Postsecondary Education or Training Data Import

The Postsecondary Education or Training Data Import allows the state director or other LACES user at the state SEA level to import student postsecondary information through the All PoPs Summary area The purpose of the import is to add Postsecondary Education or Training records in the student record to potentially count on NRS Tables 4 and 5. This process allows multiple student records to be updated with a Postsecondary Education or Training record with one import, instead of updating the records manually. The information is imported from a .csv file prepared by the user.

The data may come from different sources, or you may create your own import file by exporting from the All PoPs Summary area in LACES. Regardless of the source, the import file must be specifically formatted and must contain specific column names, whether data is entered in all columns or not. The import may have additional columns, but must have the specific import columns.

It is important to remember that the student PoP left dates and the Postsecondary Education or Training record Enroll Date and Date Earned have rules that determine how postsecondary counts on the NRS tables.  Please refer to PoP Data Collection in LACES for additional information regarding dates.  

Students MUST have an Exit Date before populating either Table 4 or 5 with Postsecondary Education or Training MSGs or Outcome Measure.

Getting Started

The first step in the Postsecondary Education or Training Data Import process is exporting the data from LACES.

Exporting from the All PoPs Summary Area

1. At the SEA agency, go to the All PoPs Summary Area.

2. Remove the Current Fiscal Year filter.

3. Create a view that contains the following fields (fields indicated as optional can be included if your PS Ed/Training match can be done based on criteria other than SSN):

• Agency Name (optional)

• Student ID

• SSN

• FY PoP (optional for search purposes, not required)

• Exit Date (optional for search or match purposes, not required)

• Last Name (optional)

• First Name (optional)

• Middle Name (optional)

• Birthdate (optional)

• Sex (optional)

4. Apply the view.

5. Create and apply a search to return the students who are possibly eligible for inclusion for PS Ed enrollment or attainment on Table 4 or Table 5 for the reporting year. 

Even though Table 4 only includes students who exited in the reporting year for the PS Ed EFL Gain MSG, since the data match may be done before all current FY students have gone 90 days without receiving services, it is advisable to include all NRS participants in your search.  The example search below will return any students possibly eligible for 23/24 Table 4 or Table 5 reporting:

6. Export the student list.  If you included columns such as FY PoP and Exit Date in your view to make searching easier, you can delete these columns from your file unless the agency you are matching with requires the PoP Exit Date.

7. After data matching is done, prepare the file to be imported into LACES.  States that do not data match will prepare the file in the same way.   A Postsecondary Education or Training record will be created or updated in the student record during the import process. 

Preparing the Import File

The import file may contain additional columns, but must have the required columns:  Student ID, SSN, Institution Type, Enroll Date, Date Earned, and Exit Date. 

Additionally, LACES will import the following in they are included on the import file:  Credential Attained, Institution, Industry.

The file must be saved in .csv format. 

Example:

Required Columns

Additional column heading names may be on the import file, but only data in the the following fields are imported.

Student ID 

The student is identified by either the Student ID or the SSN. When both the Student ID and SSN are provided, the import will look for a match on the Student ID.  Each record must have either Student ID or SSN entered on the import file.

SSN

The student is identified by either the Student ID or the SSN.  If only the SSN is provided, the student will be matched on SSN.  Each record must have either Student ID or SSN entered on the import file.  SSNs must not contain spaces.  Leading 0s are included but may not display on the .csv file. 

Institution Type

Institution Type is a required field and either Education or Training must be entered in this column.

At least ONE date must be entered on the import file. 

Enroll Date

The date the student enrolled in postsecondary education or training. 

Date Earned

The date the student earned a postsecondary education or training diploma or credential. 

Exit Date

The date the student left a postsecondary education or training enrollment without completing.  This date is entered if a student enrolled in postsecondary education or training, but then dropped out or left.  This is the Exit Date. 

Once the file has been prepared and validated, the file may be imported. 

The import cannot be undone once the import process is complete.

Import the File

1. Sign in to the SEA agency. 

2. Go to the All PoPs Summary area by clicking 'More' in the green bar at the top of the screen.

3. Click 'More' on the upper-right toolbar icon.

4. Click 'Import Data.'

5. Browse for the import file.

6. Check ‘Email me when import is complete’ for the results of the import to be emailed to the email address associated with the user account name.

7. Click Import.

8. Close the import window. 

9. To check the status of the import, go to the 'Imports' area. 

10. When the import is complete, the status will display 'Completed.'

11. Open the file at the Imports to see the results of the import.

The Imports area

Name

The name of the task is 'Import.'

Status

The status of the import - Queued, In Progress, or Completed.

Start Date

The date the task was started.

Success

Indicates whether all records were processed without errors.

Records Processed without Error

Indicates the number of records processed for which no error message was returned.  

Open the record to see the results of the import.  If all records were processed with no error, the result will be successful.  Records that processed with errors will display with the import file row number so you can make corrections to those rows and import the file again. 

Error Messages: 

How does the import affect student records?

• A Postsecondary Education or Training record is added in the student record with the date fields indicated on the import file.

• Postsecondary Education or Training records will be added for each student if multiple students have the same SSN on the import file. 

• If an exact record is imported again but with an additional date field, the existing record will be updated.

 For example, a record was imported with Institution Type as Education, and Enroll Date as 7/1/2017.  This created a Postsecondary Education or Training record in the student record. 

This same data was imported again the addition of a Date Earned.  The existing record will be updated with the Date Earned. 

IMPORTANT NOTES: 

• Always verify the data on the import file prior to importing.

• Only .csv files may be imported. 

• You must have the required columns on the import file. For example, if you only import by SSN, you must still have a column for Student ID.