IDEC - Frequently Asked Questions
The IDEC website may seem a little daunting and complex to navigate, but these frequently asked questions should help with any simple queries you might have about web data entry and locating specific information. If at any time anything goes wrong with your data entry, please do not get frustrated; the quickest way to resolve an issue is to contact your teacher leader, who will then forward your query to the central Reading Recovery office at the International Literacy Centre, UCL Institute of Education, London.
Problems with website access
Where can teacher usernames and passwords be found?
Teacher leaders can locate any of their teacher’s login details by clicking the “View a list of teachers” link.
What is the exact URL for the IDEC website?
The full IDEC website address is www.idecweb.co.uk.
Can teachers log into the IDEC website from home?
It makes no difference whether accessing the IDEC website from home or from school.
What should teachers do if they experience problems with logging in?
It is important to always enter the correct website address (www.idecweb.co.uk). If the full address is being entered though, there may be an issue with establishing a secure connection. In order to verify this, teachers can enter https://www.idecweb.co.uk as failure to access a website including the addition of the https prefix proves that a secure (encrypted) connection cannot be established from the computer in question. In such a case, the teacher would need to ask a computer technician to open “port 443” on their firewall or proxy server, thus enabling a secure connection to the website to be established.
Why might one be unable to locate the IDEC website in a web search?
Several search engines, including Bing and Yahoo!, do not recognise the IDEC website, and so entry cannot be gained from these. The best course of action is to always use Google, since this search engine does provide a link to the site. Please though, do not confuse us with the similar looking US version of the site (www.idecweb.us), as login details will not work if entered on this site. The best idea of all though, is to bookmark the page on your browser, so that there is no danger of you ever accessing the incorrect page.
General information about data to be entered and its use
What is the age range of pupils for which data can be entered?
The IDEC website accepts Reading Recovery pupils, who are aged between five years six months, and seven years eleven months. The range for follow-up children is obviously much wider though; they can be aged between five years six months, and eleven years old. Children in other interventions (e.g. BRP or Talking Partners), also have a much wider acceptable age range. If you have a child who needs to be entered as a Reading Recovery child, but is outside the valid range for whatever reason, consider entering them as Special, after discussion with your teacher leader. However, if they are to be entered as a Reading Recovery child, you must ask your teacher leader to contact the IOE with all the details, who will investigate the possibility of lifting the age restrictions for this child’s record.
What if a school is unwilling to use children’s names on the internet?
If the children have UPNs (Unique Pupil Numbers), we can cope without their full name, but UPNs are complex numbers and it would be easy to make a typing error. As such, we need something to cross check against the number to ensure we are following up the right child, so please always include at least initials or, better yet, the first two or three letters of the child’s first name (e.g. Joh Smi for John Smith). What really matters is that we can track down the child in two or five years’ time.
What is the inactivity time on this website?
The inactivity time is twenty minutes. Some teachers may find this inconvenient, but it is a necessary security measure designed to protect against the viewing of sensitive data by unauthorised persons; for instance, if a teacher walks away from their computer whilst still logged into the site, the twenty minute inactivity time will reduce the likelihood of confidential data falling into the wrong hands.
There may often be a gap between testing and programme start: How long is OS data valid for?
OS data is only valid for three weeks, so if a programme cannot be started within this time, the child should be assessed again before their programme begins. The reason for this, of course, is that the teacher would otherwise begin teaching based on flawed assumptions about the child’s abilities and knowledge, and thus the child might not get as much out of the first few lessons as they could otherwise have done.
Where can more detailed information on what to enter in each field on each page of the site, be found?
Clicking on “Publications” just below the Reading Recovery National Network header, brings up a list of publications related to use of the site. The “Data Entry Procedures Manual 2015-16” document provides detailed advice on exactly what to enter on each page of the site.
Can I find a copy of these FAQs offline?
Clicking on “Publications” just below the Reading Recovery National Network header, brings up a list of publications related to use of the site. The “Frequently Asked Questions 2015-16” document can be downloaded from here and saved to your computer, and thus used offline. In order to search within this document, hold down ‘CTRL +F’, before entering the keywords you which to find.
Teachers: Using the website
Where can teachers find their usernames and passwords?
Any teacher who forgets their login details must contact their teacher leader.
How can teachers change their usernames and passwords?
If teachers click the “Change security information” link, they will be presented with a screen which enables a new password to be chosen, and then confirmed. Teacher usernames cannot be altered. Clicking "OK” after ticking the appropriate box will save the changes.
Are there any restrictions on choosing a new password?
Passwords can be altered to something more memorable, but all must be between six and sixty-four characters long and must not contain spaces.
Do teachers need to fill in all of their contact details?
It is not necessary for teachers to provide their home addresses nor home phone numbers as such information is, obviously, unrelated to data collection and analysis. Teachers are encouraged though, to enter their own email addresses on their contact information page because doing so enables them to email their teacher leaders directly from the website, and vice versa, thus speeding up the ability to discuss data issues.
How are teacher contact details edited?
Teachers can update their details or correct any errors by clicking the “Update my contact information” link.
