Optional Submissions

General Submission Information

NJ SMART is excited to announce the release of the new Optional Submissions, now available to all LEAs on the “Optional Submission” tab in the NJ SMART portal. Optional Submissions empower LEAs to conduct advanced analytics by uploading additional local data elements that can be accessed through District Reports. Optional Submission sets include: Discipline, Program Enrollment, and Credits Earned.

Why were the Optional Submissions developed?
In April 2010, NJ SMART released an initial suite of District Reports, designed to give LEAs access to aggregate information about students as well as allow analysis of patterns and trends across various categories of information. Users also have the ability to drill down to detailed student lists and individual student records. This was an important milestone that provided stakeholders a comprehensive tool for easier access to and use of NJ SMART data.

NJ SMART has worked closely with New Jersey pilot districts and focus groups to ensure the designs of these reports were useful and valuable. The most common feedback received was a strong need and desire for LEAs to be able to include additional data in the reports for further analysis. As a result, additional data elements were identified to establish a more complete picture of student achievement.

Keep in mind that users can append, amend, and refresh data for the current school year and past school years as many times as they’d like at any time during the year. Any data submitted will be available for local analytics only; it will not be released to the NJ DOE.

What Optional Submissions and data elements are available for upload?
Discipline Data – Upload discipline-related information for your students that can be accessed and analyzed through the District Reports. Answer questions such as, “What are the characteristics of students who are being suspended in/out-of school?”, and “How is suspension related to student performance on state assessments?”  Available data elements include:

• Days Suspended Out of School
• Days in House Suspension

Program Enrollment Data – Upload program enrollment related information for your students that can be accessed and analyzed through the District Reports. Answer questions such as, “What are the characteristics of students who enrolled in different programs offered in the district?”, “Are there correlations between participation in a specific district program and performance on state assessments?“, and “Are students in specific programs increasing, decreasing, or staying the same on state assessment performance over time?”  Available data elements include:

• Program Description
• Program Code
• Service Intensity
• Program Entry Date
• Program Exit Date

Credits Earned Data– Upload credits earned and GPA-related information for your students that can be accessed and analyzed through the District Reports. Answer questions such as, “What are the characteristics of my students who are on/off track in accumulating high school credits?”, “Which students are at risk of not graduating because of low credits?”, and “How do students’ GPAs correlate to state assessment performance?”  Available data elements include:

• Cumulative High School Credits
• Cumulative High School Credits
• High School GPA Basis
• Cumulative High School GPA
• Cumulative Weighted High School GPA

The Optional Submission Student Data Handbook, which contains detailed descriptions of all data elements, and the three separate file templates for Discipline, Program Enrollment, and Credits Earned are now available in the Documents for Downloads page.