Data Errata - Data Changes after DPI Publication

Data Errata

Districts and schools work very hard to provide the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) with loads of annual data requirements, at multiple points, across each school year. Staff data, such as staff demographics, assignment, and contract data are reported through the WISEstaff application. Student data, such as student demographics, attendance, enrollment, and special education data are reported through the WISEdata portal. These data are diligently compiled and, nearly without fail, reported in a timely fashion.

The DPI then collects this data during various snapshots, aggregates it, and passes it on to you, the data consumer, through various means such as WISEdash, Report Cards, and federal ESEA Accountability reports. (Visit these other DPI webpages for more information about the December and May annual snapshots, as well as the annual Staff Collection snapshot.)

Unfortunately, this process is not perfect and there are times when data is misreported or not reported in a timely fashion. The following data errata are cases of such events. We present data errata because even in cases where we cannot report the data that is 100% accurate through the tools listed above, we want to be diligent in providing you with the most accurate information possible.

Furthermore, several federal education programs, including the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) require DPI to use an LEA’s student counts to determine formula grant allocations, school allotments, private school proportionate shares, and maintenance of effort compliance. Due to the fiscal impact, DPI will use corrected counts provided through the data errata process if allowed.

This webpage is organized into three sections:

1. A set of accordions at the top of the page, containing information, instructions, FAQs, and any template letters. 
2. Our retention policy, explaining the school years you will see maintained on this page.
3. A set of accordions at the bottom of the page containing actual data errata letters submitted to DPI from LEAs.

Click the links below to navigate to different sections of this page:

What Are Data Errata?

What Are Data Errata?

Translation of this Latin phrase means, "a correction of published information." Despite all of our best efforts to get data accurate, this process is not perfect and there are times when data is misreported or not reported in time to be accurately represented on the snapshot report. This is when data errata letters come in to play.

Errata address changes to data errors identified after final publication. Errata should be consulted for any dataset downloaded or used in educational research. At the Department of Public Instruction (DPI), we maintain this master errata webpage that contains changes brought to DPI's attention by school districts AFTER the data has been published on the WISEdash Public Portal, the DPI Public Staff Reports, or on another DPI page.

We present data errata because:

Snapshot data cannot be corrected. Once collected, the data stands.

DPI is diligent in providing you with the most accurate information possible. The data errata letters are in lieu of actual data correction.

 

NOTE: Data Errata letters are PUBLIC RECORD and SHOULD NOT CONTAIN S/PII!

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Data Errata FAQ

Data Errata FAQ

1. Will submitting a data errata letter change my snapshot data?
   • No, once the snapshot is taken, the data in the WISEdash (data warehouse) and WISEstaff databases cannot be changed. Data errors are addressed by submitting a data errata letter via the WISEadmin Portal after the snapshot has occurred.
2. Will submitting a data errata letter automatically correct the data in my school/district report card?
   • No, data errata letters do not result in corrections being applied to your report card. If corrections for accountability purposes are needed, please submit an inquiry to OEA during the preliminary secure release of report cards, when the Inquiry Process begins. Please review the Report Card Inquiry Overview webpage for details on this process. Additionally, acceptable changes are only possible for the requested data in report cards and some federal Accountability reports, not in other systems, like WISEdash Public, where this data are also included.
3. Can I submit a data errata letter to refute educator licensing errors (reported on the final licensing audit)?
   • No, audit errors are not reported publicly and there is no need to submit data errata unless the error was due to an improperly reported assignment code.
4. How do I prevent data submission errors in the future?
   • We strongly encourage LEAs to continuously correct all data within their vendor tools (i.e., student information system or HR system) and to push those corrections to WISEdata Portal for student data (providing that the school year is one of the three school years still open in the WISEdata Portal) and to WISEstaff for staff data. This will prevent the error from persisting into the following school year's reports. Additionally, it must be very strongly emphasized that the data errata letter does not work as an alternative to getting one's data prepared for a snapshot ahead of time. Every LEA is responsible for their data quality. More information on snapshot preparation can be found on the Snapshot Preparation Guidance webpage.

Your Feedback Matters!

Please provide us with feedback on the Data Errata process (link opens in a new tab). You can give us suggestions about how DPI can make the process more efficient for you.

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How to Submit Data Errata: WISEadmin Portal

How to Submit Data Errata Letters

 

Data errata letters are submitted through WISEadmin Portal. This practice has been in place since the 2018-19 school year. For instructions on submitting data errata through WISEadmin Portal, refer to the Data Errata section of the WISEadmin Portal: Info, Help and User Guide webpage.

It is imperative that you do not include any student-specific data (PII) for confidentiality and privacy reasons.

