Exiting Student Follow-Up Reporting

The Exiting Student Follow-Up (FW) Collections include students who left secondary education prior to the current school year who fall within one or more of the following categories:
  • Students who were career-technical concentrators at any point (CTE),
  • Students who graduated the prior school year, including summer grads and regardless of their graduate cohort (GRAD), and
  • Students who were reported with a disability condition at the time of exit (SWD).
The Department's Exiting Student Collection webpage includes information about the purpose of this data collection, related legal citations, and contact information for the different areas.

EMIS Manual Section 2.23: Exiting Student Follow-Up (FW) Record includes general guidelines for reporting this record, a table that indicates which elements are required reporting for each group of students, and reporting guidance for the included elements.

Frequently Asked Questions

The following questions and answers are related to reporting the Exiting Student Follow-Up (FW) Record. For policy questions regarding the data—e.g., more specific questions about student inclusion on a list, more specific questions about the use of the data, guidance on the meaning of certain element options—please visit the Department's Exiting Student Collection webpage, the CTE FAQ, the Accountability FAQ, or the SWD FAQ. For additional questions regarding the reporting of this data, please work with your ITC.

Section A: Students Included in Exiting Student Follow-Up Reporting

Section B: District Accountable for Reporting Exiting Student Follow-Up Data

Section C: Collecting Exiting Student Follow-Up Data

Section D: Reporting Exiting Student Follow-Up Data

Section E: EMIS Reports Back to Districts

Section F: How the Follow-Up Data Is Used

Section A: Students Included in Exiting Student Follow-Up Reporting

(A1) Which students are included in the follow-up reporting?
Three areas (CTE, GRAD, and SWD) are included in follow-up reporting. Each area has different criteria for including a student on the follow-up file. A student may be included in the follow-up file for only one area, any two areas, or all three areas. All included students exited secondary education during or after the prior school year; not all students graduated.
 
The basic criteria for the inclusion of a student on the Exiting Student Follow-Up File is:
  • CTE: CTE concentrators who left secondary education in the prior school year.
  • GRAD: Students who graduated in the prior school year. This includes graduates from all cohorts, not just “on time” grads.
  • SWD: Students being reported with a disability condition at the time they left secondary education.
For further guidance on the business rules for including students in the Exiting Student Follow-Up file, visit the Department's Exiting Student Collection webpage.
 
(A2) Can students be included on the follow-up list for more than one district?
Yes, students can be included in the follow-up list for more than one district. However, a student can only be included in one district for each area (CTE, GRAD, and SWD).
 
For example, a CTE concentrator who graduated at the end of the prior year would be on the CTE follow-up list for the district that is accountable for the CTE concentrator and the GRAD list for the district that is accountable for the grad rate. If this same student was reported with a disability condition at the time of graduation, then the student would also appear on the resident district’s SWD follow-up list.

Section B: District Accountable for Reporting Exiting Student
Follow-Up Data

(B1) What district is responsible for collecting and reporting follow-up data?
Each of the three follow-up areas (CTE, GRAD, and SWD) has different criteria for determining which district is accountable for follow-up reporting. A student may be included in the follow-up file for all three areas, and a different district may be accountable for each area.
 
The basic criteria to determine the accountable district for each area are listed below:
  • CTE: The last district in which the student was a CTE concentrator.
  • GRAD: The district that is accountable for the grad rate.
  • SWD: The resident district.
For further guidance on the business rules used to determine the accountable district for the Exiting Student Follow-Up file, visit the Department's Exiting Student Collection webpage.
 
(B2) Why does a student in my file have other accountable districts for other areas?
Each area (CTE, GRAD, and SWD) has different rules for identifying which district is responsible for reporting follow-up data for a student. If a student is included in another district’s Exiting Student Follow-Up file, this is included for the district’s information and to encourage collaboration between districts in collecting the data.

Section C: Collecting Exiting Student Follow-Up Data

(C1) Will we need to contact students three different times with three different sets of questions?
This is a district-level decision. Many questions may be answered for most students at any time of the year, however, waiting until spring may be needed for some students and may result in more positive results for any student. Based on the students and staff availability in the district, districts may want or even need to contact students more than once as the timing needs are not the same for all three groups of follow-up students.
 
