Choice Weekly Update
June 21, 2019
Choice Certification Training will be offered on July 10 and July 15 from 9 a.m to 4 p.m. The training is intended for new schools and/or new staff. Registration is limited to 30 attendees per session and will be held in the Riley Room at IDOE. Each training covers the same information, please only register for ONE. If possible, bring your laptop.
Click on your preferred date to register for Choice Certification Training:
Choice Annual Conference
The Choice Annual Conference will be held at the Indiana Government Center South on July 16 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. This conference gives Choice Schools the opportunity to hear from specialists in the different programs and offices of IDOE. There is no cost to attend the conference, however parking and lunch will be on your own. Click here for helpful information about parking and restaurants, including printable maps.
2019-2020 Choice Student Applications
The student folder checklist is a tool for Choice Schools to use to verify that the required documentation has been collected for each Choice Scholarship Student. The form has been updated for the 2019-2020 school year. It is recommended, but not required.
70% Choice Scholarship Award Amounts - In the past legislative session, a new income threshold and corresponding award amounts were established. We have spent the last few weeks updating the documents on our website to convey the new income threshold and award amounts.
Effective this week, the new award amounts are generated on the student applications in the STN Application Center. Any student who qualifies for the new award amount will have it reflected on their respective award letter and endorsement form.
However, this change did not retroactively change applications. An email was sent to Choice School contacts detailing which students were affected by this change. To update the award amount of a qualified student, simply pull up the student application, click on the STN, verify the check boxes on the application, and click "save". This will automatically run the calculation again and the estimated award amount will be updated. Once this has been done, a new estimated award letter and endorsement form must be downloaded for each student. The award letter should be given to the parent/guardian and a copy should be saved in the student's Choice file. The endorsement form must be signed by the school and parent/guardian to be uploaded during the submission period.
Choice Scholarship Eligibility System (CSES) - This is one of the options for verifying income eligibility. If the student is not found in the CSES, then household size and income is required to be used.
- If you receive the message, "Reference ID number does not match the STN provided", email the STN and Reference ID number to ChoiceSchool@doe.in.gov.
- If there are multiple Reference ID numbers, this means that the student has multiple qualifying factors. Any of the Reference ID numbers for the student may be used.
Household Size and Income - If household size and income is being used to verify income eligibility for the Choice Scholarship Program, please see the Income Verification Rules and Income Verification FAQs. The Household Summary Form is required to be completed if tax forms are not available or if the information on the student's application is different from what is on the tax form.
Special Education - If you receive the message, "2018-2019 SE Record Not Found", complete and submit the application. The status of the application will show as pending. Send a message to ChoiceSchool@doe.in.gov to let us know that the application is pending. A Specialist in special education will confirm eligibility for special education services.
Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) - It is important that when you are communicating information regarding a student, NEVER include both student name and STN in the same email. It is a violation of FERPA to do so.
Nonpublic School Community - Moodle
Recently Posted Documents and Layouts
- DOE-MV (Membership for Vouchers)
- DOE-TB (Curricular Materials Assistance)
End of Year Reminders
- EM Enrollments - All students are to be exited at the end of the school year. If a student was in attendance on the last day of school, use exit code 50 (end of school year). There is no sign-off for EM data.
- Foreign Exchange Students - If a foreign exchange student is not returning the following school year, exit the student with code 27 (foreign exchange student who returns to country of origin).
- 2018-2019 Calendar Certification - The calendar must be certified before AT data can be submitted.
- 2018-2019 Graduates - Remember to report early graduates.
STN/SPN Merge Requests FAX Line Decommissioned
Beginning July 1, all STN/SPN merge requests must be submitted via the Data Reporting ticketing system (https://help.doe.in.gov). The FAX number will be turned off July 1.
Update: Learning Connection, Data Reporting Community Retiring
The Data Reporting Community will be retired July 1, 2019. As the 2020 Report Layouts are posted to the Data Reporting Help Page, you may find that fewer resource documents are posted on the Data Reporting Help page as well as the Learning Connection Data Reporting community. As noted previously, you are encouraged to begin utilizing the Data Reporting Help page to locate layouts. The Application Center link (Info Center > STN Documents) to the help page will remain available for the 2019-2020 school year. Find reporting resources related to specific reporting layouts via links within the specific data. The layout links will direct you to the resources that are now posted to the appropriate department’s webpages. In most instances, Data Reporting will no longer post a copy of these same resources to our Data Reporting Help page.
Reports Currently Open
- DOE AT for EM submitters 2019 (Attendance)
- DOE CE 2019 (Certified Employee) Period 2
- DOE CP 2019 (Certified Positions) Period 2
- DOE CC 2019 (Course Completion) Period 2
- DOE GR 2019 (Graduate)
- IREAD Summer Retest (Grades 3-5) Period 3
- DOE IR 2019 (IRead3 Exemption)
- DOE LE (LEP Federal Flexibility) - closes today
- DOE EM (Enrollment and Mobility)
- DOE SPN 2019 (School Personnel Number)
- DOE STN 2019 (Student Test Number)
Report Opening Soon
- DOE-DT 2019 (Dual Credit) - opens July 12
Help US Help YOU
Click on HelpDesk to contact STN support to create a work order. Please provide an email address and phone number to contact in the work order. STN support is also available by phone at (317) 232-0808.
Choice Scholarship Program
Email: ChoiceSchool@doe.in.gov
Website: doe.in.gov/choice
Location: 115 West Washington Street, Indianapolis, IN, USA
Phone: 317-233-2200