All material contained in this manual is based on Texas Education Code, Texas Administrative Code, the Student Attendance Accounting Handbook, the PEIMS Data Standards, district policy and best practices. An updated copy of this manual will be issued to all secondary PEIMS/Registrars at the beginning of each school year.

Campus leaver audits will be performed each year by the District PEIMS Specialist to ensure accuracy of leaver reporting and uniformity of procedures. Schedules and documentation requirements will be sent to the campuses two weeks prior to the reviews.

Leaver Information

The school-start window extends from the first day of school through the last Friday in September. All leavers must be properly coded and documented by this date.

A leaver is a student served in grade 7-12 in the prior school year who does not re-enroll in the current school year (includes graduates, dropouts, withdrawals outside the Texas public school system, and no-shows). Leaver data is reported in PEIMS Submission 1 using a 203 record and is used to determine a district’s dropout and completion rate for accountability purposes. Leaver codes must adhere to the available codes for that school year. Leaver data may be corrected until the resubmission of Fall PEIMS data in mid-January. Once records are finalized, they cannot be changed.

The grade level of a school leaver refers to the last grade of enrollment. Students who complete a grade, but do not return to school within the school-start window the following year, will be reported with the grade level during the last year of enrollment. For example, an 8th grader who does not show up at the high school where they were expected to attend will be a leaver from the middle school where they were last enrolled.

Leaver records are reported for all students who graduated during the prior school year, including summer graduates, up through August 31st.

Students who have previously completed all graduation requirements in one school year, but do not pass the exit-level TAKS or STAAR EOC until the next year, are reported as graduates in the year in which TAKS or STAAR EOC test was passed.

An under-reported student is one who was served in the prior school year but is not included in the Fall PEIMS Submission as a currently active student or as a leaver. A list of under-reported students will be available after the completion of the Fall PEIMS Submission deadline. Once the report is available, the PEIMS department will deliver the reports to the campuses to for review. Any corrections that need to be made to student leaver data will be made in eSchool Plus, and PEIMS leaver records will be resubmitted to TEA. Final leaver reports and under-reported information will be available at the completion of the fall PEIMS resubmission in mid January. Campuses must clear all applicable students from its under-reported list.

A mover is a student who withdrew from a district and enrolled in another Texas public school district within the same school year or in the school-start window of the next school year. Withdrawn with a code of CS-Change schools in our district or CD-Changed districts within Texas.

A dropout is a student who attended grade 7-12 in a public school in a particular school year, does not return the following fall, is not expelled, and does NOT:

  • graduate,
  • receive a General Educational Development certificate (GED),
  • continue school outside the public school system,
  • begin college, or
  • has died

Common Mistakes in Leaver Reporting

District does not submit a leaver record

District does not submit an enrollment record

District does not follow up on a student who intended to enroll elsewhere to see if he or she actually enrolled, either within Texas or in another state.

District withdraws a student using a leaver code that is no longer valid

District does not document why a student left

District knows why a student left but submits the wrong code on the 203 record

District creates a duplicate PID and the student becomes under-reported because records do not match

Calculating Annual Dropout Rates and Longitudinal Rates

(Completion Rates)

Annual Dropout Rate definition: the percentage of students who drop out of school during one school year.

Annual Dropout Rate Calculation: number of students who dropped out during the school year divided by the number of students enrolled during the school year.

Completion Rate definition: the percentage of students from a class of beginning ninth graders (cohort) who complete their high school education by the anticipated graduation date. The cohort includes students who transfer in during the second, third, and fourth years.

A completer may be defined as a student who graduates, continues high school in the fall after expected graduation, or receives a GED.

A continuer is a student enrolled in the school-start window in the fall after expected graduation (5th year of high school).

Longitudinal Dropout Rate: the percentage of students from the same class who drop out before completing their high school education.

