Tuesday, January 12, 2021
Dear District and Choice School Administrators,
This email is to notify you that accountability preview reports for schools and districts are now available in SAFE, the Secure Access File Exchange. Preview reports in SAFE are secure - they are unredacted and contain personally identifiable student data - and therefore may not be shared with the public.
Preview reports are not report cards. 2019 Wisconsin Act 185 prohibits the release of school and district accountability report cards in the 2020-21 school year, as academic assessment requirements in 2019-20 were waived due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The preview reports use prior years data (i.e., 2018-19 assessment results) and do not include overall scores or ratings. The purpose of the preview reports is to demonstrate and seek feedback on the design changes. To gather feedback, a survey will be conducted in the coming months.
As a preliminary and secure report, this information may not be shared with local media, parents, or other members of the public. There will be no public release of preview reports. However, you may find example preview reports on the accountability resources page to share with external stakeholders interested in learning about planned changes.
If you haven’t already obtained access to SAFE—and delegated access to the Accountability Report Cards in SAFE—please visit the WISEhome information page and follow the steps there. As always, if you have any questions about accessing SAFE, please use the DPI help desk.
An inquiry process will open beginning today to ensure the data’s accuracy in the recently-released preliminary Joint Federal Notification and future accountability systems. Please submit an inquiry if you identify a possible data submission error.
Inquiry forms are due before the end of the day Friday, January 22. By completing the short inquiry form, staff from the Office of Educational Accountability (OEA) can track and respond to all inquiries in a timely manner. This deadline is for submission of forms only; no evidence is due until OEA has an opportunity to contact your district about the inquiry.
As you review the preview reports, please make use of the preview report resources we have available to help understand and explain them. If you have questions about your school or district preview report, or the data used for accountability, please contact the Office of Educational Accountability or your Accountability Trainer.