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A. Background
B. Data Access & Usage
C. Unique Identifier: MEPID (Massachusetts Education Personnel ID)
D. Data Elements
E. Data Collection Process
F. Whom to Report
G. Name Changes
H. License Number
I. Degree Type, Institution, and Subject
J. File Transmission
K. Reporting on a Split School Year
L. EPIMS and DSSR / School Report Card
M. Date of Hire (SR11)
N. Federal Salary Source (SR12, SR14, SR16)
O. Job Classification & Assignment (WA07 & WA08)
P. Subject Area-Course Codes (WA10)
Q. Class Section (WA11)
R. Assigning FTEs (WA12)
S. Highly Qualified Teacher (HQ) Status (WA14) and Subject Matter Competency (SMC) (WA15)
T. Middle Schools
U. Career/Vocational Technical Education (CVTE)
V. Miscellaneous Questions
| A1. | What is EPIMS? |
| | EPIMS stands for the Education Personnel Information Management System, a new data collection being developed by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to collect individual educator data from all public school districts and charter schools. A pilot group submitted data in the fall of 2006 and the collection will be expanded statewide in the fall of 2007. Although EPIMS will require districts to submit previously uncollected data on individual educators, it will replace the current District and School Staffing Report, which collects staff information in the aggregate. In subsequent years, it will also replace Schedule 13, the school finance office's staffing report, which collects staff information in full time equivalents (FTEs). The data collected will be linked with the licensure data the Department currently maintains in ELAR, the Educator Licensure and Recruitment database.
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| A2. | Why is the Department developing this system? |
| | As state and federal reporting requirements, and requests for information get more detailed and complex, it has become increasingly difficult to answer such requests through an aggregate data collection. Collecting individual data will allow the Department to aggregate the data in many different ways and to do so consistently across all districts. In addition to meeting federally mandated NCLB highly qualifited teacher reporting requirements, the Department will use this data to understand what is working and what is not and to identify shortage areas and plan for the future. Some examples of the questions being asked include:
- What type of licenses do middle school teachers typically have?
- How many educators are nearing retirement age?
- What percentage of new staff stay for more than one year? Does that vary across districts?
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| A3. | How were districts involved with the development of EPIMS? |
| | In the fall of 2005, the Department sought input from all districts via an on-line survey. The survey collected information from districts on what data they currently maintained, how the data was stored, and other general information and feedback. Beginning in January 2006, the Department worked closely with a pilot group of districts to develop the design of the system and the on-line tools. The pilot districts submitted data to the Department in the fall of 2006. Lessons learned from the pilot collection have facilitated this year's statewide rollout.
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| A4. | When will districts have to report this data to the Department? |
| | The Department will collect data through EPIMS from all districts and charter schools in October 2007.
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| A5. | What types of support will be available to districts? |
| | The Department has hired additional data collection support specialists to provide training and targeted district assistance.
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| A6. | Is Massachusetts the first state to collect this type of information? |
| | No. At least ten other states collect individual staff information, including Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, New Mexico, Ohio, and Utah.
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| A7. | Which staff will be reported in this data collection? |
| | All district staff who are currently reported on the District & School Staffing Report will be reported in EPIMS except for those reported in Section B: Service, Operations, and Maintenance, and coaches.
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| A8. | How often will this data collection occur? |
| | The collection will be made at least annually and will reflect an October 1st snapshot of the district. In 2007, there will be only one collection. In subsequent years, there may be more than one collection to capture data for the second half of the school year.
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| B1. | Who will have access to this data? |
| | Aggregate data will be accessible via the Department's website. More detailed data will be made available upon request. This data collection will not make anything public that was not already public information and accessible via a request to the districts and charter schools. The Massachusetts public records law requires the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to provide, upon request and within statutory constraints, a copy of any public record that the Department maintains.
Within every district, individuals will be assigned security roles by the district's directory administrator for collecting and submitting EPIMS data.
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| B2. | Is it legal for the Department to collect information such as date of birth and race/ethnicity? |
| | Pursuant to Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 69, Section 1I, the Department is authorized to collect date of birth and race/ethnicity data but cannot make such information public. The Department will report this data only in the aggregate.
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| B3. | For what purposes will the Department use the educator race data? |
| | The Department uses data on the races of school and district staff only
in the aggregate. The Department anticipates using the data to analyze the impact of policy decisions on issues such as the diversity of the Massachusetts educator workforce. The Department also plans to use the aggregated data to help schools and districts to recruit, hire, and support a diverse educator workforce. In addition to meeting the requirements of Massachusetts law, collecting the data through EPIMS will also assist in complying with U.S. Department of Education (USDE) requirements. Each year, the Department is required to submit a wide range of education data to the USDE as part of the EDFacts data initiative via the Education Data Exchange Network (EDEN). (For further information on EDFacts and EDEN, please see http://www.ed.gov/about/inits/ed/pbdmi/index.html.) Staff race data has been collected as part of the EDFacts initiative in some years, and the EPIMS data collection will enable the Massachusetts ESE to provide this data to the USDE in future data collections, to the extent required.
