Background
All students in California public schools are required to have an English Language Acquisition record in CALPADS. And generally-speaking, only one status may be listed for each student as determined by the original Home Language Survey completed by the parent/guardian during the student’s first enrollment into a California public school.
Statuses include:
- English Only (EO):
- A student for whom the only language reported on the Home Language Survey is English or American Sign Language.
- To Be Determined (TBD):
- Temporary status indicating the student is to be tested with Initial ELPAC
- Redesignated Fluent English Proficient, aka Reclassified English Learner, (RFEP):
- May only follow an EL status.
- Initially Fluent English Proficient (IFEP):
- Identified following summative ELPAC testing by the TOMS system. This status does not normally change once identified.
- English Learner (EL):
- Identified following initial ELPAC testing by the TOMS system. This status should only be updated to RFEP following the completion of the reclassification process.
According to the CALPADS Data Guide: LEAs do not need to update the ELAS of incoming students transferring from another California school whose statuses already exist in CALPADS. Instead, LEAs should update their student information system with students’ ELAS in CALPADS. CALPADS provides students’ current ELAS on various extracts to facilitate this process.
Source: https://www.cde.ca.gov/ds/sp/cl/systemdocs.asp
Creating and Updating Students’ ELA Status records
From the Home Page > Use the Search Students look up field to search for the student using the student’s last name, Local ID, or State ID (SSID) > select Enter.
Select the applicable student from the list of students if searching by last name > then navigate to Language Assessment from the left menu panel, which resides under Programs.
Once at the Language Assessment screen > click the Change button at the bottom of the screen to edit or add any applicable data on the screen.
Fields to Complete (turn on state-reportable highlights for reference):
- Reporting Language (Required for All Students)
- This is the student’s primary language
- Language Fluency (Required for All Students)
- This is the ELA Status indicator as noted above. (EO, TBD, EL, RFEP, IFEP)
- US School <3 Years indicator (Required for foreign-born, TBD, EL, RFEP, IFEP students only)
- Indicates that the student has been enrolled in US Schools less than 3 cumulative years? Yes or No
- The ELA Status Date is required for all students, but in Aeries, the date is listed in separate fields (see green highlights on the screenshot above)
- English Only status date is listed in the US School K-12 field
- EL status date is listed in the EL Start Date field
- RFEP status date is listed in the RFEP Date field
- IFEP status date is listed in the IFEP Date field
Then click Save to keep changes made.
Note: Other Information section may contain data from the SELA ODS import process or from the SSID Extract import process which provides information that is listed in CALPADS. However, it is informational only; this data does not pull into the SELA extracts which should be uploaded to CALPADS on a regular basis.