08-29-2018 | WY-TOPP Updates
 With the introduction of WY-TOPP as the statewide standardized student assessment, the need for an automated “near real-time” enrollment process was recognized. A readily available solution employing SIF was identified as the most feasible.
With this solution, districts coordinated with their SIS solution provider and Computer Power Solutions of Illinois (CPSI), the vendor that provides the SIF connectivity channel to WDE, to establish a new ZIS ‘zone’ to facilitate the data communication channel between the Student Information System (SIS), CPSI, and AIR’s TIDE.
Please reference Superintendent's Memo 2018-040.
Typically, the Districts Technology Director is tasked with configuration of the ZIS server, and coordinating with CPSI and the districts SIS vendor. Assessment Coordinators should talk to the District Technology Director to discuss who in fact is configuring the ZIS server and when those updates are being delivered to the state. There are two separate flows of information.
1) information delivered from the district to the state (via SIF/ZIS), and
2) information uploaded nightly from the state to AIR. Students will show up in TIDE by the following morning.
|
Q1) Will the Assessment Student Information Upload be derived from a WDE684 collection?
A) No. Now that districts can participate in WY-TOPP testing, via modular, interim, and summative assessments, on virtually any day of the school year, the data from a WDE684 is too stale to use for rostering. This is why a “near real-time” upload from Districts SIF/SIS connection is necessary allowing WY-TOPP auto-student information upload.
Since the WDE684 is a 'snapshot', but student enrollment in SISs is very fluid, we responded to the need for a "real-time" enrollment (roster) mechanism for Assessment, especially with Modular assessments.
So the WDE684 is not an option. Hence, the ZIS solution.
Q2) What does my district need to do?
A) Tech Directors: If you have not already connected to the new CPSI zone for automated WY-TOPP enrollment, please complete the following steps:
- Inform your SIS vendor, Power School or Infinite Campus, that you need to connect to the CPSI zone identified by your district-specific URL. Make clear that this is a new zone in addition to any others you already have and not a replacement for any of these.
- Contact Ariana Bauer and identify your district to schedule the configuration of your agent for this the CPSI zone.
- Once both steps are complete you can use tools provided by your SIS provider to monitor the transmissions between your district and the CPSI zone.
B) Assessment Coordinators: Touch base with your Tech Director to understand who at your district is responsible for configuring the ZIS server. Once the connection is made the process will occur nightly. As long as data entered in the SIS passes validation it will be loaded into TIDE by the following morning.
Q3) How does a student get entered in TIDE?
A) Once a student is enrolled in the SIS and information is successfully delivered to the state, the following day that student will be present in the TIDE system.
Q4) What data is being collected to build the assessment roster?
A) To build the roster, the WDE will be collecting LEAInfo, SchoolInfo, StudentPersonal and SchoolStudentEnrollment directly from your SIS through this zone.
Q5) I’ve followed instructions in creating the new CPSI Zone for the WY-TOPP student information upload, but how do I know if the SIF connection is functioning? How can I test?
A) As a first approximation to help you determine if your district is sending the requisite data to the CPSI Zone hosted by WDE, please access the report (link below) with your fusion credentials:
https://portals.edu.wyoming.gov/Reports/View/wde-reports-2012/data-collections/roster-sif-objects
The report shows the three objects that the WDE is using to build the roster for each district: SchoolInfo, StudentPersonal, and StudentSchoolEnrollment. The count of these objects (Object Count) is the number of objects of each type that the WDE has received from your SIS. The expected number of each type of object is given by the value in 'Expected Count'. In case of SchoolInfo, the expected count is the number of schools open in your district during 2018-19. Last year's fall enrollment numbers are provided as the expected count values of StudentPersonal and StudentSchoolEnrollment. The number of these types of objects this year should approximately match the enrollment numbers from last year.
If there are any zero values that means we have not received data from your district yet, and you should contact the Software Development Supervisor John Paul at the WDE. His team will work with you and your SIS provider to ensure that the requisite data is flowing. If your object counts agree with the expected counts then your assessment director can begin to review the roster being built in AIR's TIDE system. The counts in the report only serve as a high level view of the number of required objects. Beyond the raw numbers are questions of data validity. WDE staff are also working on providing data validity reports for district personnel to make corrections directly in their SISs.
Q6) Auto-enrollment is not occuring (in TIDE). What’s wrong? How do I troubleshoot?
If you have data in the agent but students aren’t showing up in TIDE it is likely a data validation issue. The WDE is building validation reports that will be available in September. Prior to report release, work with John Paul to resolve your errors.
Q7) What are the different SIF Zones that I need?
1) CPSI Zone (used to create assessment rosters) - The destination for this zone is on a server here at the state. This is a new zone that we require to create a realtime school enrollment for all students in the state, based on the enrollments of students in each district. Uploading the student enrollments in your district to this zone is a prerequisite to participate in WY-TOPP testing. This zone is identified by a district-specific URL and can be obtained by emailing John if you don't have it.
To build the roster, the WDE will be collecting CalendarSummary, LEAInfo, SchoolInfo, StudentPersonal and SchoolStudentEnrollment directly from your SIS through this zone.
If you have not already connected to the CPSI zone to schedule the zone please complete the following steps.
- Inform your SIS vendor, whether Power School or Infinite Campus, that you need to connect to the CPSI zone identified by the above URL. Make clear that this is a new zone in addition to any others you already have and not a replacement for any of these.
- Contact Ariana Bauer (CPSI) and identify your district to schedule the configuration of your agent for this the CPSI zone.
2) Kimono Zone (used to retrieve WISER IDs) - The destination for this zone is in the Kimono Cloud and among other services it provides for the automatic issuance of WISER IDs through the Student Locator Framework (SLF). Since it has been available for years the connection to the Kimono zone is most likely already present in your SIS. If not, there are instructions for connecting to it are on the WISE webpage. Any district not currently using the automated Student Locator Framework (and are using the manual process), we highly advise this automated process.
Q8) When will TIDE be completed with student accounts so that test settings and accommodations can be entered?
A) The WY-TOPP student information upload is an ongoing and daily process. Student information will be sent to TIDE daily and districts and campuses can add/edit student test settings and accommodations as soon as students show up in TIDE.
Q9) When is WDE is going to do the initial upload to TIDE?
A) The Wyoming Department of Education has been asked to have the first upload to AIR no later than Friday morning, August 31, 2018. The file will include students whose records have been received by the state and passed AIR validation.
Q10) Can we upload any of these via CSV file if they fail with the auto update?
A) Districts do not have the capability to upload student information to TIDE.
| 