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| B4. | How can schools/districts collect the race and ethnicity data regarding staff? |
| | The Department suggests that districts ask staff to self-report, and has
prepared a sample letter and self-report form to be provided to staff. For staff who decline to submit a self-report, the district can rely on employment records or visual surveys to complete the required reports.
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| B5. | Will districts be able to generate reports from this data? |
| | Yes, districts will be able to access a number of standard reports based on their own school and district data. In the future, the Department hopes to increase the functionality of the database to provide districts with more querying capability, such as the ability to support recruitment activities and to identify potential candidates for shortage areas.
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| B6. | Will this collection result in enforcing personnel licensure in districts? |
| | In keeping with current practice, if a problem regarding licensed personnel is identified, the Department will work with districts to correct the problem. It is the responsibility of districts to ensure that all personnel are properly licensed.
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| B7. | Will the ESE be able to track graduates of educator prep programs and determine whether they are currently employed in MA public schools? |
| | Yes. It is the Department's goal to match information from this data collection with the Department's present database of program completions.
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| C1. | Will educators be assigned a unique ID for the purposes of this collection? |
| | Yes, the Department will assign a permanent unique ID, the Massachusetts Education Personnel ID, or MEPID, to all staff members reported in this collection. The ID will help ensure data accuracy and integrity and will allow the Department to track personnel across districts and over time.
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| C2. | Will the Department allow MEPIDs to be assigned for staff not reported in EPIMS so that local systems can use MEPIDs in their local systems for all employees? |
| | Yes, the Department plans to allow districts to request MEPIDs for all staff, even if data are not collected on all staff.
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| C3. | When an educator moves is the old MEPID used in the new district? |
| | Yes, each educator will have a unique MEPID that will be assigned once and follow the educator throughout his or her career in Massachusetts public schools.
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| C4. | Will education personnel know their own MEPID? |
| | Districts will be able to look up MEPIDs in EPIMS. It is anticipated that individuals will be able to retrieve their MEPIDs from ELAR when EPIMS is eventually linked to ELAR.
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| C5. | Will the ESE collect local educator IDs? |
| | Yes. The ESE has included local ID numbers as a field in EPIMS records so that districts use them to link EPIMS data to their local databases. It is included for district use only. The Department strongly advises school districts not to use social security numbers in the local employee field.
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| C6. | If the idea is to have one staff roster record per MEPID, will an individual need more than one record if they work in multiple districts? |
| | The ESE requires one staff roster record per MEPID per district. The system will allow for cases where individuals work in more than one district in the same reporting period by allowing multiple staff roster records per MEPID if they are submitted by different districts.
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| D1. | What data will be collected through EPIMS? |
| | The Department has worked with the pilot districts to determine the data elements to be collected. These are available in the EPIMS Data Handbook posted on the EPIMS homepage http://www.doe.mass.edu/infoservices/data/epims/.
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| D2. | Will additional data elements be phased in? |
| | Although it is possible that new data elements may be added in the future in response to changing requirements, the Department's goal is not to do so for at least several years.
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| D3. | How will differences between the Department's terminology and district terminology be resolved, for instance, in the way the Department defines "job position" vs. how districts may define it? |
| | As is done with other Department data collections, data standards have been established and shared with the districts. These standards were developed in collaboration with the pilot group. The EPIMS Data Handbook has been published and posted on the ESE web site that includes the definitions and acceptable values for each data element.
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| E1. | How will districts submit the data? |
| | Districts will submit the data electronically through the Department's security portal. There will be two options for submitting the data: a text file upload (similar to SIMS) and an on-line data entry of individual records.
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| E2. | Will there be an October 1 snapshot, like the District & School Staffing Report? |
| | Yes, the data reported will be as of October 1 to meet federal reporting requirements. However, knowing that some of the same staff who report SIMS data will likely be involved in this collection, the Department will expand the EPIMS data collection period to the end of December.
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| E3. | Will the ESE have a compliance process for software systems? |
| | The ESE intends to provide an EPIMS software compliance process similar to the SIMS vendor compliance process as time and resources permit. It is not anticipated that this program will be available prior to the 2007 EPIMS data collection.
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| F1. | Who will be reported in EPIMS? |
| | Everyone currently reported in the DSSR except maintenance/operations staff (Section B of the DSSR), coaches, and short term subs.
