In April, the California Department of Education (CDE) instituted a major system upgrade of CalPADS. Called the “Post Process Redevelopment Project”, the goal of the upgrade is to decrease the time it takes for files to be posted to CalPADS. Unfortunately, the system upgrade has resulted in changes and defects that are posing challenges for local education agencies (LEAs).

In an April 22, 2022, letter to county superintendents and charter school administrators, the CDE’s Education Management Division Director outlined the process and acknowledged the challenges and defects in the system, including:

  • Delays in acquiring Statewide Student Identifiers,
  • Problems migrating data to the new system, and
  • Impacts to the export of data to the Educational Testing Services (ETS) used for state assessment registration, delaying test registration for new/transferring students.

The Riverside County Office of Education has identified the following concerns:

  • One impact of the defects and delays in the new system is that LEAs have not been able to register students for the state assessments. This has resulted in lower student participation rates. The concern is that LEAs will not meet the federally required 95% participation rate in state assessments and their academic indicator will be penalized.
  • Concerns have also been shared that students with disabilities will be delayed in taking assessments and/or not have the appropriate accommodations because of lack of data.
  • Delays in transferring data have an impact on county office of education programs because students often transfer/enroll in programs at different times throughout the year.

CDE is working to resolve the issues and is committed to provide additional training for LEAs and data system vendors. We are working collaboratively with the Association of California School Administrators, California County Superintendents Education Service Association and California School Board Association to ensure CDE leadership is aware of the serious challenges facing LEAs.

We will continue to monitor this issue and keep you informed of new developments. In the meantime, if you are aware of other challenges that we have not identified or outlined in this issue of NewsBreak, please send your feedback to CASBO Senior Director of Policy & Governance Elizabeth Esquivel.