Completion I Rate Calculation:

Graduates + continuers divided by graduates + continuers + GED recipients + dropouts

Completion II Rate Calculation:

Graduates + continuers + GED recipients divided by graduates + continuers + GED recipients + dropouts

Graduation Rate Calculation:

Graduates divided by graduates + continuers + GED recipients + dropouts

Longitudinal dropout rate calculation:

Dropouts divided by graduates + continuers + GED recipients + dropouts

Students who meet all graduation requirements but who need to return to school to take exit level TAKS or STAAR EOCtest(s) will require the following documentation and steps taken to ensure accurate reporting to PEIMS:

  1. Student must come to campus to establish personal contact to meet requirements prior to the school-start window (last Friday of September).
  2. District provides student with information on TAKS or STAAR EOC study guides/information on re-testing
  3. Enroll with entry code of “0” (enrolled not in membership, in Eschool Plus)
  4. Enroll as of the first day of school or the date student meets with counselor
  5. Student will not appear on attendance reports

Code
Table ID /
Name / Date
Issued / Date
Updated
C162-A / LEAVER-REASON-CODE (Abbreviated) / 03/02/1998 / 03/01/2011
Code / Translation
01 / Graduated From A Campus In This District Or Charter
03 / Died
16 / Return To Home Country
24 / College, Pursue Associate’s or Bachelor’s Degree
60 / Home Schooling
66 / Removed-Child Protective Services
78 / Expelled For Offense Under TEC §37.007, Cannot Return
81 / Enroll In TX Private School
82 / Enroll In School Outside Texas
83 / Withdrawn By District Because Not Entitled To Enrollment
85 / Graduated Outside Texas Before Entering A Texas Public School-Entered A Texas Public School-Left Again
86 / GED Outside Texas
87 / Enroll In University High School Diploma Program
88 / Court-ordered to a GED program, has not earned a GED
89 / Incarcerated in state jail or federal penitentiary as an adult
90 / Graduated from another state under provisions of the Interstate Compact on Educational Opportunity for Military Children
98 / Other

General Leaver Documentation Requirements

  • Districts must document the withdrawal of students and maintain on file the appropriate paperwork associated with student withdrawals. Documentation is required for all leaver reason codes. Documentation requirements for leaver codes are provided in the Documentation Requirements by LEAVER-REASON-CODE section. Documentation supporting use of a leaver reason code must exist in the district at the time the leaver data are submitted, i.e., no later than the PEIMS Submission 1 January resubmission date.
  • Students who leave during the school year.

For students who leave during the school year, leaver reasons apply at the time of withdrawal, and documentation should be obtained at that time. For example, for students who are withdrawn by Child Protective Services (CPS), LEAVER-REASON-CODE 66, documentation would be obtained when the student is removed.

  • Students who fail to return in the fall

For students who fail to return the following fall, leaver reasons apply on the first day of school or its approximation, the school-start window. The school-start window is the period of time between the first day of school and the last Friday in September. Districts should use the LEAVER-REASON-CODE that most appropriately describes the student's whereabouts during the school-start window. For example, to use LEAVERREASON-CODE 60 student withdrew from/left school for home schooling, a district would establish that a student was being home schooled at some point during the school-start window. The district could obtain the documentation to support the leaver code at any time up until the PEIMS Submission 1 resubmission date

  • Students who should not have been enrolled and are withdrawn under LEAVER-REASON-CODE 83 administrative withdrawal.

LEAVER-REASON-CODE 83, not entitled to public school enrollment in the district, applies to students who are attending and are withdrawn by the district because the district discovers, when verifying enrollment information, that the student was not entitled to enrollment in the district because the student was not a resident of the district or was not entitled under other provisions of TEC §25.001 or as a transfer student. It is not for a student who was a resident and stops attending because he/she has moved out of the district. This code is also used for those rare situations in which the student has not met the requirements under TEC §38.001 or a corresponding rule of the Texas Department of State Health Services for immunization, provisional enrollment, or exemption. Leaver reasons for LEAVER-REASON-CODE 83 apply at the time of withdrawal and documentation showing due process supporting the withdrawal should be obtained at that time.

Signatures on documentation.

Documentation must be signed and dated by an authorized representative of the district. The district should have a written policy stating who can act as an authorized representative for purposes of signing withdrawal forms and other leaver reason documentation.

Withdrawal documentation should also be signed for the student by a:

•Parent/guardian, or

•responsible adult as recorded in school records, such as a foster parent or a probation officer, or

•A qualified student is one who, at the time he/she stops attending school:

  • is married,
  • is 18 years or older, or
  • has established a residence separate and apart from the student’s parent/guardian, or other person having lawful control of the student

An original signature is not required on withdrawal forms received in the district by fax. Withdrawal forms received by e-mail do not need to be signed by the parent/guardian or qualified student. Written documentation of oral statements made in person or by telephone by the parent/guardian or qualified student is acceptable documentation in some situations if it is signed and dated by the district representative.

