus. Infinite Campus is working on a software fix for this problem. If your district has experienced this, you may contact the SRS helpdesk and they will republish all SPED data for your district back into ADVISER if you are finished syncing data with Infinite Campus.

Through the reporting audit window (ending October 31), the SRS team will be assisting districts with data errors and reporting problems, and working to resolve errors automatically where possible.

Please visit this page at any time for updated status on the SRS system: http://bit.ly/srs-announce

ADVISER PersonID Rollout and Student Unique Identifier (UNIQ ID) Closing

Contact: NDE Helpdesk at adviserhelp@nebraskacloud.org

On November 1, the Student Unique Identifier (UNIQ ID) application in the NDE Portal will be closed. This program is being phased out as of October 31. NDE staff have been working on the new ADVISER Person ID and will be bringing this new system online during the day on November 1. NDE will have ADVISER Person ID available to all districts and systems on Monday, November 4. The Student IDs and History currently in the Student Unique Identifier (UNIQ ID) will be ported over to ADVISER Person ID during the transition on November 1. Existing student files that are uploaded in UNIQ-ID will be compatible with the new system. The ADVISER Person ID user guide will be available on the ADVISER Resources website soon at https://www.education.ne.gov/dataservices/adviser-resources/.

When ADVISER Person ID is ready, users will need to get new activation codes from the district administrator.

Timeline Concerns for Fall Submissions

Contact: NDE Helpdesk (ADVISERHelp@nebraskacloud.org or 888-285-0556)

2018-2019 ADVISER Follow up window INCLUDING completers used in calculating Cohort Graduation Rate were still due October 15. Districts should be reviewing their 2018-2019 ADVISER Validation/Verification Reports for all the things listed in the 2018-2019 Follow up window (ADVISER) through October 31. This data will be pulled beginning November 1 and used for such items as the Cohort Graduation Rate and Dropout Rates, among others. This data will also be used for the 2019-2020 AQuESTT determinations made next fall, so check this information carefully. NDE staff may be following up with their review of data for 2018-2019, but DO NOT RELY on NDE follow-up to find issues with data; districts need to review their reports.
CDC Collections with a October 15 due date should have been submitted and approved by October 15. NDE staff review the data through October 31. This has not changed from previous years.
2019-2020 ADVISER Fall Window The due dates have not changed. Data was due by October 15, with the audit window closing on October 31. However, if you have a vendor that did not provide you the ability to report data by Monday, October 7, this will be considered as an extenuating circumstance for purposes of the Request to Submit Data Late or Make Data Changes in the CDC.
Please wait until October 31 to submit your request. All requests should be submitted no later than November 4 to be considered for the Requests to Submit Data Late. Requests received after that time will not be reviewed due to the tight timeline for reporting this Fall data. Once NDE gets the requests, we will review them as quickly as possible and let you know if your request has been approved. If your request is approved, you will have until no later than November 15 to resolve any outstanding issues. After that, data will be pulled for various purposes, including State Aid.
There will be a sign off with both 2018-2019 and 2019-2020 in ADVISER Validation. Do not sign off until both sets of data are considered final by the district.

2018-2019 Discipline Data is Due October 15 – AUDIT WINDOW CLOSES: October 31

Discipline Reports are Available in ADVISER Validation Verification Reports for Review

Contract: Robyn Gonzales (robyn.gonzales@nebraska.gov)

18-19 Discipline data is due October 15. This data is submitted through your Student Information System (SIS) into ADVISER. Please review the Report of Suspensions & Expulsions, Special Education Discipline Report, and the Discipline Incidents Detail. You can also look up specific student incidents by Student Lookup by ID. Please ensure the necessary people have the Discipline activation code and for the Special Education Report the Special Education activation code, to review this data. If you have questions please contact Robyn Gonzales for Special Education related questions or send an email to ADVISERHelp@nebraskacloud.org.

If you are having trouble publishing 18-19 Follow-up Discipline Data, please contact your SIS vendor.

October 1, 2019 Child Count

Contact: Cole Johnson (cole.johnson@nebraska.gov) or Robyn Gonzales (robyn.gonzales@nebraska.gov)

In an effort to accurately make our October 1 child count reporting deadline, we are in need of collaborative data entry with your local districts. We are asking that the PRTs, the services coordination agencies, the ESUs, and the school districts collaborate to ensure that all EDN infants and toddlers are entered into ADVISER.

