What is Discipline?
Discipline is a section of fields in WISEdata to collect student information regarding discipline incidents, discipline behavior, and discipline actions.
Discipline data is reported annually for all public schools and districts statewide as part of the School District Performance Report (SDPR).
Primary local education agencies (LEAs, i.e., schools and districts) responsible for students involved in discipline incidents must submit discipline data. DPI begins a discipline data review for public schools in August as preparation for the annual December snapshot.
What Discipline Data to Submit:
The following discipline data should be submitted to DPI.
NOTE: The reporting requirements of districts for discipline incidents are the same regardless of whether the grade in which the student is enrolled is compulsory or non-compulsory (such as K4 and PK).
Students with IEPs:
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All expulsions, regardless of duration, should be submitted.
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In-school suspensions should only be reported for students with IEPs should be submitted only when the student is removed for at least half of the regular school day, and should be reported in half-day increments.
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Out-of-school suspensions for students with IEPs should be submitted only when the student is removed for at least half of the regular school day.
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IAES: These students must have an active student special education program association (sSEPA) which includes the discipline date (start date of the removal).
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Placement disciplines should be submitted only for students with IEPs.
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Removals should be submitted only when the student is removed for at least half of the regular school day.
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Students without IEPs:
- All expulsions, regardless of duration, should be submitted.
- In-school suspensions for students without IEPs should not be submitted to WISEdata.
- Out-of-school suspensions for students without IEPs should be submitted only when the student is removed for at least half of his or her regular school day.
- IAES removals to not apply to students without IEPs.
Who Should Submit Discipline Data?
The following LEAs/agencies submit discipline data:
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Wisconsin public schools will submit Discipline data via the WISEdata system for all students in grades PK-12
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Non-district independent Charter schools submit discipline data.
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County Children with Disability Education boards (CCDEB) submit discipline data.
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State schools (Wisconsin Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired, Wisconsin School for the Deaf) submit discipline data.
The following LEAs/agencies DO NOT submit discipline data:
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Choice schools DO NOT submit data. More details on situations when discipline is not reported can be located in the FAQ section.
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Parentally Placed Private (PPP) special education students with an Individual Service Plan (ISP) should not be submitted to WISEdata.
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Department of Corrections (DOC) and Department of Health Services (DHS) students should not be submitted to WISEdata
Why Does Discipline Data Get Reported?
Districts submit discipline data, specifically data about suspensions and expulsions, because discipline data required by state law and a more limited range of IDEA-required data.
School Boards have statutory powers related to the removal of students from the classroom (§ 118.164) as well as suspension and expulsion of students from public schools ( §120.13 and §119.25, Wis. Stats.) One Wisconsin law requires that a student be expelled if the student possessed a firearm while at school or under the supervision of the school authority, however this may be modified on a case-by-case basis (§120.13(1)(g)).
All students are federally entitled to a free, appropriate, public education (FAPE) as protected by article X, section 3 of the Wisconsin Constitution, and §121.77, so the nuances of suspensions, expulsions, the time they require students to be away from FAPE are important to get right. This PDF provides details on which LEA is responsible for providing FAPE under different scenarios. The FAPE-Responsible School/District data element page may also be a good resource.
The Department of Public Instruction created this guide, Answers to Frequently Asked School Discipline Questions, to serve as a resource providing you with thorough answers to some commonly asked questions.
Discipline Data Elements
Discipline data submitted to WISEdata must be linked to an enrollment record and the student, including all of their demographic data.
Click the links below to navigate to different data element pages:
Actual Discipline Action Length
Behavior Detailed Description*
Discipline Descriptor (Action)
Discipline Incident Identifier
Discipline Incident Reference (endpoint)
Discipline School Reference (endpoint)
Discipline Student Reference (endpoint)
District (Submitting District)
Early Reinstatement Conditions*
FAPE-Responsible School District
Student Discipline Incident Association ID (DEPRECATED 2023-24 SY)
Student Participation Code (CHANGES for 2023-24 SY)
Student School Association Reference
Student/Staff name (Legal and other Names)
*for firearms incidents
Student Enrollment Related Data Elements Collected with Discipline Incidents
Economically Disadvantaged Status
English Language Proficiency (Limited English Proficiency)
Food Service Eligibility Begin and End Dates
Homeless Primary Nighttime Residence
WISEdata Portal Exports, Validations and Data Metrics
Discipline data gets entered in your student information system (SIS) and pushed to the WISEdata Portal. Discipline data will be subject to validation rules just like other information submitted to WISEdata. If the application encounters incorrect or questionable data, it will return validation errors and/or warnings, respectively. You will need to correct inaccurate data in your SIS and acknowledge any warnings in the WISEdata Portal. Communicate with your SIS Vendor to ensure proper data flow is occurring. DPI cannot assist with SIS questions as that must be done through the vendor. You are welcome to submit a Help Ticket if you need assistance with questions about WISEdata.
