Tuesday, May 20, 2025
May 2025: DPI Completed Another Snapshot! Did You Get Caught with Brocolli In Your Teeth?
Spotlight on Strong Data: May Demographics Snapshot
The communications were sent; the trainings scheduled, attended, and posted on WISEtraining; and finally, at 9:00 a.m. on Tuesday, May 13th, the data was ‘snapped’!
Much thanks for all the hard work completed by our LEAs that reviewed validations, read KBAs, and gave their demographics data a spring cleaning to prepare for the May Demographics Snapshot.
Information captured in this snapshot will be used for state and federal accountability purposes this year as well as in future years. The specific required reporting captured in the May Demographics Snapshot links student enrollments and student demographics to the following assessments: Forward, DLM, PreACT Secure, ACT, and ACCESS for ELLs.
These data, once validated and processed, will display in the WISEdash Public Portal and in WISEdash for Districts. We will be sure to inform you in a future WISE Insights publication when that’s available for viewing.
Data Quality Tip: Data Errata Letters
Once snapshots are taken, there is no way to change the data in the snapshot. You can, and we recommend that you do, use your student information system (SIS) vendor tool to (continue to) correct that data, even though the data remains ‘captured as is’ in all snapshot related reports.
Correcting the data in your SIS will actually make it easier for your school/district to run comparisons and review accurate data later on.
Additionally, when making these SIS data corrections, there is a way to publicly acknowledge these data corrections by submitting a data errata letter to DPI. Submitting a data errata letter allows LEAs to record desired changes and corrected data post-snapshot.
Visit our newly organized Data Errata webpage for all the needed details.
Correcting the data in your SIS will actually make it easier for your school/district to run comparisons and review accurate data later on. Additionally, when making these SIS data corrections, there is a way to publicly acknowledge these data corrections by submitting a data errata letter to DPI. Submitting a data errata letter allows LEAs to record desired changes and corrected data post-snapshot. Visit our newly organized Data Errata website for all the needed details.
Data Quality Tip: School Year Close-Out Tasks, Get 'Em Done Before August!
The ever-living cycles of student data flow as steadily as the blood in our educator veins. Now that we completed the May Demographics Snapshot last Tuesday, DPI recommends LEAs switch focus to school year close-out tasks.
School year close-out tasks, including preparing year-end data, will not only help ensure that your student records are accurately maintained, but they will also help your LEA prepare for the December Student Snapshot, including year-end data for the current school year.
The Customer Services Team begins their data quality outreach calls for prior school year data in August to help LEAs know what to prioritize. WISEdata Portal contains up to three school years of data, meaning schools may see unresolved errors and warnings spanning multiple school years.
The Annual Data Collections: Tasks and Checklist webpage lays out the annual cycle of data collections for each school year. Tasks are organized chronologically across four ‘seasons’ of school year data:
- Back to School season: July, August, September
- December Student Snapshot season: October, November, December
- Mid-Winter season: January, February, March
- May Demographics Snapshot and School Year Close-Out season: April, May, June
Read the accordions in the School Year Close-Out section of the Annual Tasks Checklist webpage for details.
App Feature: Ed-Fi Credential, New Annual Updates Starting with the 2025-26 School Year
NEW! For the 2025-26 school year and onward, there will be new URLs for every new school year. Additionally, LEAs will need to create or resubscribe to vendor subscriptions annually for all vendors. Details, including screenshots and how-to videos will all be provided on the Ed-Fi Credential User Guide. This update is set to go into production today, Tuesday, May 20th.
We will discuss and demo the Ed-Fi updates during the May 27 WISE User Group. These changes will also be demonstrated during our Back to School New User Day (August 21) and Kickoff training (August 26).
App Feature: WISEstaff 2024-25 Public Staff Reports are Published
Visit the DPI Public Staff Reports portal to view all reported staff data for the 2024-25 school year. The portal features eight (8) different reports for your viewing, and each report has a unique set of filters available for you to refine your search (e.g., hiring agency, staff name, race, gender, etc.).
When you view the Public All Staff report, click the expander (small triangle icon) in the Details column to display further data. There will be a table for ‘Contracts’ and a table for ‘Assignments.’ The Assignments table contains multiple columns, so there is also a slider at the bottom the of the table. Sliding all the way to the far right side makes the new, “Appropriately Licensed” column visible. Values for this column are: Y (yes, the staff member is appropriately licensed), N (no, the staff member is not appropriately licensed), or N/A (not applicable for this staff member because this position does not require a license).
The data for 2024-25 is available (as of May 2, 2025), however, the Appropriately Licensed flag has thus far only been applied to data for 2023-24 school year and prior. License audit results for this year won't be available until the end of June, so until then, the new column will be empty.
WISEdash Featured Dashboard: Using the Year End Completion Snapshot Dashboard to Correct Dropout Data
As part of the Annual Tasks Checklist, School Year Close-Out Tasks, LEAs are encouraged to review dropout data, both from the previous school year (i.e., 2023-24) and from two school years ago (i.e., 2022-23).
A new data quality auditing webpage has been created to assist LEAs with completing this task. The Snapshot Preparation, How-To Audit for: Dropout Data webpage explains where dropout data is visible within WISEdata Portal, reviewing validation messages for this data category, verifying data flow, and how to review dropout data within WISEdash for Districts.
The data quality auditing webpage defines mid-term dropouts and full-term dropouts. It also provides step-by-step guidance on how to correct dropout data using the Dropout Rate Data Quality Indicator of the Year End (YE) Completion snapshot dashboard About the Data webpage.
Upcoming Events
View the WISE Events Calendar
Recurring Training:
- WISE Back to School, New User Day Training: Tuesday, August 19, 2025;
9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
-
WISE Back to School Kickoff Training: Thursday, August 21, 2025; 9:00 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.
- Last Bi-Monthly WISE User Group Call: Tuesday, May 27, 2025; 1:30 – 2:30 p.m.
- Summer WISE User Group Call: Third Tuesday of the Month, 1:30 – 2:30 p.m.
- First Tuesday of the Month: WISEdata New User Training, 1:30 – 3:00 p.m.
Upcoming WISEdata Events
11/18/25
11/18/25
Return to WISE Insights Landing page
Data Milestones
WISEstaff 2024-25 Public Staff Reports are Published
- Visit the Public Staff Reports portal to view all reported data for the 2024-25 school year.
School Year Close-Out Tasks
- DPI recommends completing school year close-out tasks before collecting data for the new school year.
- Review the Annual Tasks Checklist webpage, School Year Close-Out section for greater details.
School Year Calendar End Date
- DPI closes each annual school year on June 30. July 1, 2025, will be the first day of the 2025-26 school year.