Connecticut State Department of Education

2019-2020 Frequently Asked Questions

NOTE: On or around July 1 APSEP’s will have the ability to upload directly into TCS.
  • If you are a LEA please do not email APSEP’s asking for data as they will be uploading directly.
  • If you are an APSEP you may begin creating your spreadsheet now. Remember that all of the records should be on a single sheet. If you already created multiple sheets that is ok, the new process will still work. I will help you when the system opens. Please see the APSEP/Outplaced Facility Information page for more details.
 
General TCS Questions: How will APSEP’s transmit their data for the 2019-2020 school year?

APSEP’s will directly upload their data into TCS. They will have the ability to fix any errors and upload again until the batch is error free. All of the data for multiple districts could be in one upload. After a successful upload the data would then be parsed out to each district to review, edit as they see fit, and process.  

 

How should grades and attendance be reported in regard to school closures due to COVID-19?
  

Grades for the entire school year must be reported regardless if learning took place in the traditional manner or via distance learning. That said, attendance should only be based on traditional school days. Please see the SDE memo outlining the current attendance guidance. Note that attendance and membership in TCS is optional and does not have to be reported.

While attendance and membership are optional in TCS, LEA's are required to report this data in PSIS (the Public School Information System), which is a separate collection. If you are an APSEP please be prepared to provide this information to LEA's for this purpose.

What should we use as the Session End Date in regard to COVID-19?

Use your last day of coursework regardless of COVID-19 (i.e. use a June date instead of a March date).  COVID-19 does not effect this date.

How do we submit grades in TCS this year if we are only using pass/fail?

You can continue to grade your students however your LEA sees fit. There are two grade fields in TCS: Outcome/Grade and Outcome/Grade Status: 
• Outcome/Grade – This field can continue to be used to represent however your LEA grades students such as A, B, Pass, Disengaged, etc.
• Outcome/Grade Status – This field must be one of CSDE’s set variables from Table F: P (pass), F (fail)…etc. 
 
Outplaced Facility/APSEP Questions:

What is the due date for APSEP's?

July, 31, 2020 - Please not the following facilities have approved extensions:

  • Grove School (9/14/20)
  • Solterra Academy (8/7/20)

Will training be available for this new process?

Yes. Once testing is complete and we are ready to go live online training will be scheduled. It will be posted on the TCS Training Page and an email will be sent to the APSEP Contact List. 

How do I separate the districts? What order should the students be in?

The students/districts can be in any order. Do not leave blank lines between the records.

If I have more than one facility can I put all of the records on one spreadsheet?

Yes, just be sure the appropriate facility code is listed for each record. Do not skip rows between records.

I am an APSEP and I have the data already separated for each district. Is this ok?

If you have not yet sent the data to the districts please hold off as submitting it via the portal is more efficient. You do not have to paste your data back onto one spreadsheet.

 
 How do I report records for a student who changed Reporting Districts partway through the year? 

If a course covered the time period when a student was in District A and in District B include two records for that course, one with District A as  the Reporting District, the other with District B. If the Session Start/End Dates covered only the time a student was in one Reporting District list only one record  (for each course) with that particular district as the Reporting District.

 

Manual File Creation Questions

Many Reporting District codes only have one or two digits. The leading zero disappears when I input it in the spreadsheet (example: 056 turns into 56). Is this an issue?

This is not an issue. The filed does not have to begin with a zero. This also applies to other fields that may begin with a zero. For example a birthday of June 16, 2008 can be reported as 6162008.

I am an APSEP. Can we use the same template as last year? Are the columns the same?

You must take the following steps if you are using the file “TCS_APSEP_Outplaced_Template.xlsx:”

  • Be sure to save the file as a .csv
  • Be sure all number fields are formatted as MMDDYYYY
  • Remove the header as the information in that version will generate an error
How did you save a file as CSV?
Go to File > Save As and then select CSV (Comma Delimited) next to “Save as type.”

I have prepared the file using Google documents, does it need to be converted before uploading? Yes - select File > Download as and select a file type (CSV). Then select Open or Save.