We have historically had discrepancies in the number of infants and toddlers entered into the services coordination CONNECT system, but not in ADVISER. It is vital, for federal reporting purposes, as well as local PRT determinations, that we ensure all infants and toddlers are entered into ADVISER.

Please note that while it is important to assign a Unique Identifier to each child, the district must ensure that student demographics and enrollment information is updated in the district’s Student Information System (SIS) and all student Special Education information is up to date in either the district’s SIS or SRS, whichever the district uses to submit Special Education data to ADVISER on October 1.

Please work with your local services coordination agency to reconcile open and verified EDN cases to ensure they are entered by the appropriate districts into ADVISER before the deadline. If you have questions, please contact Cole Johnson at cole.johnson@nebraska.gov.

Districts need to ensure all student demographic and enrollment information is updated in the Student Information System (SIS) and all student Special Education information is up to date in either SIS or SRS, whichever you use to submit Special Education data to ADVISER. If errors are found, please work with your SIS to rectify and if you have any questions, please contact Robyn Gonzales at robyn.gonzales@nebraska.gov.

NOTE: Please contact your SIS vendor or SRS, whichever the district uses for the SPED data, for information about when you will be ready to publish 2019-2020 ADVISER data.

ADVISER – Early Childhood Program – AUDIT WINDOW CLOSES: October 31

Contact: Tammi Hicken (402-471-3184 or tammi.hicken@nebraska.gov)

All public school districts that complete the Early Childhood Program for their prekindergarten students need to make sure they identify their Head Start Students using the Programs Name field.

- Public Preschool – NDE Approved Early Childhood Education Program, not Head Start.
- Early Head Start – This code should only be used in districts that are a Head Start grantee, a Head Start delegate or have a partnership with a Head Start agency and serve Head Start children in a collaborative classroom.

NOTE: Please contact your SIS vendor for information about when you will be ready to publish 2019-2020 ADVISER data.

The following collections open in the Consolidated Data Collection (CDC)

AUDIT WINDOW CLOSES: October 31

Contact: NDE Helpdesk (888-285-0556 or ADVISERHelp@nebraskacloud.org)

Please refer to the CDC Calendar which is located on the ADVISER Resources page at Consolidated Data Collection (CDC) Calendar and also review the instructions available in each of the CDC collections for further details about each collection.

Assessed Valuation and Levies – Audit Window Close Date: October 31

Assessed Valuation and levies. Distance between high school attendance centers.

Collection completed by Public

For more information, contact – Kevin Lyons – kevin.lyons@nebraska.gov (402) 471-3323

Elementary Site Allowance – Audit Window Close Date: October 31

Districts that are applying for the Elementary Site Allowance. This form to be completed by a school district with multiple elementary attendance sites. A qualifying elementary site shall be an elementary attendance site, in a district with multiple elementary attendance sites, which (a) does not have another elementary attendance site within 7 miles in the same school district, or (b) is the only public elementary attendance site located in an incorporated city or village.

Collection completed by Public

For more information, contact – Kevin Lyons – kevin.lyons@nebraska.gov (402) 471-3323

Estimated Expenditure for LEP/Poverty – Audit Window Close Date: October 31

Estimated expenditure for next year’s LEP and Poverty.

Collection completed by Public

For more information, contact – Kevin Lyons – kevin.lyons@nebraska.gov (402) 471-3323

Human Resources Director Contacts – Open All Year – (Audit Window Close Date: June 30, 2020)

The Department of Education developed the HR Director Contact(s) to collect name and email address for coorespondence. The data is gathered with the purpose of using the email address for notices regarding teacher and administrative certificates, evaluation systems, surveys, and data. The contact listed may have a similar role to an HR Director.

Collection completed by Public

For more information, contact NDE Helpdesk – (888-285-0556 or ADVISERHelp@nebraskacloud.org)

Non-Certificated Staff – Audit Window Close Date: October 31

Report of Non-Certificated Staff.

