Student Education Organization Responsibility Association (SEORA)

Student Education Organization Responsibility Association (SEORA): Special Education

Student Education Organization Responsibility Association (SEORA) is a series of required fields, namely a student’s WISEid and a School ID, used to indicate the agency responsible for conducting the initial special education evaluation, as well as the begin and end dates of that responsibility. 

The SEORA record cannot be submitted to WISEdata without a WISEid. If the student is referred, whether they get evaluated or not, whether they qualify for services or not, a WISEid is assigned.

Students with a WISEid need either:

• An enrollment record (/studentSchoolAssociation) which can only be created for students aged three to 21.

OR

• Unenrolled children, such as:
  • a child who is below compulsory school age,
  • parentally placed in a private school, or
  • receiving home-based education
• Unenrolled children requiring data submission will need SEORA (a responsibility record) as an alternative record to the enrollment record because data submission must be connected to a student record. The responsibility record that stands in place of an enrollment record until an enrollment record can be created. All SEORA records require a Student Unique ID, which must be a WISEid.

NOTE: Please communicate with your vendors on how to proceed with obtaining a WISEid for these students, as different procedures could be a place for primary SIS vendor tools and for third-party special education SIS tools.  

It may help to think of the SEORA record in terms of a file folder used for a student's cumulative/permanent record. The file folder is associated to one student, indicated with their name and WISEid. Normally, the enrollment record is the 'manila folder' in which all other files and sub-folders are placed. If an Enrollment record cannot be created, then another file folder must be used, say a blue file folder (not manila) just containing Indicator 11 data. Within the blue SEORA file, there will also be another sub folder called the SSEPEA record (perhaps an orange file folder, nested inside the blue folder), and also perhaps a SSEPA record (perhaps an green file folder, nested inside the blue folder, next to the orange folder). 

• SEORA record: Responsibility record. Student Education Organization Association record. The SEORA is used for unenrolled children being evaluated for Indicator 11. It associates a student with an educational organization for the purpose of timely initial evaluations. This record must be submitted to WISEdata from the primary SIS tool. The SEORA needs to be submitted before a SSEPEA record can be submitted.

• SSEPEA record: Eligibility record. Student Special Education Program Eligibility Association record. The SSEPEA record is required when submitting Indicator 11 data to WISEdata Portal for children whose eligibility to receive special education services is still being determined. Reasons for this determination could be that: the tests are still being scored; the evaluation is complete, but the student is not yet determined eligible to receive special education services; the parents have not yet agreed to services. The SSEPEA contains most of the Indicator 11 data.  This record is submitted to WISEdata from the third-party special education SIS tool, if your LEA uses one.

  • The SSEPEA record remains in WISEdata Portal in the "SPED Initial Evaluation Details" section, whether or not there ends up being an enrollment, and whether or not services are provided (screenshot below).

• SSEPA record: Services Record. Student Special Education Program Association record. This program represents that the student has qualified for and is receiving special education services through an individualized education plan (IEP) or an individualized service plan (ISP). A child who receives services for an IEP needs an enrollment record. The SSEPA record replaces the SEORA record once the child becomes an enrolled student. This record must be submitted to WISEdata from the primary SIS tool.

Data Submission Details

DPI is requiring Timely Initial Evaluations (Indicator 11) data to be reported through WISE to better support our local educational agencies (LEAs) and will be captured annually in the December snapshot’s Year End data collection. This will save you time and effort by minimizing the number of applications accessed to report required data, allowing the Indicator 11 application to focus on LEAs responding to notifications of noncompliance.

Beginning immediately, with data from the 2023-24 school year and onward, all districts must ensure:

All LEAs will report Indicator 11 data annually through WISE. In the past, only LEAs “in cycle” were required to submit data in any given year. All special education data related to Indicator 11 is submitted by LEAs to DPI via WISEdata Portal through their local SIS/special education vendors, AND All Indicator 11 data element fields contain valid data or the data will be flagged as in error. Districts that evaluated students without a WISEid, especially if these were children referred by the Birth to 3 programs, must go back and create WISEids for all children who were evaluated in 2023-2024, even if those children were determined not to be eligible for SPED.

The State is required to annually report on the percent of children who were evaluated within 60 days of receiving parental consent for initial evaluation as part of the State Performance Plan (SPP). This refers to children that an LEA has received a referral for evaluation to determine if the student is eligible for special education services.

NOTE: In order to ensure that the data is valid and reliable, please note the following:

The SEORA record cannot be submitted to WISEdata without a WISEid. If the student is referred, whether they get evaluated or not, whether they qualify for services or not, a WISEid is assigned.

NOTE: Data cannot flow to DPI unless it is entered in your SIS. To resolve issues around data that is entered into the SIS that isn’t flowing to DPI, LEAs need to work with their vendor support staff to resolve data flow issues. For districts using a special education vendor:

• A student enrollment record (student School Association, or sSA) or a responsibility record (student Education Organization Responsibility Association, or SEORA) must be submitted via the primary SIS product.
• Without one of these records, the special education vendor will be unable to send the data required for Indicator 11 (Student Special Education Program Eligibility Associations, or sSEPEA).
• Once the SEORA record is in WISEdata Portal, Indicator 11 data elements are pushed to WISEdata Portal via your primary SIS or SpEd vendor SIS, as applicable.

The first instance of Indicator 11 data being collected as part of the 23-24 Year-End collection in a snapshot will be December 10, 2024, during the 2024-25 school year.

FAQs, Details, and Use Cases

1. Data Elements of a SEORA are as follows:

   1. Begin Date: the month, day, and year of the start date of an education organization’s responsibility for a student. This could be the date for the start of the school year, the date upon which Consent to Evaluate is received, or the date when a referral was received. If multiple dates exist, the most reasonable one to use would be the Consent to Evaluate Received Date.