Below is a list of job titles compiled in response to queries from districts. This is NOT a comprehensive list of job titles that should be reported in EPIMS. This list provides EPIMS codes for specific job titles as published in Appendix E of the EPIMS Data Handbook, or identifies the job titles as "not reported in EPIMS." If you do not see a job title in this list, you will find it in Appendix E. [You can sort this list by job title or EPIMS code.]
| Job Title (may vary in districts) | EPIMS Job Classification
(see Data Handbook: Appendix E) | EPIMS Code |
|---|
| Aides that work for lunch/recess | Not Reported in EPIMS | N/A |
| A/V Technician | Information Services & Technical Support | 6140 |
| Clerical staff | Administrative Clerks & Secretaries | 6110 |
| Custodial staff | Not Reported in EPIMS | N/A |
| Director of Post Secondary Education | Supervisor/Director/Coordinator
of Professional Development | 1225 |
| Family Liaison | Other Administrative Support | 6150 |
| Financial Aid consultant | Other School Administrator | 1320 |
| Food service staff, cafe workers | Not Reported in EPIMS | N/A |
| Guidance Counselor | Guidance Counselor | 3329 |
| High School Sports Equipment Handler | Not Reported in EPIMS | N/A |
| Instructional Aides: part time | Paraprofessional | 4100 |
| Librarians | Librarians and Media Center Directors | 3330 |
Long Term Subs (minimum time
in classroom = 30 consecutive calendar days) | Long Term Substitute Teacher | 2325 |
| Maintenance staff | Not Reported in EPIMS | N/A |
| Nurses | School Nurse — Non-Special Education
and/or
School Nurse — Special Education | 5020
and/or
5021 |
| Nursing Director Post Secondary Education | School Nurse Leader | 1226 |
| Paraprofessionals in the classroom | Paraprofessional | 4100 |
| Paraprofessionals in the main office | Administrative Aides | 6100 |
| Physical Therapists | Physical Therapist | 3431 |
| Physician | Physician | 5010 |
| Psychiatrist | Psychiatrist | 5015 |
| School Business Officer | School Business Official | 1202 |
| School Psychologist: part time | School Psychologist — Non-Special Education
and/or
School Psychologist — Special Education | 3360
and/or
3361 |
| Secretaries (district): full and part time | Administrative Clerks & Secretaries | 6110 |
| Secretaries (school): full and part time | Administrative Clerks & Secretaries | 6110 |
| Secretary to the Director of Post Secondary | Administrative Clerks & Secretaries | 6110 |
| Superintendent | Superintendent of Schools | 1200 |
| Supervisor of Bus Drivers | Not Reported in EPIMS | N/A |
| Teacher | Teacher | 2305 |
| Teacher Aid: part time/hourly | Paraprofessional | 4100 |
| Teachers teaching post-graduate classes | Not Reported in EPIMS | N/A |
| Technology Director | Supervisor/Director/Coordinator: Technology | 1224 |
| Technology/Network Staff | Information Services & Technical Support | 6140 |
| Transportation Staff | Not Reported in EPIMS | N/A |
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| F2. | Do we need to report contracted staff? |
| | If the job title of the person falls under one of the job classifications identified in Appendix E of the EPIMS Data Handbook, the contracted employee should be reported.
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| F2. | Do we need to report adult education / alternative education teachers in EPIMS? |
| | Adult education teachers should not be reported in EPIMS. Alternative education teachers should be reported in EPIMS if the program is funded by the district. If the program is funded by a collaborative or other outside source but housed in the district, then the teachers should not be reported in EPIMS.
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| F3. | In the fall of 2007, will districts have to submit information on teachers who have exited before the October 1st snapshot? |
| | No. Districts will not include data on exited teachers in the fall of 2007. Only pilot districts will need to include exit data to account for all the teachers who exited their districts since October 1, 2006 when they submitted their first EPIMS collection.
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| F4. | In subsequent years, do districts need to submit a work assignment record for exited teachers? |
| | No. If a teacher has exited the system before October 1st, only a staff roster record with the appropriate exit information is required.
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| F5. | In subsequent years, do districts need to report on individuals who begin working after the October 1st snapshot but leave the district before the next October 1st collection? |
| | Yes, but only with a staff roster record. As with other exited teachers, a work assignment record will not be required.
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| F6. | Do we have to report permanent subs that are assigned to a building, not a class? |
| | Permanent subs who are not assigned to a specific class but fill in where needed on a daily basis, should not be reported in EPIMS. Long-term subs—individuals who are called in to replace specific teachers out on leave—should be reported. |
| G1. | Will a paper form be required to change an individual's name in EPIMS? |
| | No. Names are changed in EPIMS under the section header for ID Maintenance and no paper trail is required.
