USBE staff warn miscoded special education exits can skew graduation, dropout rates

Utah State Board of Education data staff told LEA data teams at the spring data conference that correct special education exit coding is essential to accurate federal and state indicators. Aliyah, presenting the special education update, said: "Scribe exit reason x is for students who are exiting the school and are not expected to return." She contrasted that with the SCRAM exit reason "a," which applies when a student exits special education but continues enrolled in general education.

The distinction matters for federal Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) measures: Aliyah said the 'a' code is categorized as "transfer to regular placement" and is excluded from Indicator 1 (graduation) and Indicator 2 (dropout) calculations, while misuse of 'a' or 'x' at year end can cause graduates to be excluded or dropouts to be incorrectly counted. She provided examples where the SCRAM exit date matched the school exit date and the student should have been coded 'x', and examples where students stayed enrolled after a SCRAM exit and therefore should have used 'a'.

Aliyah urged local IEP teams and data managers to align transition plans and exit codes so families are not surprised and cohort years are not reassigned incorrectly: "a student who earns a regular high school diploma ... is no longer eligible to return to school," she said, noting that historical updates are time-consuming and cohort reassignments cannot always be undone once graduation rates are finalized.

The presentation also reviewed the membership-exit 'm' code (for unexcused absences under R277-4419) and assessment-participation guidance: the 'm' code should reflect exits already occurred (not be prepopulated) and corresponding absence counts should exist in the record. For assessment rostering, staff recommended correct part-time, course and participation codes so students appear only in appropriate test denominators and EdFacts submissions record a valid nonparticipation reason.

USBE staff said they will attempt targeted outreach to LEAs with identified miscoding and pointed participants to detailed Utrecks specification pages and past LEA trainings for further guidance. The session closed with a reminder that the conference recording and slides will be shared.