Collection completed by Public, Special Purpose and ESU’s

For more information, contact NDE Helpdesk – (888-285-0556 or ADVISERHelp@nebraskacloud.org)

Nonpublic Dropouts – Audit Window Close Date: October 31

Collects Nonpublic dropout data.

Collection completed by Nonpublic

For more information, contact NDE Helpdesk – (888-285-0556 or ADVISERHelp@nebraskacloud.org)

Nonpublic Membership Report – Audit Window Close Date: October 31

Collects membership data from Nonpublic Systems.

Collection completed by Nonpublic

For more information, contact NDE Helpdesk – (888-285-0556 or ADVISERHelp@nebraskacloud.org)

PK Instructional Program Hours/K Program – Audit Window Close Date: October 31

Instructional program hours including kindergarten program type.

Collection completed by Public

For more information, contact Tammi Hicken – tammi.hicken@nebraska.gov (402) 471-3184

Student Growth Adjustment – Audit Window Close Date: October 31

Districts applying for the student growth adjustment. Districts must estimate their 2019/20 average daily membership and provide evidence supporting the estimate. Estimated student growth is the difference between the 2018/19 fall membership and 2019/20 estimated average daily membership.

Collection completed by Public

For more information, contact Kevin Lyons – kevin.lyons@nebraska.gov (402) 471-3323

Substitute Teachers – Due Date: June 15 (Audit Window Close Date: June 30, 2020)

Report all substitute teachers. Open all year

Collection completed by Public, Nonpublic, Special Purpose, ESU’s and Interim

For more information, contact Clayton Waddle – clayton.waddle@nebraska.gov (402) 471-0738

Summer School Student Unit – Audit Window Close Date: October 31

Number of students by grade who attend summer school: 1) attending remedial Math or Reading, 2) students eligible for free lunch or free milk qualified for free lunches or free milk and attended a school that uses information collected from parents and guardians to determine such qualifications or attended (or is registered to attend for early childhood) at a school that provides free meals to all students pursuant to the community eligibility provision.

Collection completed by Public

For more information, contact Kevin Lyons – kevin.lyons@nebraska.gov (402) 471-3323

Title I Annual Caseload Count of Children In Local Institutions For Neglected or Delinquent

Due Date: December 5 (Audit Window Close Date: January 5, 2020)

The purpose of this annual caseload count is to provide the State Educational Agency with current information on the location and number of children living in institutions for neglected or delinquent children, or in local correctional institutions. The information collected will be used in the Title I formula for computing allocations for local educational agencies.

Collection completed by Public

For more information, contact Pat Frost – pat.frost@nebraska.gov (402) 471-2478

Two-Year New School Adjustment Application – Audit Window Closes: October 31

Districts applying for a Two-Year New School Adjustment. School districts applying for the two-year new school adjustment will need to provide estimated additional student capacity and provide supporting evidence.

Collection completed by Public

For more information, contact Kevin Lyons – kevin.lyons@nebraska.gov (402) 471-3323

Teacher Vacancy Survey – 2019-2020 – NDE Portal Collection – DUE DATE: October 31

Contact: Karen Buller (402-471-4837 or karen.buller@nebraska.gov)

Collection to be completed by Public, Nonpublic, ESUs

The annual Teacher Vacancy Survey collects statewide teacher vacancy information that is used to determine teacher shortage areas. This information is used to qualify content areas eligible for a number of state and federal teacher loan forgiveness opportunities and to inform research regarding teacher supply and shortage initiatives. Public districts, Nonpublic systems, and Educational Service Units will find the Teacher Vacancy Survey – 2019-2020 in the ONLINE list on the NDE Portal under the Data Collections Tab. An activation code is required. Check with your District Administrator to acquire the code. Audit window close date: November 10

Special Education Financial Reporting System (SPEDFRS) – DUE DATE: October 31

Contact the following:

NDE Helpdesk (888-285-0556 or ADVISERHelp@nebraskacloud.org) for NDE Portal Assistance

Lori Adams (402-471-2637 or lori.adams@nebraska.gov) for Financial Assistance

Public Schools and ESU’s Only

The Special Education Financial Reporting System opened for data collection on Monday, September 23, 2019 and is Due by midnight on October 31, 2019. Available in the NDE Portal, activation codes required from your District Administrator. For assistance with activation codes contact the NDE Help Desk at ADVISERHelp@nebraskacloud.org or 888-285-0556.