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| G2. | How do we submit a name change in EPIMS? What if the name has changed from when the teacher got a license? |
| | Name changes in EPIMS will be handled through the Update Characteristics section of the ID Maintenance application. They will be treated no differently from other changes that will be made to an individual's identifying MEPID characteristics. No additional documentation needs to accompany the change. The only rule with making updates is that no more than two changes can be made to an individual's MEPID record in any two-month period.
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| G3. | If a name is changed in EPIMS, will it be updated in ELAR? |
| | No. It is an educator's responsibility to update her/his individual information in ELAR. There is currently no dynamic link between EPIMS and ELAR, so it is not necessary for an individual's name in EPIMS to match their name in ELAR. However, districts should encourage educators to maintain their ELAR profiles and make all necessary updates. The information in both EPIMS and ELAR should always reflect an individual's legal name. |
| H1. | How will I use the license numbers to assign MEPIDs to the people in my district if their ELAR profiles are out of date or inaccurate? |
| | License numbers need to be entered by districts at the time of assigning MEPIDs but the ability to assign MEPIDs is not dependent on the license numbers. EPIMS and ELAR will be linked eventually for the purpose of obtaining degree information for licensed personnel, but this functionality will not be available until modifications are made to ELAR.
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| H2. | How do we obtain degree information from ELAR in order to complete the fields SR18–SR26 for our certified staff? |
| | You do not need to enter degree information for certified staff. If you are entering a ESE license number in SR03, you can enter "not applicable" in SR18–SR26. EPIMS and ELAR will be linked eventually for the purpose of obtaining degree information for licensed personnel, and the degree information will be obtained by the ESE from ELAR at that time.
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| H3. | How can we obtain licensure information for our staff? |
| | School district staff can access licensure information by using the Educator Licensure Status Drop Box application. This file exchange drop box enables districts to retrieve ELAR license numbers, licensure status, waiver information, and the levels and types of licenses held by uploading a file to the ESE.
The file exchange is done through a secure portal and assures a safe environment for data exchange with the Department. Access to the ESE file exchange drop box is obtained within the district through the directory administrator. A list of district directory administrators and instructions about formatting and uploading files   are available on-line.
If you have further questions about the ELAR drop box, please contact: Sabina Ahmad
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| H4. | How can we obtain licensure information for vocational teachers if they are not in ELAR? |
| | All career technical and vocational education staff are in ELAR. You can use the licensure drop box to get certification information for these educators just as you would for the rest of your district's educators. If you have any trouble getting licensure information from the licensure drop box, please contact the ESE. |
| I1. | Do I need to collect degree information from all the teachers in my district? |
| | You do not need to collect and report degree information for licensed personnel. Modifications will be made in the Educator Licensure and Recruitment (ELAR) system to enhance the degree information fields to require certified personnel to enter this information. These fields exist in the staff roster record for select categories of non-licensed personnel as indicated in Appendix E of the EPIMS Data Handbook. Personnel whose degree information does not need to be reported in EPIMS should have the appropriate "not applicable" codes entered in the degree fields. No field can be left empty.
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| I2. | Do we need to provide degree info for those with a waiver or will the degree info come from ELAR? |
| | Anyone with a valid license number in ELAR does not need to provide degree information to EPIMS because it will be available through ELAR. Regardless of whether a teacher is currently teaching under a waiver, if they are certified in any subject, even in an area outside of that subject in which they are currently teaching, they will have a license number and therefore do not need to provide degree information to EPIMS. If they are teaching under a waiver and have no valid license number, then degree information should be submitted in EPIMS.
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| I3. | Who does need to provide degree information in EPIMS? |
| | Appendix E of the EPIMS Data Handbook indicates the job classifications for non-licensed personnel who must submit degree information. Submitting the appropriate "not applicable" codes for Degree Type 1, Degree Institution 1, and Degree Subject 1 is only valid for ESE-certified staff and staff not required to report this information as indicated in Appendix E. During the validation of your district's data, the system will check the License / Certification Number field and the Job Classification field to determine if degree information should be in the data.
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| I4. | What if non-licensed personnel have entered their degree information in ELAR, do they need to submit it in EPIMS as well? |
| | Not all non-licensed personnel need to submit degree information. However, if an individual is among the non-licensed personnel who must submit degree information, regardless of whether they have entered this data in ELAR, they must submit it in EPIMS. Without an ELAR license number, EPIMS cannot link to ELAR to retrieve the degree information.
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| I5. | Can a "not available" code be added as an acceptable value for the degree information fields? |
| | No. This information should be available in district personnel files if it is not forthcoming from staff through direct requests. It is important information for many job classifications and would have been provided prior to hiring. Allowing a "not available" code would significantly impact data analysis if abused.
