Student Enrollment FAQ

Q:  How do I see a student’s enrollment history?

A:  First, you will search for a particular student, then click on the Enrollment History option in the Students tab.

Q:  What can I edit on the Student Enrollment History page?

A:  You can create a new enrollment record, change a student’s grade or attendance program, edit transfer records, delete an enrollment record, and edit enrollment details such as entry date, exit date, and exit code.

Q:  When is a student considered a “No Show”?

A:  A "no-show" is a student who the district has every reason to think is returning for the next school year, but who never shows up when Day 1 of the new school year comes around.  Some districts have a tendency to confuse how they handle students who they know are leaving with how they handle no-shows. They often think that the two cases are the same thing, which they are not.

The Enrollment History page has an option to no-show a student, but this should only be used after schools starts when an expected student does not show. If the district knows, in advance, that the student is not continuing at the school (which is by far the more common case), you will follow the process in the next question.

Q:  What do you do if you know a student is not returning to your district for the following school year (e.g. after summer)?

A:  A student who is not going to return next year is usually handled as follows:

- The new year’s enrollment should be deleted. There should be no record of their new year enrollment since the student is known to not be returning.

- The previous enrollment record (the year just finished) should be given an exit date (the last day of school) and an exit code.

- The exit code that you select really depends on your district and its process. Some districts have only the CALPADS exit codes, some use an extended set, and some use a limited set. In any case, there should be an exit code that the district uses to represent students leaving your district for another district.  It should be on the student’s last valid enrollment record (the one from the previous year).

- Any students that were rolled over by the rollover tool and are not returning will have to be manually changed to reflect whether they are a known to be leaving or a no-show.

Q:  When/How do I delete a student?

A:  You can delete an attendance record by accessing the Student Enrollment History page. Click the trash can button to the far right of the record you wish to delete.

Q:  What is dual enrollment?  Can students have dual enrollment in Illuminate?

A:  Yes, students can have dual enrollment in Illuminate.  Dual enrollment occurs when a student is enrolled in 2 school sites.  One example where this occurs is a student in middle school who takes classes at the high school, as well.

Q:  How do I add a transfer record for a student?  

A:  Click on Students > Transfer Details to create a transfer record for the student.  You must select a choice from "To", "Reason", and "Status" drop down menus. Be sure to click Add to save your changes.

Q:  How do I add a retention/promotion for a student?

A:  Click on Students > Retentions/Promotions to create a retention or promotion record for the student.  You must select "Grade Level", "Academic Year", "Site", and "Retention or Promotion" from the drop down menus. Be sure to click Add to save your changes.

Q:  How do I designate/enroll a student in Special Ed?

A:  When you create a student through the registration builder, you will enter the student’s special education details such as entry and exit date (if applicable), placement and plan type, etc.  Extensive details can be added in the Special Ed tab > Student Details > Edit Special Education such as the IEP dates, Designated Instruction and Services, Disability and Service Information, as well as, the information from the “Create a Student” enrollment page.

Q:  How should I flag NPS (non-Public Schools) students?

A:  NPS stands for Non-Public Schools. Special Ed students who need specialized services that a school district cannot provide attend these private schools, but the districts are still responsible for tracking their data.

Districts usually set up a dummy site in Illuminate, usually called "NPS School,"  (can be named whatever they like). The dummy site's CDS code must end in 0000001. This is the state's rule for identifying NPS in CALPADS.

Then, the student is enrolled in that school (and only in that school, NOT dual enrollment!). Worth mentioning, the site type is not very important when setting up the NPS site. Many districts simply set the NPS school's site type to "Other". The key is really the CDS code ending in 0000001.

On the Special Ed Details page, there is also a field called "Non-Public/Private School" that needs to be filled out for those students. The list of schools in the drop down is driven by a code table in Code Management (called "Special Ed County and Non-Public/Private Schools"). That code table contains the CDS code for the NPS school.  It is critical that your district/school has the full 14-digit CDS code in the code table.

If all of those pieces are not in place, a student will not be reported correctly to CALPADS, and the district will likely see errors in the CALPADS Validation Logs that say "Required value (NPS school of attendance) missing" or "School of Attendance does not appear to be a valid school code".

Permissions will need to be set in order for users to edit student enrollment records.  You will need to determine which users, roles, etc. will need access to this function.

Go to Admin > Users > Permissions

Click Yes to the following permissions:  

“Modify Student Details”-Allows users to modify the Student Demographic Details page

“Edit Student Attendance Programs”-Allows users to edit a student’s attendance program

“View Student Enrollment History”-Allows users to view the student Enrollment History page

“Delete Student Enrollment History Data”-Allows users to access the delete option on the Student Enrollment History page

“Modify Student Enrollment History Data”-Allows users to edit details on the Student Enrollment History page

“View Student Programs”

“View Attendance Programs”

“View instructional Programs”

“Student Report Enrollment by Attendance Program”

“Student Report Enrollment by Day”

“Enrollment by Ethnicity”

“Enrollment by Teacher”

“No-show List”

“View student transfer information”

“Create, Delete, Modify student transfer information”

“View a non-current student’s data”

“View Students that are not rostered to the user”

Admins set-up the registration builder that staff will use to “create a new student.”  You will set-up the field order, whether the field is enabled, and what fields are required such as name, birth date, gender, language details, etc.

Go to:  Admin > School > Registration Builder  

P:  I need to change a student’s attendance program from, for example, regular education to special education or Independent Study.

S:  You can change a student’s attendance program on the Enrollment History page by clicking on the Change Grade/Program.