Tips on How Texas Districts Can Navigate PEIMS and TSDS Reporting Obligations (Part 2)
How can school districts navigate PEIMS and TSDS reporting obligations?
In the first part of our conversation with Marie Miller, an experience PEIMS Coordinator, we dug into the pressure facing Texas school districts as TEA accelerates the shift to TSDS EdFi 4.0 transactional reporting. Marie explained that submission demands have almost tripled, requiring near–real-time data on everything from enrollment and attendance to special programs.
Here’s more insights from our enlightening conversation with Marie to help vendors and ISDs learn to adapt.
iSphere: How can school districts get up to speed with their PEIMs and TSDS obligations?
MM: First of all, the PEIMS coordinator needs to be supported and encouraged by the district to attend any and all trainings on new requirements or processes each year. The TEA has done an excellent job this year offering new user certifications and trainings on each part of the data standards, the ODS (operational data store), and the technical requirements necessary. I also recommend anyone involved with PEIMS and TSDS attend their regional service center trainings and their software vendor trainings and conferences.
Also, there are other opportunities for PEIMS trainings in Texas but sometimes districts cannot send the PEIMS team due to cost or other factors. These trainings are typically inexpensive, if they’re not free, and presenters can talk through the fundamentals of submitting the data in the same manner by each deadline. The trainings also offer supportive networking where you can talk with other PEIMS coordinators. None of us are alone in this challenging work and I relied heavily on other PEIMS mentors to help me get through the tough times.
Often, one-on-one mentorship can be helpful in navigating these challenges. Whether it’s a new PEIMS coordinator joining the team or someone who is struggling to handle the changing data standards and requirements, guidance can simplify the process, offer best practices and boost their morale.
Working with someone who has sat in their chair and can train them on common challenges, best practices, and timelines are essential. Sure, superintendents and principals can be sympathetic to the hurdles, but they have rarely walked a mile in the PEIMS coordinator’s shoes.
iSphere: How can PEIMS professionals navigate cross-team communication and get buy-in?
MM: When I was a PEIMS coordinator in a large metropolitan area, I wasn’t in the same building as the business office. Getting together with finance, payroll, personnel, HR, benefits, and other team members to collaborate on PEIMS data and review reports was not easy. Everyone is also very busy, but PEIMS is not just a one-time or end of year process. We needed to communicate and coordinate early on because we used a separate system for our SIS and ERP and everyone needed to understand how their role was essential to our district submissions as a whole.
We have a saying that when you work in a Texas School District, “Everyone Does PEIMS.” The PEIMS team is going to need the support of the Superintendent and upper admins and get buy-in on the work. I can’t tell you over the decades how many times I would hear, “I don’t do PEIMS” and I’d have to say, “Well, guess what? Actually you do. Everybody in the school district does PEIMS.”
The good news is that there are lots of organizations in Texas that help with establishing and reinforcing that message. TASBO, TASSA, and TASB are incredible resources. They can help you to communicate with people in higher-level positions – your superintendents, CFOs, business managers, and those folks – and show them their role in PEIMS.
Most of the superintendents I’ve trained and worked with indicate that they don’t receive a lot of PEIMS training. Ultimately, in accordance with the Texas Education Agency, the superintendent is responsible for the data contained in PEIMS submissions at his/her district.
iSphere: Can you give us an example of where school districts were able to claim critical funding by amending their reporting?
MM: Sure! I did an audit for a school district where we collected back a significant financial amount because we determined that one of the PEIMS fund’s coding had been completely omitted. They thought they had been doing it, but nobody really knew how to check the preliminary reports. That’s why it helps to have experienced PEIMS and TSDS professionals verifying the reports for reasonableness as well as accuracy.
iSphere: What are some tips that school districts should keep in mind with their PEIMS and TSDS reporting?
MM: People will often think, “Oh, it’s not due till December.” That’s true, but you want to start looking at the data in September and October, especially because TEA funds all school districts by six-week periods. We run these reports each 6 weeks to make sure that we are seeing reasonable data in the calculations for various data points like attendance and then all the special programs that provide funding.
That’s the hard part because, you know, at the end of the first six weeks of school, you’re still trying to manage enrollments, withdrawals and returning students, new schedules, hiring and other logistics. But you still must look at student counts by grade level. It’s important to make sure that student counts are approximately what you’d expect.
For example, if last year you had 400 kindergartners district-wide and this year you only see 300 on your first six weeks summary report, you’ll know there is a problem, especially if you were forecasting growth. You need to look at each elementary campus in the system to identify where the issue resides. It could be as simple as an ADA code or a new building that wasn’t properly coded in the SIS.
The first six weeks report is also an early opportunity to verify that all the special program areas (like career and technical education (CTE), special education, English language learner programs) are reporting reasonable data.
Diving into the data and reports alongside your program specialists, administration and others also helps to avoid catastrophic errors down the road.
Is it a software problem? Is it a reporting problem? Is it a calendar problem? Giving yourself time to put on your data detective hat and figure out the issues early goes a long way to having accurate data in December.
iSphere: That’s great advice. Thanks for the time, Marie.
MM: You’re welcome!
Do you need help navigating your PEIMS and TSDS reporting obligations? iSphere can simplify submissions and potentially save your ISD money.
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