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| I6. | Three entries for degree information does not seem to be enough. For some individuals, the degree that makes them highly qualified is not their highest degree or they may need to list more than three in order to show they are highly qualified in more than three areas. Will the ESE consider adding more degree fields to EPIMS? |
| | Educators should choose the degrees that are most relevant to their job classification. Certified personnel will enter their degree information in ELAR where more fields are available.
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| I7. | What if the exact degree subject is not available in the degree subject code list? |
| | The degree subject code list is not all-inclusive. The ESE would suggest that districts choose a broader degree subject than the one in which the degree is in, before they resort to code 70, the code for "other."
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| I8. | How do we enter double majors? |
| | If an individual has a double major, it should be entered in two sets of the degree fields. The second set of degree fields will repeat the degree type and degree institution of the first set but have a different degree subject code.
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| I9. | Should individuals with masters in degree subjects that are not listed (e.g., education administration, curriculum and instructional technology, etc.) use the "other" code or "education"? |
| | If the degree in which an individual has achieved a degree is not listed, the degree in the closest subject area should be used instead. For education administration and curriculum and intructional technology, it is preferable to use "education." It is generalizing the actual degree subject, but it is more specific than "other."
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| I10. | What if the institution where the degree was obtained has since changed names? Do we use the code for the new institution or the other domestic institution code? |
| | Use the code for the new institution.
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| J1. | Can staff roster records and work assignment records be transmitted in the same file? |
| | No.
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| J2. | Do all staff roster records in a district have to be transmitted in one file or can they be transmitted in multiple files? |
| | Staff roster records must be transmitted in one file. If a district transmits a second file of staff roster records, the file will replace the previously transmitted file.
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| J3. | What happens if you transmit a file of updated staff roster records to replace an older file but the file does not have the same name as the one transmitted previously? |
| | It does not matter what the name of the file is. Either way, the old staff roster records will be overwritten.
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| J4. | Do all work assignment records have to be transmitted in one file or can they be transmitted in multiple files? |
| | Work assignment records can be transmitted in multiple files. If multiple files are transmitted, the system will ask whether the new file should replace a file transmitted previously, or be added to the list of transmitted files. Since an individual can have multiple work assignment records, the uniqueness of a work assignment record is determined by the MEPID, Subject Area-Course Code, and Section fields. If a work assignment record is transmitted in a file and these three fields are identical to the same three fields in another work assignment record (transmitted in another file or even the same file) the system will find the duplication during step two-the validation step-and identify it as an error.
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| J5. | What if I have transmitted work assignment records that I want to delete and replace? |
| | If you want to delete an entire file, you can do so in Add/Edit Multiple Records. In the list of transmitted files, there is information about the number of records in a file and the number of errors in the file. There is also an option to select the file and correct the errors individually, or to delete the entire file and correct the errors in your system in order to retransmit a new file once the errors are corrected.
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| K1. | How will the ESE capture second semester or second and third trimester data if the collection is only looking at an October 1st snapshot? |
| | In the initial EPIMS collections, only data valid at the time of the October 1st snapshot will be collected. This is the only information required to meet the currently mandated federal reporting requirements. A second-semester EPIMS collection may be required in the future.
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| L1. | Will the Department provide a mapping from the DSSR to EPIMS? |
| | The EPIMS application will provide DSSR/EPIMS comparison reports as well as a mapping. The selection criteria for the reports will also be provided.
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| L2. | Do districts need to submit the DSSR in addition to EPIMS? |
| | No. EPIMS will replace the DSSR.
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| L3. | Will the EPIMS data districts submit be used for the school report card or will we have to submit a separate data set for the school report card? |
| | The EPIMS data will be used to populate the school report card application that will be posted in February. Districts will not have to send in a separate data set for the school report card.
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| M1. | Will the Date of Hire data element provide the information that the ESE is looking for? What about interruptions of service and the movement of individuals through different job classifications? |
| | This data element will report the date of an individual's most recent hire in the district. We realize that this will not capture years of experience in a job classification or account for interruptions of service. While these are known limitations of the data, we believe that this data will prove useful information over time for analyzing trends. We intend to capture years of experience from the planned modifications to the ELAR application.
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| N1. | The award notification by ESE of federal grants often does not occur until October or November. The districts will need time to process the awards and distribute the funding before the due date for EPIMS submission. Will the ESE allow enough time? |
| | Although the money has not yet reached the districts by the time the EPIMS collection will begin, districts can anticipate the amounts and should be able to assign the appropriate codes by the time EPIMS is due in December of that year.
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| N2. | Which federal grants should be reported in these fields? |
| | Districts should report only those federal grants that are administered by the ESE.