Steps in the Data Errata Process:

Correct all incorrect data in the WISEdata Portal. Write your Data Errata letter. Do not include any personally identifiable information as Data Errata letters are published publicly. Visit the data errata webpage and the data errata WISEstaff data collection page for examples on how to present your corrections with high level language, and other information. Data Errata letters are submitted through the WISEadmin Portal. There is additional information on how to submit a Data Errata letter via WISEadmin on the WISEadmin Portal: Info, Help and User Guide webpage in the Data Errata Screen section in the event your LEA does need to submit one.

 

CESAs do not have access to WISEadmin so they must submit their letters directly to DPI.

• Email: DPICustomerService@dpi.wi.gov
• Physical (hard copy) mail: P.O. Box 7841, Madison, WI 54707 - or send to:
  • Department of Public Instruction
  • 210 West Washington Avenue, Madison, WI 53705

 

If you do not have access to the WISEadmin Portal, reach out to your district staff first. You can also visit the WISEhome login page, click, "Need Help Signing In?" and then select one of the available questions that best addresses your situation.

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General Data Errata Sample Letter

Sample WISEdata Data Errata Letter

Data errata letters must contain certain pieces of information. Review or download this sample WISEdata data errata letter. to help ensure your letter is complete.

Submit data errata letters on your school/districts letterhead, whenever possible. Make sure that the address of your school/district is included in the letterhead.

Please write each data errata letter about a single topic. Your data errata letter should not cover multiple topics or data errata categories. 

Data errata letters must contain certain pieces of information based on what data is being corrected. Certain data, such as Third Friday in September and Economically Disadvantaged student counts, October 1 Child Count, CEIS / CCEIS impacted student counts and WISEstaff reporting require data errata templates to be used to submit corrections. If these templates are not used, DPI will not have the information needed to affect federal grants. 

Submit data errata letters on your school/LEA’s letterhead, whenever possible. Make sure that the address of your school/LEA is included in the letterhead.

Except for the unique case of the Third Friday in September (TFS) / Economically Disadvantaged (ECD) student counts, please limit each data errata letter to a single topic. Your data errata letter should not cover multiple topics or data errata categories (such as submitting a correction for both TFS-ECD and October 1 Child Count in the same letter).

The screenshot below, and the listed items beneath, provide general guidance on how to format your data errata letter. Please check the category accordions for specific details on each category topic, and to locate sample templates, when they are available. 

1. Include the date on which the data errata letter was written.
2. Include the mailing address for DPI that receives data errata letters: 
   • Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, 210 West Washington Avenue, Madison, WI 53705; 
   • Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, P.O. Box 7841, Madison, WI 54707
3. Include both the Category and Sub-category for the data errata letter you are sending. Categories and sub-categories are listed in the WISEadmin Portal.
   • Remember to write a separate data errata letter for each topic.
   • Do not combine multiple topics (e.g., Third Friday of September and October 1 Child Count) in a single letter. 
4. Include a header that states the school year that your data errata letter pertains to. 
5. In the body of the data errata letter, describe the error in detail, but never include personally identifiable information. 
6. Include the numeric data that was incorrectly captured in the snapshot. Indicate if this was for a December or May snapshot.
7. Include the actual, correct data.
8. Each data errata letter should be signed by the District Security Administrator (i.e., the school district superintendent or Choice school administrator ). Building principals are also reasonable persons. DPI discourages other staff from signing off on data errata letters. 
9. You must submit your data errata letter to DPI using the WISEadmin Portal.  

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Attendance Data Errata Letter Info

Submitting Attendance Data Errata Letters in WISEadmin Portal

Attendance data errata letters are written to annotate corrections ot student snapshot data.

From WISEadmin Portal, select, "Attendance" as the Data Category.

There are no sub-categories.

 

Coursework/Roster Data Errata Letter Info

Submitting Coursework/Roster Data Errata Letters in WISEadmin Portal

Coursework/roster data errata letters are written to annotate corrections ot student snapshot data.

From WISEadmin Portal, select, "Coursework/Roster" as the Data Category.

There are several sub-categories you can use to describe the data in this data errata letter:

• AP or IB course participation
• Arts course participation
• Dual enrollment course participation
• Industry recognized credential completion
• Perkins - CTE participants
• Perkins - CTE concentrators
• Work-based learning participation

Discipline Data Errata Letter Info

Submitting Discipline Data Errata Letters in WISEadmin Portal

Discipline data errata letters are written to annotate corrections ot student snapshot data.

From WISEadmin Portal, select, "Discipline" as the Data Category.

There are no sub-categories.

 

Dropouts Data Errata Letter Info

Submitting Dropouts Data Errata Letters in WISEadmin Portal

Dropouts data errata letters are written to annotate corrections ot student snapshot data.

From WISEadmin Portal, select, "Dropouts" as the Data Category.

There are no sub-categories.