This system combines final financial reporting for SPED Birth to Age Five, SPED School Age and SPED Transportation.

More information is available on the following website: Special Education Financial Reporting Information https://www.education.ne.gov/fos/special-education-reporting-information/

Rule 10 Assurance Statement – OPEN: September 23 – DUE: November 1

Contact: nde.accreditation@nebraska.gov

Public Schools Only

All accredited school systems (public and non-public) are required to complete a Rule 10 Assurance Statement annually. The Assurance Statement must be completed to reflect compliance or indicate areas of noncompliance as your school system starts the 2019-2020 school year.

The Assurance Statement for public school districts is web-based and became available on the NDE Portal under the Data Collections tab on Monday, September 23. An activation code is required to add the collection to the NDE Portal account. Public Schools must submit their Assurance Statement through the NDE Portal by November 1. Paper copies will not be accepted.

Note: Nonpublic, Special Purpose, Interim Programs, and ESUs must continue to submit paper copies of their Assurance Statements to the NDE.

Please note the following:

In the online Assurance Statement, public school district administrators will be asked to check Yes or No for each Rule 10 item in the statement, indicating compliance or non-compliance.
Superintendents will receive a letter and an email, both of which will include links to the NDE website, where Rule 10 and supporting documents can be found.

New for the 2019-20 school year,

A Download PDF button is available again this school year at the bottom of the Assurance Statement for the purpose of downloading and saving a copy of your responses after submission to the NDE.
Currently, when the NO response is checked, a text box opens to explain the NO response. A YES text box has been added at the end of the Assurance Statement for the purpose of explaining, defining, or expanding upon any YES responses.

For assistance in accessing the portal, please contact the NDE Helpdesk at: ADVISERHelp@nebraskacloud.org

Future Ready District Technology Profile (formerly “District Technology Plan”)

DUE DATE: January 15, 2020

Contact: nde.digitallearning@nebraska.gov or 402-471-4366

Collection to be completed by Public Schools

The District Technology Profile will be available on the NDE Portal under the “Data Collections” tab beginning Tuesday, October 15. This district profile (which replaces the previous “District Technology Plan”) will be available for public school districts in a web-based format. An activation code is required to add the collection to the NDE Portal account. Please review the FAQ and instruction documents regarding completion of the web-based District Technology Profile through the NDE Portal or on the NDE website shown below.

More information and resources related to the new District Technology Profile are available now for districts (public and non-public) on the NDE website:

https://www.education.ne.gov/educational-technology/technology-plan/

The website includes links to the following documents:

PDF version of the district technology profile instrument
PDF of the instructions to access the profile in the portal
PDF of frequently asked questions (FAQ’s)

If you have difficulties accessing the documents on the NDE website, please contact the Digital Learning Office at nde.digitallearning@nebraska.gov to request that the documents be emailed to you.

District ADVISER Monthly Meetings

Contact: NDE Helpdesk (ADVISERHelp@nebraskacloud.org or 888-285-0556)

The District ADVISER monthly meetings will take place the 2nd Wednesday of each month at 10:00 am CST. The Zoom meeting link is https://zoom.us/j/4024712288. Recordings can be found on the Meetings tab of the ADVISER Resource Google site- https://sites.google.com/a/education.ne.gov/adviser-early-adopter-program/.

No reminders are sent out as this is a standing meeting for all districts. Please add it to your calendar to create a reminder.

New PowerSchool ADVISER Google Group

Contact: Aimee Muehling alempkemuehling@esu5.org

Attention PowerSchool Public School Districts. The VST team has set up a Nebraska PowerSchool ADVISER google group. This group will be the primary way that you will receive information/announcements that are specific to PowerSchool regarding ADVISER such as updates, known issues, fixes, available trainings etc. We would like at least one person from each PowerSchool district to be a member of the group. In the next few weeks you may receive an invite to join, please accept. You can also ask to join by clicking on the following link https://groups.google.com/d/forum/powerschooladviser that will take you to the group page where you can click on the Apply for Membership Link. You need to be signed in to your Google account to see this link.

