How to Locate Discrepancies in CAA/CIA Data and Why They Occur

The CAA/CIA (Certificate of Academic or Individual Achievement) widget is an excellent tool to determine if a student is on-track for graduation. It displays grade point average, credits earned, and the status of all required state tests, like the End-of-Course exams. However, you may encounter discrepancies between the data displayed in this widget and the results from other widgets, like the Data Extract Manager or the Student Groups filters.

The data source for the CAA/CIA widget is different than for other widgets in Homeroom. For the CAA/CIA widget, all data comes directly from the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) and Homeroom relies on OSPI data to be accurate. Additionally, we rely on the frequency with which the data is uploaded into Homeroom by your district. At this time, there is not much we, School Data Solutions, can do to resolve the discrepancies these two data sources cause.

One of the most common reasons for this type of discrepancy is a transfer student. The student took the test in another district and the information has not yet been transferred to yours.

We know CAA/CIA data pulled from OSPI indicates whether or not students have taken and/or passed certain assessments. However, if the data for the individual assessment, like the EOCs, has not been uploaded into the Assessments widget, via the manual or autoloader, some students who show as having taken the test in the CAA/CIA widget may not show as having taken it in the Assessments widget. This is because scores for those students have not been loaded yet.

Here is an example of the type of discrepancy you may encounter. First, create a smart student group for this year's 12th graders. Add a requirements filter on the EOC math test as being "not met". Implicitly this means the resulting students have NOT taken or PASSED the EOC math tests.

Now use the same group in the CAA/CIA widget. Note in several cases below the student took and passed an EOC math assessment even though they are a part of the "not met" group.

While this may seem like a nuisance, it can be a great tool to find students who should have assessment scores based on the CAA/CIA records, but do not in the Assessments or Student Groups widgets. We warrant it can also be confusing, as in the scenario above.

As an administrator, this is a one way to reconcile records. If the Assessments widget is showing scores for a student, but the CAA/CIA data is not, the best way to reconcile the difference is to use the autoloader and ensure the most recent CAA/CIA data has been loaded. Conversely, if the CAA/CIA widget shows a test has been taken and/or passed, but the Assessments widget shows "not taken", you can review the manually loaded file used to populate the test and check for errors. The majority of data loading errors include invalid or out of range scores, incorrect student IDs, or simply a missing entry.

The best way to lessen the discrepancies is for the district to load as much historical data as possible, and to create and implement a policy for loading the data of all transfer students. Another method is to ask your district to initiate an inter-local agreement with surrounding districts, to ensure data for transfer students is made available quickly.

[Updated 12/11/13, prh]