   2. Education Organization ID: This is the School ID. This field indicates the education organization where the student was evaluated for special education services.

   3. Student Unique ID: This is the WISEid. The SEORA record cannot be submitted to WISEdata without a WISEid. If the student is evaluated and qualifies for services, or if the student is enrolled, then a WISEid is assigned. 

      During the evaluation an unenrolled student is tracked locally in the SIS via the Local Person ID, but must be assigned a WISEid so the SEORA record can be submitted to WISEdata. 

      If the student does not qualify for services the SEORA is still submitted, so do not delete the WISEid.

       

      • During the evaluation an unenrolled student must be assigned a WISEid so the SEORA record can be submitted to WISEdata, and is tracked locally in the SIS via the Local Person ID. NOTE: The School ID in SSEPEA does not have to match the School ID assigned by the evaluating agency.

      • For students who are enrolled in a public school district, it would be expected that a WISEid and a Student School Association (e.g., a Local Person ID, assigned through the LEA’s SIS), already exists, regardless of special education eligibility status.

         

      • However, some students (such as unenrolled students, below compulsory age students, private school students or home-schooled students) may not have a WISEid. Students without a WISEid must be assigned a WISEid. Do not delete the WISEid if the student does not qualify for services.

      • Students can be evaluated by a school they are not enrolled in. The education organization where the student gets evaluated for special education services will need to assign the student a WISEid. The WISEid is required in order to submit the Student Education Organization Responsibility Association (SEORA) to WISEdata.

         

      • All initial evaluations where parental consent was received should be reported with a SEORA. Indicator 11 data reporting requires DPI to report on all initial evaluations conducted by the LEA, even those evaluations in which the student was found not eligible or in which the parent refused services.

      • Once the student’s evaluation is complete, whether they qualify services or not, whether they receive services or not, then a Student Special Education Program Eligibility Association (sSEPEA) record would be expected as well. (See FAQ #2 below). for if the student is determined eligible to receive special education services and the parents agree to services,

         

      • SSEPEA records are viewable in the WISEdata Portal Special Education section of the student detail, under the heading “SPED Initial Evaluation Details”.

        

         

   4. Responsibility Descriptor: The value here is: SPED Initial Evaluation. This indicates that the education organization’s responsibility for the student was to conduct an initial special education evaluation.

   5. End Date: Month, day, and year of the end date of an education organization’s responsibility for a student. This date will be determined by whether or not the student qualified to receive special education services upon completion of the evaluation, and whether this education organization will be providing those services, should the student qualify.

2. Student Special Education Program Eligibility Association (SSEPEA) record: As explained above, this record is different from the SSEPA Record. This is the Student Special Education Program Eligibility Association (SSEPEA) record. A SSEPEA record is required when submitting Indicator 11 data to WISEdata Portal for students whose evaluation is complete, but the student is not yet determined eligible to receive special education services and/or the parents have not yet agreed to services. The sSEPEA contains most of the Indicator 11 data. Submit this SSEPEA record via your SIS to WDP. Your SIS or third party SPED vendor tool should send this automatically for you. The sSEPEA contains most of the Indicator 11 data, and remains in the WISEdata Portal student detail as “SPED Initial Evaluation Details”whether or not there ends up being an enrollment/services provided. It can also be viewed in the Special Education Ed-Fi API View.
   1. Without a SSEPEA student will not display on/in the following: 
      • the WISEdash SPED YE snapshot dashboard (and thus not be included in Indicator 11 reporting)
      • the WISEdata export file “Special Education Initial Evaluation - Indicator 11”.  
   2. The SSEPEA record remains in WISEdata Portal in the "SPED Initial Evaluation Details" section, whether or not there ends up being an enrollment, and whether or not services are provided.
3. All initial evaluations where parental consent was received should be reported with a SEORA/SSEPEA. Indicator 11 data reporting requires DPI to report on all initial evaluations conducted by the LEA, even those evaluations in which the student was found not eligible or in which the parent refused services.
4. Once the student’s evaluation is complete, if the student is determined eligible to receive special education services and the parents agree to services, then the student would get an enrollment record. The enrolled student will also require a Student Special Education Program Eligibility Association (SSEPEA) record as well. The enrollment record will replace the SEORA record.
   1. NOTE: The School ID in SSEPEA does not have to match the School ID assigned by the evaluating agency.
5. Students evaluated who do not qualify for services will:
   1. Have information viewable in the WISEdata Portal Special Education section of the student detail screen, under the heading “SPED Initial Evaluation Details,” in their SSEPEA record.
   2. The WISEid associated with the SEORA responsibility record should be the same WISEid on the enrollment record, providing that the child enrolls in a Wisconsin school. Do not delete the WISEid.
6. Students referred but not evaluated:
   1. Have information viewable in the WISEdata Portal Special Education section of the student detail screen, under the heading “SPED Initial Evaluation Details,” in their SSEPEA record.
   2. There should be an Evaluation Delayed Reason data element, or an Evaluation Late reason. Only one of these reasons can be submitted. The Evaluation Delayed Reason provides specific reasons to explain why the evaluation did not take place or get completed. The Evaluation Late Reason is free text and can be used to explain the situation at hand.
   3. Do not delete the WISEid.
7. Birth to Three Program:
   1. Please refer to the Uncommon WISEdata Situation, Early Childhood Participants webpage, Birth to Three section.

For more information refer to the data element pages for Education Organization Reference and WISEid. You can also download the WISEdata Portal Export for Indicator 11. 

Return to WISE Data Elements main listing page