Assessment & Accountability Key Dates

Contact: Jeremy Heneger (402-471-2495 or jeremy.heneger@nebraska.gov or Lane Carr 402-471-3138 or lane.carr@nebraska.gov)

Public and Special Purpose Schools Only

Below are key dates for the release of Accountability for a Quality Education System, Today and Tomorrow (AQuESTT) and Nebraska Student-Centered Assessment System (NSCAS) data. Published data elements can be found on the Nebraska Education Profile (NEP), the Nebraska Department of Education’s one-stop education data website. For more information, please visit: http://bit.ly/2019nep.

August 5, 2019	Printed NSCAS Alternate Individual Student Reports (ISRs) delivered to districts
August 12-20, 2019	NSCAS District Preliminary Data Clean-up Window
August 30, 2019	Printed NSCAS ACT Individual Student Reports (ISRs) delivered to districts
September 25, 2019 (Secure Release)	Assessment Performance, Attendance, Participation, Demographics, and AQuESTT Raw Classification data published to the NEP Secure Portal (district view only, not public), district data validity verification
September 27, 2019	Notification of Evidence-based Analysis (EBA) adjustment-eligible schools
October 9, 2019 (Public Release)	Full Data Profile and Snapshot published on NEP with AQuESTT Classification and Assessment data (full public view)
October 14, 2019	Evidence-based Analysis (EBA) evidence due to NDE (for adjustment-eligible schools)
October 15-November 1, 2019	Review of Evidence-based Analysis (EBA) evidence
October 21-25, 2019	Printed NSCAS General Individual Student Reports (ISRs) delivered to districts
November 27, 2019 (Public Release)	Final AQuESTT Classifications, including EBA adjustments, published on the NEP

Nebraska Education Profile (NEP) Data Element Release Dates

Contact: Matt Hastings (402 471-2748) https://nep.education.ne.gov/contact.html

Public Schools Only

Below are the data element release dates for the 2019 Nebraska Education Profile (NEP). The NEP provides information and data about Nebraska public schools and student performance. The majority of Nebraska education data for the 2019-2020 school year will be released to the public via the NEP on October 9, 2019. Schools and districts can preview most data elements on September 25, 2019, ahead of the public release, through the NEP Secure collection, located in the NDE Portal under the Data Collections tab. (An activation code is required.) For more information, please visit: http://bit.ly/2019nep.

Data Element	NEP Secure	NEP Public
AQuESTT Classification
AQuESTT Classification	09/25/2019	10/09/2019
AQuESTT Classification for EBA-Adjustment Eligible Schools	—	11/27/2019
Education Technology
District Tech Profile	—	10/09/2019
Snapshot & Full Data Profile
Demographics
Membership/Race Ethnicity	09/25/2019	10/09/2019
Teacher/Race Ethnicity	09/25/2019	10/09/2019
Teacher Experience	09/25/2019	10/09/2019
Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC)	09/25/2019	10/09/2019
Program Participation
English Learners	09/25/2019	10/09/2019
Free & Reduced Lunch	09/25/2019	10/09/2019
High Ability Learners (Gifted)	09/25/2019	10/09/2019
Special Education	09/25/2019	10/09/2019
Special Education Performance Part B	06/15/2020	06/15/2020
Metrics
Attendance Rates	09/25/2019	10/09/2019
Dropout Rates	11/27/2019	11/27/2019
Performance
NSCAS ACT	09/25/2019	10/09/2019
NSCAS ELA/Math/Science	09/25/2019	10/09/2019
EDPA 21	09/25/2019	10/09/2019
Results Matter Gold	09/25/2019	10/09/2019
National Assessment Instrument (NAI)	09/25/2019	10/09/2019
Achievement
Graduation Cohort Rates	11/27/2019	11/27/2019
College-going Rates	09/25/2019	10/09/2019
Financial
State Aid/Finance/Per Pupil Cost	02/01/2020	02/01/2020
Mobility
School Mobility/Highly Mobile	11/27/2019	11/27/2019
ESSA
ESSA Inexperienced Educators/Provisional	09/25/2019	10/09/2019
ESSA Out-of-Field Teachers	11/27/2019	11/27/2019