Student Academic Record Domain - Best Practices

Current Grade Capture

It is common for systems to want to represent and exchange information on current grades, grades for a grading period that is not yet completed. In the Ed-Fi data model, this is accomplished as follows:

• Write the “current grade” to the Grade entity for the appropriate GradingPeriod
• Set the GradeType to “Grading Period” or other appropriate descriptor that represents the current grading period
• Set the CurrentGradeIndicator flag = True
• Set the value CurrentGradeAsOfDate, providing "as of" date as marked in the source system, or lacking that, the date the current grade was sourced

This grade should be managed as follows:

• Systems should overwrite prior current grades as new ones are published (the data model is not designed to do longitudinal capture; that can be accomplished through a separate process).  The CurrentGradeAsOfDate should be updated as appropriate.
• When the final grade is published for the grading period, the value for CurrentGradeIndicator should be set to False and CurrentGradeAsOfDate set to null / deleted.

Note that "CurrentGrade" terminology is used instead of "InProgress" to avoid confusion with a scheduled "Progress Report."

Standards-Based Grading

The model has the ability to align grades with learning standards.  The LearningStandardGrade common was added as an optional collection in order to allow a collection of learning standards to be referenced on a Grade. The common includes LetterGradeEarned, NumericGradeEarned, DiagnosticStatement, PerformanceBaseConversion. The LetterGradeEarned and NumericGradeEarned allow for different ways instructors use grade values. The model can support both one-time standards (i.e. student learns how to count to 10) and standards that are graded multiple times in a school year.

Sample Course Transcript Mapping

The following is a sample course transcript showing mappings to the Ed-Fi data model. Each circled number corresponds to an element in the Ed-Fi Data Standard; elements are listed below by number.

#	Description	Ed-Fi Entity	Ed-Fi Element	Condition(s)
1	Student	Student	FirstName LastSurname
2	Street Address	StudentEducationOrganizationAssociation.Address	StreetNumberName	AddressType = [SIS Default]
3	City/State/ZIP	StudentEducationOrganizationAssociation.Address	City StateAbbreviationDescriptor PostalCode	AddressType = [SIS Default]
4	Phone	StudentEducationOrganizationAssociation.Telephone	TelephoneNumber	TelephoneNumberType = [SIS Default]
5	Date of Birth	Student.BirthData	BirthDate
6	Place of Birth	Student.BirthData	BirthCity
7	Gender	StudentEducationOrganizationAssociation	SexDescriptor
8	Credits Earned	StudentAcademicRecord.CumulativeEarnedCredits	Credits	StudentAcademicRecord.SchoolYear = [Most Recent School Year]
9	Weighted GPA	StudentAcademicRecord.GradePointAverage	GradePointAverageValue	StudentAcademicRecord.SchoolYear = [Most Recent School Year] GradePointAverageTypeDescriptor = 'Weighted' IsCumulative = TRUE
10	Unweighted GPA	StudentAcademicRecord.GradePointAverage	GradePointAverageValue	StudentAcademicRecord.SchoolYear = [Most Recent School Year] GradePointAverageTypeDescriptor = 'Unweighted' IsCumulative = TRUE
11	School Year	StudentAcademicRecord	SchoolYear
12	Semester	StudentAcademicRecord	TermDescriptor
13	Code	CourseTranscript.CourseReference	CourseCode	CourseTranscript.StudentAcademicRecordReference → StudentAcademicRecord.SchoolYear = '2019 - 2020' CourseTranscript.StudentAcademicRecordReference → StudentAcademicRecord.TermDescriptor = 'Fall Semester'
14	Course	CourseTranscript.CourseReference	CourseTitle	CourseTranscript.StudentAcademicRecordReference → StudentAcademicRecord.SchoolYear = '2019 - 2020' CourseTranscript.StudentAcademicRecordReference → StudentAcademicRecord.TermDescriptor = 'Fall Semester'
15	Grade	CourseTranscript	FinalLetterGrade	StudentAcademicRecordReference → StudentAcademicRecord.SchoolYear = '2019 - 2020' StudentAcademicRecordReference → StudentAcademicRecord.TermDescriptor = 'Fall Semester'
16	Credits	CourseTranscript.EarnedCredits	Credits	CourseTranscript.StudentAcademicRecordReference → StudentAcademicRecord.SchoolYear = '2019 - 2020' CourseTranscript.StudentAcademicRecordReference → StudentAcademicRecord.TermDescriptor = 'Fall Semester'
17	GPA	StudentAcademicRecord.GradePointAverage	GradePointAverageValue	StudentAcademicRecord.SchoolYear = '2019 - 2020' StudentAcademicRecord.TermDescriptor = 'Fall Semester' IsCumulative = FALSE
18	Cumulative GPA	StudentAcademicRecord.GradePointAverage	GradePointAverageValue	StudentAcademicRecord.SchoolYear = '2019 - 2020' StudentAcademicRecord.TermDescriptor = 'Fall Semester' IsCumulative = TRUE

Student Transcript Use Cases

Historical Records for Transfer Students

When students transfer into a new school district, they will have a history of completed courses from past school years that needs to be documented in the new district's SIS, in order to document graduation requirements, provide for transcripts for postsecondary school applications, and other reasons.

A common issue that arises when pulling this data into the ODS is the course records are associated with schools and districts that are not present in the new current data store. Therefore the required CourseCode and EducationOrganization references may be missing.

In this case, there are two recommended solutions:

1. If credit is being given for a course taken in a previous school year, an equivalent course may be found in the current data context. In this case, the CourseTranscript record should include the equivalent CourseCode in the Course reference. The new district or school applying the credit would then become the EducationOrganization reference as it is the entity accepting those credits towards the student's transcript.
2. Alternatively, the CourseCode can be set to not resolve. Ed-Fi has introduced as of Data Standard 3.2 the notion that certain references may be  "potentially logical" only – i.e., that the entity referred to may not exist in the current context and may only be a "logical" reference. This status applies to CourseTranscript.CourseCode

info

Users of the Ed-Fi ODS can set this entity to not resolve. Please consult the ODS documentation for details.

Ticket reference: DATASTD-1559

Course Transcript Data for a Course with Multiple Parts

The common element PartialCourseTranscriptAwards was included with the v3.3-b release on CourseTranscript as an optional array. This allows Students who take multiple parts of the same course within the same term to track multiple grades and credits awarded within the same session. This is a common use case for online schools that enroll students in multiple parts of the same course. These records will utilize the same CourseCode and TermType (e.g., "Year Round").

CreditCategory Descriptor

Implementations need a way to group credit awarded on a CourseTranscript record using locally- or state-defined categories. The model has the ability to capture “credit categories,” which has been the principal expansion to the student transcript representation in the Ed-Fi model that came out of the Course Transcript SIG (Special Interest Group).

The CreditCategory descriptor captures the category for the transcript credits by Academic Subject. This descriptor is located as an optional field on CourseTranscript. The purpose of this descriptor is to sum up transcript credits to determine progress towards various graduation plans or other important benchmarks such as college entrance requirements. It is a flexible tagging system that can be used for the following use cases:

1. To tag and count generalized academic subjects.
2. To tag and sum credits such as dual-credit or AP coursework.

Please note that, given the high variability for these categories by implementation, the CreditCategory descriptor values that are set by Ed-Fi are for informational purposes only. These values should instead always be customized by implementation.

Ticket reference: DATASTD-1390