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| O1. | What is the job classification code for ELL program staff? |
| | ELL program staff members are reported with the general population in their related job classification (WA07), but distinguished in the assignment (WA08). This is true for program staff members in bilingual and Title 1 as well. It is only SPED program staff who are required to be broken out.
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| O2. | How should we report teacher assistants? A teacher assistant works under the direct supervision of a teacher and does provide instruction to students. They are not part of the teacher contract. |
| | These individuals should be reported under Job Classification code 4100 (paraprofessional) and Assignment code 401–405. If they are not working in a specific program area, code 405 should be used.
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| O3. | How should we report parent liaisons? |
| | Job Classification code 6100 — Administrative Aides.
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| O4. | How do we code administrators whose offices are in schools? |
| | If the individual is an administrator for the entire district and their office is in a school, their school code WA06 would reflect a district level position, and their job classification (WA07) would be in the 1200 series of codes. If the individual is an administrator for a school, he/she would be WA07 = 1305, 1310, or 1320 with a school level code in WA06. If the administrator is an administrator across multiple schools, but not district-wide, a separate work assignment record is required for each school with the appropriate school code and FTE for the time spent administering there.
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| P1. | Can districts use their own course codes in EPIMS? |
| | No. Districts must map their district courses to the numbers in appendix G: Subject Area-Course and use the numbers in appendix G to submit to EPIMS.
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| P2. | What if none of the EPIMS course descriptions match what is being taught in the district course? |
| | The ESE is advising districts to choose the course code that best describes the course that is being taught in their district. Few course descriptions will match exactly. In difficult mapping cases, districts can use the "other" course code within the subject area or choose one course from among the two or more that would most aptly apply. It is certainly acceptable for a district to make the best possible selection from the course list provided, even if that course's description does not cover completely all that is encompassed by the course being taught in the district.
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| P3. | Are the EPIMS codes for advanced placement courses the same as the SIMS codes? |
| | The SIMS and EPIMS advanced placement course codes are different, but the ESE will allow districts to submit the EPIMS codes to SIMS if they choose to do so. The SIMS application will be modified to accept either SIMS or EPIMS advanced placement course codes from districts that have contacted the ESE (EPIMS: 781-338-6810) to let them know they intend to do so.
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| P4. | Should a district report a virtual high school course that is a purchased service and provided by staff hired by an outside company? |
| | No, do not report these courses in EPIMS.
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| P5. | If a district provides "enrichment" classes, or similar sessions, where chess, jewelry making, film criticism, etc. can occur but are not "taught" by a specific teacher-although teachers do staff the room-should these enrichment sessions be reported in EPIMS? |
| | No, do not report these sessions in EPIMS. These sessions are similar to study halls in that staff are not assigned to teach an academic or vocational subject for which credit is earned.
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| P6. | How should a district address multiple course levels that are taught during the same course period (e.g., Drafting I, II, and III taught by the same teacher during a class period, with some students being instructed at level I, while others are instructed and do more advanced work required by levels II and III)? |
| | Each course level would require its own work assignment record and the FTE for each level would be subdivided from the FTE for the single course (which would depend on the individual's overall schedule). For example, if the drafting course were .33 of the teacher's overall schedule, each drafting level would be .11 or if necessary, an uneven division of .33 that might more aptly represent the individual's work efforts (level I = .21, Level II = .06, Level III = .06 for a total of .33 FTE for the drafting class).
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| Q1. | Can you please expand on the need to create codes for the "class section" data element. |
| | Class section codes are intended to differentiate subject area-courses taught from identical subject area-courses taught within a school. How the codes for class section are constructed is up to each district. They can be the room number in which the class is taught or as simple as A, B, C. They do not need to incorporate the subject area-course code in their makeup. At a K-8 school, the class sections would distinguish the multiple first grade classes from each other, and at the upper grades, would distinguish the multiple English classes taught from each other.
Here are some examples:
If Mrs. Jones teaches two courses of English to 9th graders at the H.S., the subject area-course code would be 01001 and the grade would be 9. Her two work assignment records could be:
WA10 = 01001 (Subject Area-Course)
WA11 = A (Class Section)
and
WA10 = 01001
WA11 = B
If Mr. Smith also has a 9th grade English class at the H.S., his work assignment record needs to have a separate class section code:
WA10 = 01001
WA11 = C
The combination of these two elements (Subject Area-Course and Class Section) must be unique within a school.
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| Q2. | How should we report class sections for teachers who teach multiple sections of the same course, such as teachers who teach physical education? Could the section numbers for these classes be the same for each? For example, could they all be "PE"? |
| | The answer to this question depends upon whether or not you are reporting core or non-core academic classes. The following subject areas have been determined by the ESE as the equivalent of the USED Core Subject Areas as defined in NCLB: English, reading/language arts, math, science, foreign languages, civics and government, economics, the arts (art/visual art, dance, theater, and music), history, and geography.