  • Evaluation of documentation

Merits of leaver documentation are assessed at the time the documentation is requested during a data inquiry investigation. Determination of the acceptability of documentation is made by the professional staff conducting the investigation. These guidelines describe the most common types of documentation the investigator, in case of an audit, would expect to find supporting use of each leaver reason code. Other documentation that represents good business practice and shows a good faith effort on the part of the district to properly report leaver status will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis

.

  • Completeness of documentation.

Withdrawal documentation shall be considered incomplete without a date, signature(s), and destination. Documentation will not be deemed insufficient when information is missing because the parent or parents refuse to provide information requested by the district. A district should document, at the time of the conversation that the information was requested, and the parent refused to provide it. Appropriate documentation of a parent refusal to provide information includes the date, content of conversation, name of person with whom the conversation was conducted, and the signature of the school official verifying the conversation.

  • Changing LEAVER-REASON-CODEs.

Once a district meets the documentation standard that supports the leaver reason code used, the district is not required to obtain additional information on the student. Local policy will determine if an existing leaver reason code is updated for a student when additional information is received. The policy should be clearly stated in the district's published guidelines on leaver procedures. For example, if a district assigned LEAVER-REASON-CODE 60 (student withdrew from/left school for home schooling)for a student and later received a request for transcript information from a private school for the same student, the district may change the LEAVER-REASON-CODE to 81 enroll in a Texas private school but is not obligated to.

  • Withdrawal of a Student

A student should be withdrawn from the attendance accounting system on the date your campus becomes aware the student is no longer a member of the district. With proof of enrollment in a different district/campus, retroactive withdrawals are permitted to the day a student enrolled in another school. All attendance accounting records affected by such a change must be updated.

If a student withdraws before attendance is taken, the withdrawal date is that day. If a student withdraws after attendance is taken, the withdrawal date is the next school day.

A student who is at least 18 years old and is voluntarily enrolled in school may be withdrawn when he or she accumulates more than five unexcused absences in a semester. The enrollment of such a student may be revoked for the remainder of the school year. A student who is removed from school under this provision will be considered a dropout for accountability purposes unless the student returns to school during the school-start window the following fall. This authority to revoke enrollment does not override the responsibility to provide a free appropriate public education to a student who is eligible for special education services.

Do not withdraw a student who is temporarily absent (e.g. as a result of illness or suspension) but still a member of the district.

Minor students may withdraw from school by presenting a request signed by the student’s parent or guardian and stating the reason for the withdrawal. Students 18 or older may request withdrawal without a parent’s or guardian’s signature.

The District may initiate withdrawal of a student under the age of 18 for nonattendance under the following conditions:

  1. The student has been absent ten consecutive school days; and
  2. Repeated efforts by the Attendance Secretary and/or Principal to locate the student have been unsuccessful.

By law, each district is required to transfer student records within 10 working days of receipt of a request by the receiving district, and the student record must be transferred via the Texas Student Records Exchange (TREx).

Campus Leaver Data Reconciliation Plan

  1. Official eSchool withdrawal form is printed and processed through regular channels (parent, campus administrator, teachers, counselors, librarian, nurse, etc.) as applicable
  2. Withdrawal Form must be signed by parent/guardian/adult student, PEIMS/Registrar or Campus Administrator.
  1. Administrative approval to withdraw a student is obtained if a student simply stops attending school (usually after 10 consecutive days of non-attendance, if the location of the student is unknown)
  1. Leaver Documentation Form is created to establish appropriate leaver reason:
  2. Fill in student information, select the appropriate leaver code,answer coding detail, and notate communication with student guardians.
  3. Attach documentation to form and obtain Campus Administrator signature and date
  4. File form with documentation in student’s permanent folder (cum).
  1. Follow-up is performed on Movers and Dropouts:
  2. Collect information from all known sources – especially within the first 10 days
  3. Notify District PEIMS Coordinator/Specialist for assistance if necessary
  4. Continue to pursue student (if applicable) and document any new information
  5. Check periodically for records requests
  6. Check periodically for completion of Texas GED certificate
  1. Order of documentation for Student’s Permanent (cum) folder:
  2. District Withdrawal Form
  3. Leaver Code Documentation Form
  4. Additional required documentation

No Show Student Location Procedures

  1. No Shows List will be sent to all 7-12 campuses via email second week of school.
  1. PEIMS/Registrars will update eSchool Pluswith appropriate information regarding the location of the student
  2. Appropriate Leaver Code
  3. Name of the School, City and State in comment field
  1. All ‘No Show’student documentation must be in place by last Friday in September.

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