July 8, 2016

TO:  Division Superintendents

FROM:  Steven R. Staples, Superintendent of Public Instruction

SUBJECT:  Changes to the 2016 Fall Master Schedule Collection

Beginning with the fall collection in 2016, the Master Schedule Collection (MSC) will be redesigned to align with the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) and for the Department of Education to better meet various reporting requirements.  

In addition to the current data elements collected in the MSC, several elements will be added.  These elements include:

• First Year Teacher Flag: determines if a teacher is a first year teacher
• Virginia Extended Description: deciphers between courses with the same SCED code
• Associated Test Code: allows classes to be linked to the SOL taken at the end of the course
• Credit Earned Flag: tells if a student earned credit for the course that he or she took
• First Year Administrator Flag: determines if an administrator is in the first year of the position

The following data elements will be eliminated from the MSC:

• Course Level
• Available Credit/Grade Span
• Highly Qualified Code
• Flexibility Criteria Flag

A detailed listing of the data elements for the 2016-17 MSC are posted on the Virginia Department of Education’s Web site at     http://www.doe.virginia.gov/info_management/data_collection/master_schedule_collection/index.shtml.

Questions or concerns relating to the 2016 Fall Master Schedule Collection should be directed to Educational Applications via e-mail at RESULTSHELP@doe.virginia.gov.

 
PIW/SMW/aly