EPIMS requires the reporting of separate work assignment records for all core academic subjects, each with a unique combination of subject area-course and class section codes within a school. EPIMS does NOT require the reporting of multiple work assignment records for educators teaching non-core academic subjects, as long as the combination of subject area-course and class section reported is unique for all classes reported in a school. These guidelines apply to both elementary and secondary schools.
In the example above, since physical education is not a core academic subject, "PE" would be an acceptable section code if only one educator were teaching multiple physical education classes at a school (which often may be the case in an elementary school). In this case, only one work assignment record would need to be reported for all the classes taught by a physical education teacher. "PE" would NOT be an acceptable section code for these non-core academic classes, however, if more than one educator taught physical education at the same school. In this situation, the combination of subject area-course and class section codes would not be unique within that school.
Classes taught in core academic subject areas, such as music classes, must be reported in separate work assignment records and have unique subject area-course and class section codes. Therefore, "M" would not be an acceptable class section code for multiple music classes taught in a school.
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| R1. | In many districts, the high school's scheduling is divided into semesters or trimesters and the FTE for a high school teacher is spread out across the whole year. Scheduling in the first semester represents .5 FTE for that teacher with the second semester's schedule being added in for that teacher's complete FTE of 1.0. Would this teacher's FTE be represented as .5 in EPIMS for the October 1st snapshot? |
| | No. The FTE associated with work assignments should total 1.0 for an individual's full time assignments on October 1. Therefore, even though schools will change class assignments at mid-year, the districts should report all individual FTE's on the October 1 work schedule on the basis of 1.0 = full time (not as .5). For the teacher described above, if they are employed as full-time teachers and they are teaching two classes on October 1, each class being taught would represent .5 FTE for a total of 1.0 for the EPIMS collection.
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| R2. | If a 1.0 FTE teacher teaches 5 courses and 1 section in each course, would the FTE by course section equal 0.2? |
| | Yes. Each would constitute a unique combination of course and section, so each would constitute an FTE of .2.
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| R3. | What if a teacher teaches 1 section of two courses at the same time due to enrollment issues? |
| | Each would constitute a unique combination of course and section, so if these classes were the only classes this teacher taught, each would have an FTE of .5.
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| R4. | Should FTE be determined by the number of periods taught? |
| | No. We are not using the term "period" because we are not interested in the reporting of free periods or class preparation periods or other time slots when an educator is not in the classroom actively engaged in the teaching or in supporting the teaching of students.
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| R5. | Should FTE be calculated by sections taught? |
| | The ESE requires the reporting of each unique combination of course and section taught or supported for core academic subjects. Districts should determine FTE on the basis of each unique combination of course and section taught or supported. Please review the questions in Class Section for clarification on reporting this data element.
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| S1. | How do charter schools report highly qualified teacher information? |
| | Charter schools should refer to the technical advisory issued by the Commissioner in April 2007 to ensure that they are reporting highly qualified teacher information accurately.
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| S2. | Do administrators need to be highly qualified? |
| | No. Most of the job classifications reported by districts will have the "not applicable" code (00) in WA14. Whenever WA14 is 00, WA15 (Subject Matter Competency) should be 00 as well.
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| S3. | Which job classifications require highly qualified information? |
| | Only three job classifications (WA07) require highly qualified information. These are teachers (2305), teachers who support content instruction (2310), and long term substitute teachers (2325). However, these job classifications do not always require HQ information. Only teachers of core academic subjects, indicated by the assignment codes (WA08=001-011, 016, 017, or 019), are required to be HQ and only these teachers should have a 01 or 02 in WA14.
The following code combinations are acceptable when a core academic subject is indicated in WA10 (subject area–course code):
WA07 = 2305 or 2325
WA08 = 001–004, 007–011, 016, 017, or 019
WA14 = 01 or 02
WA15 = SMC code required and will depend on whether the individual is teaching at the non-secondary or secondary level
WA07 = 2310
WA08 = 005 or 006
WA14 = 01 or 02
WA15 = 00 (see question S3)
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| S4. | Is subject matter competency (WA15) data required for everyone for whom highly qualified (WA14) data is required? |
| | No. Special education teachers acting in a consultative role and teaching students with mild/moderate to severe disabilities are considered highly qualified by holding a valid Massachusetts special education educator license. These individuals do not need to prove subject matter competency. Therefore, the following code combinations are acceptable when a core academic subject is indicated in WA10 (subject area–course code):
WA07 = 2310
WA08 = 005 or 006
WA14 = 01 or 02
WA15 = 00
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| S5. | does a teacher of a core academic subject need to hold the appropriate license in order to meet the highly qualified (WA14) requirement? |
| | The federal NCLB requirement for highly qualified teacher status requires teachers of the core academic subjects to possess either a Preliminary, Initial, or Professional license but does not specify that the license be in the area(s) being taught. This policy was in conflict with the state licensure requirements that guide district employment decisions and that require teachers to possess the appropriate license(s) for their role(s) in order to be legally employable. Therefore, in an effort to align the federal highly qualified requirements and the state's licensure policies, effective July 1, 2007, teachers teaching the core academic subjects must hold the appropriate valid MA teaching license for the subject area(s) in which they are teaching for greater than 20% of their teaching schedule in order to satisfy both the state's licensure requirements and the federal NCLB's highly qualified teacher (HQT) provision. Individuals, who have met the HQT requirements prior to this change, will retain their HQT status.