WISEdata Portal, from the Exports tab, provides Roster export files of the data received by DPI:
- Discipline Action Export
- This report focuses on classroom removals, including suspensions. It covers details such as the number of days removed from the classroom, modified term type, and early reinstatement conditions.
- Discipline Incident Export
- This report provides information on discipline incidents that could have inflicted serious bodily harm. It covers details including behavior type (bringing of a handgun to school as most severe). Since it is expected that most incidents involving handguns at schools receive a minimum one year expulsion, this report also provides the behavior detail description, where explanations can be provided to explain why an expulsion may not occur surrounding a handgun incident.
Discipline Resource Links
Answers to Frequently Asked School Discipline Questions
Data Elements landing page: search all data elements, or use the Collections filter, set to Discipline and click Apply
Discipline and Expulsions (Student Services prevention and Wellness Team page)
Knowledge-base Articles (KBA) Portal
Protecting Student Privacy in Wisconsin
Snapshot Preparation Guidance page
Discipline FAQ & Use Cases
Removals
- What if a parent of a K4/PK student removes their child from school after a discipline incident? The reporting requirements of districts are the same regardless of whether the grade in which the student is enrolled is compulsory or non-compulsory (such as K4 and PK). In the event a parent removes a child from school, how you would report the removal varies depending on the conversation between the parent and the district, particularly who decides the student should go home. The district cannot be coercive. If the district tells or suggests the parent should take the student home, that is a removal that counts as a suspension. If the district initiates a conversation with the parent and makes expressly clear that the district is not requesting the student be removed, the parent’s decision to take the student home would be reported as an absence.
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How do I calculate the number of days removed from school for a student with a nonstandard schedule? For students with nonstandard school schedules, counting of days removed for discipline purposes will be different from counting days for attendance purposes. Discipline length is counted based on the individual student’s regular day, not a standard/‘regular’ school day in the district. Discipline length rounds up for removals over a half day. Review the data element for discipline length for more information.
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EXAMPLE: Jan is a student who attends school for half-days, each week day. Jan broke a school rule that resulted in an out-of-school suspension for three days. The discipline length for Jan’s suspension would be entered as 1.5 days, since Jan’s ‘regular’ day is 0.5, so the total of Jan’s three half-days is 1.5 standard school days.
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Students in Jails & Juvenile Detention Centers: Act 212 was signed into law on March 31, 2022 giving districts the option to code such facilities as schools in the School Directory. The Uncommon WISEdata web page for Students Receiving Off Site Services provides greater detail, but school districts should treat these schools as any other district-operated school (and report Discipline, Roster, Attendance, etc. data). For school districts that have students who are attending jail or detention schools outside of their district borders, the LEA housing the school will do all the reporting. The former resident school district should exit that student while the student is residing at the jail or detention center.
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Removal to an IAES by an IDEA Hearing Officer: This is very rare and requires a due process hearing because no discipline incidents have occurred. These are instances in which an impartial IDEA hearing officer orders the removal of students with disabilities from their current educational placement to an appropriate interim alternative educational setting (IAES) for not more than 45 school days based on the hearing officer's determination that the LEA has demonstrated, by substantial evidence, that maintaining the student's current placement is substantially likely to result in injury to the student, or to others. This timeline is also based on 34 CFR 300.532 (b)(2)(ii). DPI is aware when the impartial Hearing Officer is involved. Whenever the IEP team is making decisions for IAES removal, the removal favored by school personnel should be used. Removals such as these do not count as discipline incidents.
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Interim Alternative Educational Setting (IAES) Placement Disciplines: IAES Removals (by IAES School Personnel and IAES Hearing Officers) are available after a student with an IEP carries a weapon to, or possesses a weapon at school, knowingly possesses or uses illegal drugs, or sells or solicits the sale of a controlled substance, while at school, or has inflicted serious bodily injury upon another person while at school. Therefore, DPI should never receive IAES removals for students who are not disabled. The behaviors listed above count as discipline incidents and should be reported as such.
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The following should be submitted to DPI:
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one Discipline Incident endpoint,
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one Discipline Incident identifier, and
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one Discipline Action endpoint.