How are school contact details edited?
Teacher leaders are responsible for informing the International Literacy Centre administration team if school contact details are incorrect. As such, any corrections or alterations must be forwarded to teacher leaders, who will then contact the admin team to action this. Teachers are responsible directly though, for entering the name and email address of their school’s current headteacher, and this is done via the “Enter school data” link.
Teachers: Entering data
How does a teacher begin to enter pupil data?
Before recording any pupil data, teachers MUST ensure they have entered and submitted their school data, and have answered all but the final two teacher data questions. If this is not completed prior to pupil data entry, any pupil data entered will not be saved.
Once this is done though, clicking the “Enter pupil data” link brings up a list of all pupils affiliated with the teacher in the current school year. Data can be entered by selecting the appropriate page for the; for instance, if profile data on the pupil needs to be entered, click the background page icon, if SATs data needs to be added, click the National Assessments page icon. Remember to always “Save” the record before leaving the page; otherwise any newly entered data will be lost.
If a pupil for whom data needs to be entered is not present on this page, but should be, they may need copying forward from last year (see instructions below). If the pupil is brand new though, just click the “Add a new pupil” link in the pupil records manager box and follow the prompts on-screen.
How do teachers copy over children from the previous school year to the current one?
All pupils who were entered as “Discontinued”, “Referred” or “Ongoing” in the previous school year, should be automatically copied over to the current year. However, in some circumstances, children may be missed. In such cases, teachers will need to carry these children forward themselves. To do this, click the “Enter pupil data” link and choose the previous school year from the first drop-down box in the pupil records manager. This will display all children affiliated with the teacher in the previous school year. Next, click “Start a new programme for a pupil”, choosing the type of programme (e.g. “Follow-up Only”) and name of pupil from the drop-down lists. Clicking “Next” will then ensure that this child is copied across to the current year. Repeat these steps for any other children that need to be copied across.
Why might a teacher receive error messages when they are trying to copy a child forward?
If teachers are unable to copy children forward to the current year, it is likely that the type of programme they are selecting does not fit with the previous year’s programme outcome; for instance, they are trying to start a Follow-up programme for a child who was determined “Ongoing” at the end of last year. As such, teachers should ensure that they select Reading Recovery for children who are “Ongoing” and Follow-up for “Discontinued” or “Referred” children. If a child had no programme outcome entered when the data was submitted at the end of the year, the system will assume they were “Incomplete, and so they cannot be carried forward to the current year. In such cases, teachers must contact their teacher leaders to discuss entering the child afresh this year. Data from the previous year cannot be altered once it has been submitted.
How do teachers copy over ex-Reading Recovery children to the current school year, for entry of KS2 SATs data?
Many ex-Reading Recovery children are now in Year Six, due to sit their KS2 SATs this year. In cases where these children’s schools are still Reading Recovery schools and the teacher who taught them remains the same too, the required pupils should be automatically copied over to the current year for data entry in the summer term.
If the school is still a Reading Recovery school, but the teacher has changed, the children will still be automatically copied forward, but to the teacher leader instead. In such cases, the teacher should ask for the children to be transferred across to them, so that they can enter the KS2 SATs data themselves, once it is available.
If the school is no longer a Reading Recovery school, teacher leaders will have to notify the European Centre of Reading Recovery administration team, so that the school can be added and the relevant children copied across for the teacher leader to enter the data themselves in the summer term.
When a child is copied forward to the current school year, is all their data also copied forward?
When a teacher copies a child forward from the previous school year to the current one, the database makes every effort to also transfer as much of the pupil’s data as is possible. As such, teachers will not have to re-enter any background details (e.g. school name, pupil’s date of birth, gender, ethnicity etc.), programme data (entry/ exit test data scores and dates) or additional information. However, teachers will still have to check this data to ensure that it is accurate; for instance, if the child was in Year One last year, the database will automatically set the pupil’s current school year as Year Two, but if the child was actually retained in Year One for another year, this will have to be detected and amended by teachers.
How can teachers identify which Follow-up Only children are their Year Six children, on the site only for entry of KS2 SATs data?
If a teacher has children for whom they need to enter KS2 SATs data in the summer term, the children in question can be identified by the dash mark (“-”) in place of their RR follow-up page.
If a teacher sees padlocks next to the background, programme etc. icons on the pupil data page, how can they unlock these and thus enter follow-up data?
Padlocks displayed next to pupil data pages indicates that the records are last year’s and thus unalterable. In order to enter any new data then, teachers must first copy the children in question across to the current year (see instructions above), ensuring to select "Reading Recovery" or "Follow-up Only" as the programme type, as appropriate.
How can teachers alter data from the previous year?
Sometimes, teachers fail to enter programme outcomes for their children at the end of the year. In such cases, the system assumes that the programme is Incomplete. If this is incorrect, there is nothing that can be done in the following year as data submitted to IOE cannot be edited. This attests the need for teachers to double check everything before they sign off their data entry for the year. Particular notice should be paid to programme outcome; if a child is ongoing, enter this as their outcome, do not leave the field blank.