 

Enrollment (Choice, TFS, Disability, Econ, EL) Data Errata Letter Info

If you need to submit a data errata letter for Third Friday in September enrollment data, or economically disadvantaged student counts (as of the December snapshot date), there are some very specific requirements that must be submitted so DPI may adjust counts in WISEgrants. This data impacts formula grant allocations, school grant allotments, proportionate shares, ESEA maintenance of effort, as well as a variety of other federal requirements. In addition, the Achievement Gap Reduction (AGR) Program (state funding) uses the count of students economically disadvantaged in grades K-3, which is captured in the December WISEdash Snapshot along with the Third Friday in September count. Although not a federal program, the same student count data used for federal grants also applies to this program.

Generally, the guidance given for data errata letters is to create a separate letter for each category/topic. Some enrollment data errata letters, however, stray from this guidance. When dealing with the Third Friday in September (TFS) and Economically Disadvantaged (ECD) student counts, DPI's guidance is that this data errata letter *must* combine two topics into one letter.

Please use this template to report TFS / ED corrected student counts at the school level.

Submitting Enrollment Data Errata Letters in WISEadmin Portal

Enrollment data errata letters are written to annotate corrections ot student snapshot data.

From WISEadmin Portal, select, "Enrollment" as the Data Category.

There are several sub-categories you can use to describe the data in this data errata letter:

• Choice Program participant
• Count Inclusion TFS
• Disability Status
• Economically Disadvantaged Status (Econ Status)
• EL Status

 

Graduation Data Errata Letter Info

Submitting Graduation Data Errata Letters in WISEadmin Portal

Graduation data errata letters are written to annotate corrections ot student snapshot data.

From WISEadmin Portal, select, "Graduation" as the Data Category.

There are several sub-categories you can use to describe the data in this data errata letter:

• 4-year graduation rate
• 5-year graduation rate
• 6-year graduation rate
• 7-year graduation rate
• Graduation Requirements ("Graduation Plan")
• Special Education Exiters/Graduates

 

October 1 Child Count Sample Data Errata Letter

Sample October 1 Child Count Data Errata Letter

If you need to submit a data errata letter for October 1 Child Count data, there are some very specific requirements that must be submitted in order for DPI to complete adjustments in WISEgrants, particularly for the IDEA formula allocations and IDEA Maintenance of Effort (MOE). You can also contact the DPI Special Education Team: either submit a Special Education Team Help Ticket, or call: 1 (608) 266-1781.

Please use this template for any October 1 Child Count related corrections.

Submitting October 1 Child Count Data Errata Letters in WISEadmin Portal

1. October 1 Child Count data errata letters are written to annotate corrections ot student snapshot data.
2. From WISEadmin Portal, select, "October 1 Child Count" as the Data Category.
   1. There are no sub-categories.

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Other: CEIS/CCEIS Impacted Student Count Sample Data Errata Letter

Sample CEIS/CCEIS Impacted Student Count Data Errata Letter

LEAs who voluntarily use IDEA funds for Coordinated Early Intervening Services (CEIS) or are identified as racially disproportionate and must use IDEA funds for Comprehensive Coordinated Early Intervening Services (CCEIS) are responsible for identifying students impacted by the use of these funds through their student information systems. Annually, DPI must report the accurate count of impacted students to the US Department of Education. In situations where the LEA is unable to fix the prior year counts before the December snapshot, the LEA must submit a CEIS / CCEIS Student Count data errata letter.  

Please use this template for any CEIS / CCEIS related student count corrections (template includes language for both Voluntary CEIS and Comprehensive CEIS).

Submitting CEIS/CCEIS Data Errata Letters in WISEadmin Portal

CEIS/CCEIS data errata letters are written to annotate corrections ot student snapshot data.

From WISEadmin Portal, select, "Other" as the Data Category.

Then select the Coordinated Early Intervening Services" sub-category.

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WISEstaff Sample Data Errata Letter

Sample WISEstaff Data Errata Letter

Data errata letters must contain certain pieces of information. Review or download this sample WISEstaff data errata letter to help ensure your letter is complete.

Submit data errata letters on your school/districts letterhead, whenever possible. Make sure that the address of your school/district is included in the letterhead.

You do not need to submit a separate letter for each person or topic when it comes to WISEstaff. Your WISEstaff data errata letter can cover multiple topics and staff members.

Remember, data errata letters cannot be used to refute educator licensing errors reported on the final licensing audit that are a result of late submission of a licensing application. Audit errors are not reported publicly and there is no need to submit data errata unless the error was due to an improperly reported assignment code.

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Data Errata Letters

Five years of Data Errata letters are maintained by DPI. The headings match the Categories available on the WISEadmin Portal, and all appropriate sub-categories can be located in the accordions below.

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