Official Site of The State of New Jersey

Published September 9, 2026

Welcome to the September NJSLEDS Newsletter. This month, districts should continue preparing 2026-2027 Fall data, review preliminary graduation information when it becomes available and use the available training and resources before the October deadlines.

Announcements and Updates

New User Toolkit

Whether you are new to NJSLEDS or taking on a new submission responsibility, the New User Toolkit provides a starting point. It explains the submission workflow, records and uploads, errors and validation, SID and SMID matching, permissions, first-time access and available support. It also includes a getting started checklist and glossary.

Prepare Fall Student and Staff Data Now

Upload early enough to review processing results and make corrections before October 15. Check that your current-year files include:

• Active students and staff for whom your organization is responsible
• New students and staff entering your organization for the 2026-2027 school year
• Appropriate exit or inactive information for students and staff who were previously active but are not returning
• Corrected information for current-year records in Error, Unresolved or Sync status and any Transfer Requests that require district action

If a student or staff member was active in 2025-2026 but was omitted from the first 2026-2027 upload, NJSLEDS will create a current-year record in Sync status. Review these records and submit either the individual’s current-year information or the appropriate exit or inactive information. Omitting a record from a file does not remove it from NJSLEDS.

Special Education Practice Period

The Special Education Practice Period remains open through October 15. Use this practice period to upload data, review processing results and correct issues before the Official Submission opens October 19. Practice data is not an official submission and will be cleared before the official period opens.

High School Graduation Review and Appeals

Preliminary 2025-2026 graduation rates and Graduation Appeals are scheduled to become available on September 14, 2026. When the reports are released, review both district-level rates and student-level records. Use the High School Graduation User Resources and the High School Graduation FAQs to determine whether a Student Management correction or appeal is needed. The Appeals window closes on October 2.

APSSD Reminder

Approved Private Schools for Students with Disabilities are responsible for the Fall Staff Management submission only. APSSDs do not submit any other submissions in NJSLEDS or the End-of-Year Staff Management submission.

Tip of the Month: Re-upload to Clear Errors

Correcting data in your local source system or waiting for a future date to occur will not automatically clear an error in NJSLEDS. You will have to re-export and re-upload the affected record so the validation rules run again. For example, an accurate LIEPStartDate may initially produce an error if the date is still in the future. Re-upload the record on or after that date, then review the new processing results to confirm the error and any related errors have cleared.

FAQ of the Month: How Do I Obtain a SID or SMID?

If a student or staff member does not have a SID or SMID, include the individual’s full record in your Student Management or Staff Management upload and leave only the StateIdentificationNumber or StaffMemberIdentifier field blank. NJSLEDS will associate the record with an existing ID, create a new ID when no match exists or place the record in Unresolved status for review in ID Management.

Once the SID or SMID is associated or created, add it to your local source system and re-upload the record to NJSLEDS with the new ID included. For more information, review the Obtaining a SID Number and Obtaining a SMID Number guides.