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One Student + One Discipline Action: In a discipline scenario like this, only one student has committed the school rule violation (many SIS vendors use the term ‘perpetrator’ to refer to this student) in a school discipline incident. For this student, only one discipline action occurs that must be submitted to WISEdata. This is the most common scenario for discipline.
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The following should be submitted to DPI:
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one Discipline Incident endpoint,
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one Discipline Incident identifier, and
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one Discipline Action endpoint.
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Report on
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IAES
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Removals should be submitted only when the student is removed for at least half of his or her regular school day.
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IAES removals only apply to IDEA eligible students. These students must have an active student special education program association (sSEPA) which includes the discipline date.
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Expulsions -
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All expulsions should be submitted, regardless of duration - for all students
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Suspensions
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Do not report in-school suspensions for students without IEPs.
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For students with IEPs, in-school suspensions are reported in half-day increments.
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Out-of-school suspensions are reported for all students when they have a length of 0.5 or more.
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Suspensions
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One Student + One Suspension + One Expulsion: Often, an expulsion is preceded by an out-of-school suspension for the days the student is removed while awaiting the expulsion hearing. For students with IEPs, if it has been determined that the disability is not related to the incident, the LEA can proceed with an expulsion hearing. Both discipline actions (the out-of-school suspension and the expulsion) must be associated with a single discipline incident. Consecutive removals (discipline actions) must not be combined.
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The following should be submitted to DPI:
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one Discipline Incident endpoint,
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one Discipline Incident identifier,
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one Discipline Action endpoint with out-of-school suspension, and
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one Discipline Action endpoint with expulsion.
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Student + One Summer School Suspension: Discipline information for this student should not be submitted to WISEdata. This student is removed zero days from the school year for a summer suspension. If the incident is only in effect for the summer, the LEA would not report anything to WISEdata b/c federal reporting requirements do not require summer session discipline involving suspensions. , so no incident or action is submitted. NOTE: If the discipline action was an expulsion, then this data would be submitted.
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In-School Suspensions for Students without IEPs: Discipline information for such students should not be submitted to WISEdata.
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Student Removed for More Than a Half Day:
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Removed to Another Room in Same School: The student is removed from the regular classroom for more than a half day to another room in the same school. This is an in-school suspension when it is an LEAs’ disciplinary decision. Removals to another room made for disciplinary reasons count as an in-school suspension and must be reported for all IDEA-eligible students. However, if a decision is made by a member of the LEAs’ IEP team to move the student to an alternative location for educational placement, it is NOT an in-school suspension. More information about scenarios involving a ‘Pattern of Removal’ can be found on the Wisconsin Special Education Discipline Bulletin page and this slide deck covering information about disciplinary protections for students under IDEA. NOTE: This could occur for a student at any grade level.
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The following should be submitted to DPI:
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one Discipline Incident endpoint,
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one Discipline Incident Identifier, and
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one Discipline Action endpoint should be submitted with in-school suspension.
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Removed from School Grounds: This occurs when the student is removed from the regular classroom for more than a half day to another site, a site off school grounds, or is sent home. This is an out-of-school suspension and must be reported for all students.
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The following should be submitted to DPI:
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one Discipline Incident endpoint, and
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one Discipline Incident Identifier,
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one Discipline Action endpoint for out-of-school suspension.
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Refer again to the information about scenarios involving a ‘Pattern of Removal’ of students with IEPs (i.e., a student with an IEP routinely has calls made to the parent to pick the student up early on Friday afternoons when behaviors tend to elevate). Pattern of Removal information can be found on the Wisconsin Special Education Discipline Bulletin page and this slide deck covering information about disciplinary protections for students under IDEA.
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Multiple Students + One Incident:
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Not All Students Receive Discipline Action: Only students who have committed a school rule violation (many SIS vendors use the term ‘perpetrator’ to refer to this student) with a reportable disciplinary action need to be submitted to WISEdata. For example, an incident occurs between two students without IEPs. Student A receives in-school suspension for two days, while Student B receives two days of out-of-school suspension.
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In such a scenario, the following should be submitted:
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one Discipline Incident endpoint,
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one Discipline Incident Identifier for Student B (NOTE: in-school suspensions are collected only for students with IEPs), and
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one Discipline Action endpoint for Student B’s out-of-school suspension.
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Students Receive Different Discipline Actions: Reconsider the last example but for two students with IEPs. Student A receives in-school suspension for two days, while Student B receives two days of out-of-school suspension.