For example, consider a student who is in both the CTE follow-up group and the SWD follow-up group. CTE follow-up data is final as of the end of the Initial Exiting Student (S) Follow-Up Collection. Two of the required elements for the SWD group are Employment Duration and Post-Secondary Enrollment Duration. The time requirements related to these two elements for the student to be reported with anything other than “No” may not have elapsed when the CTE data is being collected in the fall. Districts may therefore want to reach out to those students again in the spring so they can report more complete data for their SWD students.

Section D: Reporting Exiting Student Follow-Up Data

(D1) If another district reports, for example, graduation follow-up data for a student on our districts GRAD follow-up list, can we just report that other district’s data?
No, a district should only report what they know to be true. If you do not report any data for your student on that question, the information from the other district will be used. If another district is reporting data that conflicts with data your district has reported or has to report, be sure to contact that other district and confirm which data is correct before changing your own reporting.
 
(D2) How do we know which elements are reported for which group of follow-up students?
EMIS Manual Section 2.23: Exiting Student Follow-Up (FW) Record sets forth all of the elements included in the follow-up collection. This EMIS Manual section includes a table that indicates which elements are required and which are optional for each of the three groups of follow-up students.
 
(D3) Is the Initial Exiting Student (S) Follow-Up Collection only for reporting CTE follow-up data?
No, both follow-up collections (Initial and Final) are for reporting follow-up data for all three groups of students.
 
(D4) If CTE follow-up data is final after the initial collection, does that mean we don’t report CTE data in the final collection?
No, all three groups (CTE, GRAD, and SWD) can and should be reported and updated throughout the Final Exiting Student (S) Follow-Up Collection. Although only data from the initial collection will be included in federal reporting on CTE students, the Department is interested in any updates available on CTE students that are reported in the Final Exiting Student (S) Follow-Up Collection.

(D5) If my district has data to report for one of the groups, but is still working on collecting the data for the other groups, can we report what we have now? Or do we have to wait until we have all of the data to report?
Districts do not have to wait until they have completed their surveys of students to report this data. As with other EMIS collections, data can be submitted as districts receive it.

Section E: EMIS Reports Back to Districts

(E1) What happens to our missing list if we don’t report data for one of the kids on our follow-up list and another district does?
A district’s missing list is based on what that district has reported. If the responsible LEA does not report and the Department uses another district’s data, then the student will remain on the responsible LEA’s missing list.
 
(E2) Will we be receiving reports to help us with this reporting?
Yes, Level 2 reports and received files are in development and will include the following:
  • All of your students included in the follow-up collection, including students who are added, removed, or updated.
  • The final data to be used for your students, including the data reported by other districts if you have yet to report follow-up data for a particular student.
  • Error reports that include missing students.
  • A file with all of your follow-up data that is formatted for flat file editor (FFE) purposes.  
(E3) When students are included on more than one districts follow-up file, how will we know what another district has reported?
Districts will be provided with reports that show the final follow-up status for their follow-up students, including data reported by other districts in cases where your district reported a student as unknown.
 
(E4) When we see that another district is reporting different data for one of our students, should we contact that district to confirm the data?
Though we encourage you to collaborate and proactively share data, this is a district-level decision. However, you should not simply report based on another district’s data without taking steps to confirm the differences in the data.

Section F: How the Follow-Up Data Is Used

(F1) What if we report one thing about one of our students and another district reports something else? Which data will be used?
If the accountable district reports a non-default value, this value will be used for that area for the student.
 
If the accountable district reports a default value and another district reports a non-default value, the non-default value will be used for both districts if the question applies to both groups of students.
 
(F2) Where is the follow-up data used?
Each area has different federal, state, and local reporting requirements where the reported follow-up data is used.
  • CTE: Federal Perkins Reporting, CTE State Report Card, Quality Program Review
  • GRAD: State Report Card
  • SWD: Indicator 14, District Profile
For further guidance on how the Exiting Student Follow-Up data will be used for each area, visit the Department's Exiting Student Collection webpage.

Last Modified: 12/2/2022 4:46:00 PM