To reiterate, as of July 1, 2007, to be designated as highly qualified, a teacher of a core academic subject must hold the appropriate Massachusetts teacher license for the subject in which he or she is teaching for more than 20% of his or her schedule.
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| S6. | If a teacher of a core academic subject is assigned a class outside of the subject area in which he or she is licensed, and this activity counts for less than 20% of his or her teaching schedule, does he or she still need to be highly qualified? |
| | Yes. All teachers teaching core academic subjects must be highly qualified and demonstrate subject matter competency in the subject area regardless of the time spent teaching that subject. The only distinction made based on time spent teaching core academic subjects is that the teaching license an individual holds must be in the subject area taught by that person 80% of his or her teaching schedule. For core academic subjects taught 20% or less of an individual's schedule, the license they hold does not have to be in this core subject. In both situations, subject matter competency must be demonstrated as required.
In other words, licensed individuals can teach outside of their licensed area up to 20% of their teaching schedule and still be considered highly qualified to teach in that area. It is the demonstration of subject matter competency in the non-licensed area that determines whether or not the individual is highly qualified to teach it, but it is not dependent on the completion of a ESE license in that area.
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| S7. | How do I code paraprofessionals in WA14 and WA15? |
| | WA14 (Highly Qualified Status) and WA15 (Subject Matter Competency) only apply to teachers of core academic subjects indicated by the assignment codes (WA08 = 001–011, 016, 017, and 019).
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For more specific HQT and SMC questions than are addressed here, please contact HQTHelp@doe.mass.edu.
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| T1. | What subject area-course codes should middle schools use? |
| | Middle school codes are to be used for all middle school classes. The NCES is currently working on an extensive list of middle school courses and when these are complete, the ESE will adopt this list for future collections. In the meantime, although more specific course information may not be captured by using the more generic subject area codes at the middle school level, it is important that all middle schools work from the same list of codes.
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| T2. | What grades are considered middle school? |
| | The classification of grade levels as middle school varies from district to district. The ESE requests that districts make a decision as to which grades are non-secondary (elementary), middle, and secondary school levels and assign the codes consistently according to those levels. If a district designates a 7th grade as middle school, all 7th-grade classes in that district should be assigned middle school subject area-course codes. Another district might choose to assign secondary course codes to 7th-grade classes.
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| U1. | How should we report CVTE aides in EPIMS? |
| | CVTE aides should be reported under the paraprofessional job classification (WA07 = 4100) and the CVTE paraprofessional assignment (WA08 = 403). If they are in a Title I school with a school-wide program they need to meet the paraprofessional qualifications. If they are CVTE paraprofessionals at a non-Title I school or a Title I school with a Targeted Assistance Program, they do not need to meet the paraprofessional qualifications.
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| U2. | Will the CVTE staffing report be replaced by EPIMS? |
| | Yes. Please see the
state director's update from May 17, 2007
.
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| V1. | How do we handle co-taught classes? Won't they be regarded as duplicate records? |
| | Co-teaching classes should be addressed via the class section code. For example, a record for one co-teacher could include a section code that would have an identifier such as "COTEACH" appended at the end of the code. The districts could enter this identifier if they knew this class was co-taught beforehand, or edit the record in this manner if the validation process identified the error.
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| V2. | How do we handle a student mentoring program-a teacher who has a student who helps in the classroom? The teacher is assigned but not actually teaching it, so how do we classify in all the categories: job class, highly qualified, etc.? |
| | The teacher should be reported as the instructor for this class regardless of whether they are actually instructing all the students. Since it is not a core academic class, the assignment code should be for other academic instructional staff (212) which is for teachers of non-core subjects. Since this course is not considered one of the core academic subjects, highly qualified information is not required for this work assignment record and should not be entered, although the teacher may be highly qualified in another subject.
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last updated: November 27, 2007
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