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In this situation, the following should be submitted to DPI:
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one Discipline Incident endpoint for Student A, and
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one Discipline Incident endpoint for Student B,
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one Discipline Incident Identifier,
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one Discipline Action endpoint for in-school suspension for Student A,
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one Discipline Incident endpoint for Student B, and
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one Discipline Action endpoint for out-of-school suspension for student B.
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One Student + Multiple Discipline Actions with Overlapping Days of Removal: The school must decide to either submit only the suspension of greater length or to reduce the suspension of greater length by one week for submission purposes.
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EXAMPLE: A student receives out-of-school suspension for three days (Incident A) and a second out-of-school suspension (Incident B) for five school days. The school decides to have the student serve the out-of-school suspensions concurrently for a total of five days out of school.
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In this situation, the following should be submitted to DPI:
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one Discipline Incident endpoint for Incident A (ISS), (Discipline Length of 3 days)
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one Discipline Incident endpoint for Incident B (OSS), (Discipline Length of 2 days)
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NOTE: The total length of time for the out-of-school suspensions for Incident A and Incident B combined cannot exceed the total of five school days.
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one Discipline Incident Identifier
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one Discipline Action endpoint with an out-of-school suspension for three days (Incident A),
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one Discipline Action endpoint with an out-of-school suspension for two days (Incident B).
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One Student + Same Incident + One Suspension (ISS) + One Suspension (OSS): Both discipline actions must be associated with a single discipline incident. Consecutive removals (discipline actions) must not be combined.
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EXAMPLE: A student receives out-of-school suspension and an in-school suspension for a single incident.
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The following should be submitted to DPI:
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one Discipline Incident endpoint,
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one Discipline Incident Identifier,
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one Discipline Action endpoint with out-of-school suspension, and
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one Discipline Action endpoint with in-school suspension.
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NOTE for reporting in-school-suspensions: This would only be reported for a student with an IEP, and only if the in-school-suspension was 0.5 or more.
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One Student With Multiple Overlapping Incidents in a Single Day: Days of removal may be reported only once. If a student is removed simultaneously for two actions or two incidents, discipline length as reported to DPI must be truncated, as necessary to report the number of days the student is removed.
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EXAMPLE: A high school student receives an in-school suspension during the first period (Incident A) for the remainder of a school day. While serving the in-school suspension, a second incident occurs (Incident B) for which the student receives an out-of-school suspension for the remainder of the school day. The student served less than half the school day of in-school suspension, and more than a half day of out-of-school suspension. The total length of the reported suspensions cannot exceed 1 day in this example since the student incurred these suspensions in a single school day.
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The following should be submitted to DPI:
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one Discipline Incident endpoint
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one Discipline Incident Identifier, and
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one Discipline Action of in-school suspension with 0.5 length
one Discipline Action of out-of-school suspension with 0.5 length.
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Student With Multiple Incidents in a Single Day: As a suspension or IAES removal must be at least half of the student’s day, meeting the requirements to report two incidents on the same day is very unlikely. In most cases, only one incident is submitted.
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EXAMPLE - Two Incidents Count: An initial incident (Incident A) occurs for a student with an IEP who is removed from the classroom for more than half of a regular day with an in-school suspension. For the same student, a second incident (Incident B) occurs later in the day for which the student receives an out-of-school suspension for the remainder of that day and the next school day.
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The following should be submitted to DPI:
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one Discipline Incident endpoint for Incident A,
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one Discipline Incident endpoint for Incident B,
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one Discipline Incident Identifier
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one Discipline Action for the in-school suspension with a length of 0.5 day
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one Discipline Action for the out-of-school suspension with a length of 1.5 days.
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EXAMPLE - Only One Incidents Counts: Consider the example above where Incident A occurs for an IDEA-eligible student who is removed from the classroom for one period in the morning. This is an in-school suspension with less than a half day discipline length. For the same student a second Incident (B) occurs later in the morning. The student receives an out-of-school suspension for the rest of the day.
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The following should be submitted to DPI:
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one Discipline Incident endpoint (for Incident B only - no information should be sent about incident A or the in-school suspension because it was less than half a school day),
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one Discipline Incident Identifier, and
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one Discipline Action for the out-of-school suspension with a length of 0.5 days.
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Expulsions
Expulsions have the potential to change a student's enrollment in a school/district. Data elements that may provide helpful information about these scenarios include: District (Submitting District), Enrollment and Exit Dates, FAPE-Responsible School and Resident District.
