Maine Department of Education - Administrative Letter 18: Completers and Dropouts Reporting

ADMINISTRATIVE LETTER: 18
POLICY CODE: JF

TO: Superintendents of Schools and Private School Administrators of 60% Publicly Funded Private Schools

FROM: Susan A. Gendron, Commissioner

DATE: December 7, 2006

RE: Completers and Dropouts Reporting

The data from the following web-based forms is now being collected solely through the Maine Education Data Management System (MEDMS) Student Reporting Module.

Fall School Statistical Report (EF-M-40)
Report of Public/Selected Private School System Part II – Dropouts (EF-M-35a)

In order to verify that exit data reported in the Maine Education Data Management Information is correct, there are two reports within the MEDMS Reporting Portal that superintendents need to review and certify.

The first report is the “Completers” report (Graduates) which lists students who have completed high school in the administrative unit. Only school administrative units that have schools that graduate secondary students need to review and certify this report.

The second report is the “Dropouts” report which lists students who have dropped out of schools in the administrative unit by grade level. This report needs to be reviewed and certified by all school administrative units that operate school(s) that have any combination of grades that include any grade 7 through 12.

Please review these MEDMS Reports and certify them by faxing the certification forms (included with this letter) to 624-6791. If these certifications are not received by December 15, 2006, it will be assumed that the information in the 2005-2006 “Completers” and “Dropouts” reports are correct. Corrections can be made by sending an excel file to charlotte.ellis@maine.gov . The excel file should include the student’s StateStudent ID, the student’s first name, the student’s last name, the MEDMS School ID from which the student has exited, and the appropriate exit code. MEDMS exit codes are listed at:

http://www.maine.gov/education/medms/Data/ExitType/ExitTypeCodes.htm

Please note that exit codes 21, 23, 25, 97, 99 all equate to dropout status. Code 22 is not applicable for Maine, as we do not have an exit exam. Descriptions of these codes are available at the above website.

Personnel with the role of “SAU Admin” or “Student Admin” may access these reports in the MEDMS Student Information System by logging on to the MEDMS home page and implementing the following steps:

Step 1. Click on “MEDMS Log In”, type in Username and Password

Step 2. Under “Application”, select “Reports”, then click on “Go”

Step 3. Under “Action”, select “Portal”, then click on “Go”

Step 4. Select Student Data from the list of available folders

Step 5. There are then 4 choices of reports. The reports needed to certify graduation and dropout data are “Completers” and “Dropouts.”

Attachments:

2005-2006 Dropouts Certification Form – Due December 15, 2006

2005-2006 Completers Certification Form – Due December 15, 2006