WISE Data Elements

Parental Consent is required before Special Ed evaluations can begin. The date upon which this consent is obtained begins a 60-day timeline by which the initial evaluations must be completed.

Count Date Inclusion denotes whether a student is enrolled and receiving services to be eligible for credit on the count date.

Reporting Disability is indicated in the pupil’s individualized education plan (IEP) or individualized service plan (ISP). Only one primary reportable disability can be submitted to WISEdata. The impairment that is most disabling shall be reported as the primary reportable disability. This data element is required for Choice and public schools.

For WISEdata collection purposes, the data element District (also known as Submitting District) is the code for the agency submitting the WISEdata record.

Resident District is based on where the student typically sleeps at night. This may be at home, in an institution, or in any other facility.

District Accountable is the district accountable for student outcomes, which will generally be the district submitting to WISEdata.

Educational Environment reflects the extent to which students with disabilities are educated with their non-disabled peers. It does not reflect the amount of special education services and/or related services. This field is required for all students with disabilities for WISEdata collection records.

Eligibility Evaluation date refers to the date when the determination of whether or not a disability category and need for specially designed instruction was made.

Eligibility Evaluation Type for Indicator 11 always refers to an initial special education evaluation. Students obtaining an initial evaluation have never been evaluated for special education services before. LEAs must have parental consent prior to evaluating a student.

The enrollment type describes how a student is enrolled at a school, whether as a primary or non-primary enrollment. This data element is required for Choice and public schools.

Evaluation Complete Indicator is a ‘True’ / ‘False’ value entered into your SIS or Special Education portal to indicate whether or not the initial special education evaluation has been completed or not.

Evaluation Delay Reason requires one of three reasons to be provided to explain why the timely initial special education evaluation was not completed within the provided 60-day timeline. If your situation does not match one of these reasons, then enter an Evaluation Late reason. Do not enter both. 

Evaluation Late Reason requires an explanation as to why the timely initial special education evaluation was not completed within the provided 60-day timeline. Evaluation Late reason implies that the evaluation has been completed, but it exceeded the 60-day timeline and did not apply to one of the three Evaluation Delay Reasons.

Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) responsible school fields are required for data submission and should always be completed. The school/district identified as FAPE responsible will be held accountable.

The Student Special Education Program Association is expected only for IDEA Eligible students. This field is expected to be ‘Yes’.

The IDEA Indicator is a True / False value box indicating whether the student who was evaluated met criteria to qualify for special education or not.

Use the code value “B” to indicate if the initial special ed evaluation was completed under IDEA Part B. Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) Part B provides funds for special education services for students aged 3-21.

The IEP Begin Date is the implementation date as documented on the notice of placement of the most recent IEP (Forms P1 or P2).

The IEP End Date is the end date of services listed in the most recent IEP’s program summary (Model I-4), usually one year less one day from the IEP begin date.

The Last Evaluation Date is the date of the last special education evaluation that was not waived.

Parentally-Placed Private (PPP) indicates a student was placed by a parent or guardian in a private school, but the student receives special education or related services from the submitting (public) district that meets State standards under a service plan (34 CFR 300.452--300.462).

Reason Exited is a field that describes why a student's special education record (sSEPA) has an end date. 

An identifier assigned to a school by the State Education Agency (SEA).

EDFacts Federal Exiting Categories provide specific categories for students with disabilities (IDEA) who are ages 14-21, who were in special education at the start of a reporting period, who were also not in special education at the end of a reporting period. The federal reporting period is July 1 - June 30. This is a unique set of categories, separate from the “Reason Exited Special Education” data element.

Identification of whether or not a student is expected to take the general or alternate assessment. State Assessment Type-Alternate (SATA) is the identification that the student is expected to take the alternate assessments. This characteristic is submitted only when True/Yes.

For enrolled students, this will be the WISEid. For unenrolled students receiving an initial SpEd evaluation from a local agency, this will be the Local School ID created by that agency for the purposes of that initial evaluation.

Begin date for the Student Special Education Program Association (sSEPA) shall be the first day the student begins receiving services under the current IEP/ISP of the first day of school, whichever is most recent. End date may be left blank. When information in the Student Special Education Program Association changes, an end date must be entered in the current sSEPA as the day prior to the change. Also, a new sSEPA with the begin date of the change must be submitted.

Annual reporting is required as part of the State Performance Plan for the percent of children who were evaluated within 60 days of receiving parental consent for initial evaluation (Indicator 11).