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Expulsion with Services: If a student receives a disciplinary action of Expulsion with Services, the student may receive services in another school or in an alternate location supervised by the school who expelled the student. The student doesn't need to be in the school building to be considered as receiving services.
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Expulsion with services is used even when services are offered but refused by the students. Services must be provided to IDEA-eligible students during expulsion. Because services continue to be provided to the student, the student will remain enrolled with no need to exit at the time of expulsion. You will continue documenting attendance, as well as other WISEdata data elements. All normal data reporting to WISEdata is expected.
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When services are offered during expulsion but all education services and all Special Education services are refused by the student or family, then submit the student as ‘Expulsion with Services’ and exit the student.
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one Discipline Incident endpoint (for the incident that resulted in the initial expulsion),
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one Discipline Incident Identifier, and
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one Discipline Action with length increased, as appropriate.
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End of the Year Incident With Expulsion Next School Year: Expulsions are the only disciplinary actions which may occur in a school year later than the incident. For an incident near the end of the school year, a school board might not be able to meet until after the end of the school year or the student may be suspended for the remaining days of the year.
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In these cases, the expulsion discipline date is in the next school year.
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As there are no days removed for the expulsion in the year of the incident, expulsion discipline length is zero.
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Actual discipline action length should be greater than zero, identifying the total number of school days for this student from the expulsion start date to end date.
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WISEdata Portal is school-year-based. submit Discipline Incident endpoint, Discipline Incident Identifier, and Discipline Action in the same school year as the incident.
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NOTE: Even though the expulsion begins in the next school year, no resources for the Discipline Incident, Discipline Incident Identifier, or Discipline Action are submitted next school year.
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Expulsion Overturned Based on Appeal: In some cases an expulsion may be appealed by the parent/student to the state superintendent. Per state statute the expulsion remains in effect during the state superintendent’s review.
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If the expulsion is upheld: it is reported to WISEdata normally. Any out of school suspension served prior to the expulsion is also reported.
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If the expulsion is overturned prior to the WISEdata snapshot: no expulsion should be reported. Any out of school suspension served prior to the expulsion, however, still needs to be reported.
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If the expulsion was reported but is overturned after the data snapshot: the district could elect (but is not required) to file a data errata letter.
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One Student + One Expulsion With Early Reinstatement + One Removal for Later Violation: When a student (with an IEP or not - both get expulsions reported) has returned to the regular classroom prior to the end of the expulsion, under early reinstatement conditions, any infraction which revokes the early reinstatement condition must be treated as additional days removed from the original expulsion. Discipline Length should be increased, as appropriate.
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EXAMPLE - Initial Expulsion, Early Reinstatement Conditions Met: The Discipline Action Length of Expulsion A is for the remainder of the current school year (100 days). Early reinstatement conditions are put in place for the student. The student meets these conditions and the student returns to school. As a result, the Actual Discipline Action Length is shortened to 60 days.
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EXAMPLE - Reinstated Expulsion: Having returned to school from their expulsion, the student has a discipline incident which violates their early reinstatement conditions. The expulsion is reinstated, and the Discipline Action Length is lengthened from the original 100 days to 250 days.
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The following should be submitted:
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one Discipline Incident endpoint (for the incident that resulted in the initial expulsion),
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one Discipline Incident Identifier, and
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one Discipline Action with length increased, as appropriate.
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Actual Discipline Action Length should not change.
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No new incident is reported.
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Expulsion Spanning Two or More School Years: When an expulsion start date is in year X (for example, 2022) and the end date is in year X+1 (for example, 2023) or later, the Actual Discipline Action Length will be greater than Discipline Length. Records are specific to a school year.
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EXAMPLE: Consider a student who is removed for 13 days in the school year of the incident (2022) and the entire next school year (180 days). Discipline Length should be reported as 13 days, while Actual Discipline Action Length is 193 days (13 days of expulsion start date school year + 180 days of the entire next school year).
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The following should be submitted to DPI:
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one Discipline Incident endpoint,
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one Discipline Incident Identifier, and
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one Discipline Action.
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NOTE: All of these should be submitted in the school year of the incident.
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NOTE: Actual discipline action length (i.e., 193) will be greater than discipline length (i.e., 13).
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Didn't Find What You Needed?
DPI is here to help!
If you have questions about a specific incident that is data related, please contact the Customer Services Team.
If you have questions about best practices concerning discipline actions, please reach out to the SSPW Team. You can email the SSPW Team, or refer to the SSPW Team Directory for more direct help.