Alamo Colleges TREx Implementation A Collaborative Case Study

Alamo Colleges TREx Implementation: A Collaborative Case Study APPLYTEXAS CONFERENCE JUNE 11, 2009 ELAINE LANG, NORTHWEST VISTA COLLEGE DAVE STONES, SOUTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY

OVERVIEW 1. Alamo Colleges. TREx Results 2. Understanding the Alamo Colleges TREx context 3. Developing user requirements and applications 4. TREx Technical Issues 5. Supporting staff 6. Questions and answers

369 ALAMO COLLEGES TREx VOLUME June 2008 -May 2009 183 90 48 9 9 0 1 2 3 4 0 0 6 6 7 8 0 b 3 7 6 r 9 2 5 8 y 1 - 3 3 3 M F 9 A 9 9 e a p 400 350 303 300 250 200 150 100 50 0 177 194 191 147 107 60 84

Understanding the Alamo Colleges TREx context State Law Apply. Texas College Connections Dual Credit To FTIC

Developing User Requirements Systems Analyst identifies system and user requirements User requirments refined Image to Webextender TREx Daily Report by College Develop EDI process Notify ISD partners

Supporting staff q q q Review daily TREx reports Set up employees with Webextender TREx transcript access Work with ISDs to test TREx download

Special Guest Glenn Shelton, TEA

TREx Mandate Electronically moves student records between Texas public school districts Electronically moves student transcripts from public schools to institutions of higher education using the UT SPEEDE Server Shall be implemented not later than the 2007 -08 school year Legislation requires Texas public high schools to send electronically to Texas public colleges and universities

Current Status of TREx in full production. TEA reports that 90% of high schools are “capable”. 5/2009. delivery possible now to any college registered with the UT Server ** students and colleges stand to benefit if we do it right.

Steps for college readiness. register with Server, delivery with encryption. obtain and test TREx transcript file (TS 130 format) have software to print hard copy of the transcript (download Java-based Q&E 2. 0. 4 from UT site) have software to generate a TS 131 acknowledgement (Q&E) if desired, have software to upload data into your SIS. trading partner records for the sending high school or schools? test file via print, acknowledgement and upload processes. Ensure printed transcript accurately portrays all important elements on the AAR. Notify UT Austin with e-mail to regist@ediserver. reg. utexas. edu (see TREX web pages on UT site)**

High School Readiness See checklist on UT Austin SPEEDE TREx page. should be paired with one or two colleges prepared to test with it. Send a few TREx transcripts, paper transcripts for same students. the college prints or uploads, uses checklist on TREx UT web page, responds to the HS. Report high school testing to UT Austin with e-mail to regist@ediserver. reg. utexas. edu. Once they are tested, we (TACRAO schools) agreed to accept from them without each HS having to contact each target college individually.

TREx Stats June 2009 48 colleges listed as ready to receive– was 40 on 10/30/08. More were ready than were listed. 185 HS listed as tested – was 108 on 10/30/08. More are sending than are listed. * During May, 2008, 79 Texas colleges received TREx transcripts. Not all appear to have been ready.

TREx Volume Sept 636 Oct 2698 Nov 4189 Dec 4786 Jan 5739 Feb 3859 Mar 2496 Apr 2375 May 1508 Total Sept 2008 -May 2009 = 28, 286

Acknowledgments TS 131 acknowledgments should be sent for each TS 130 transcript received. - true for 86% of all transcripts delivered by the UT Server in March 2009. TREx protocol depends on this, and marks transcripts as CANCELED if not acknowledged within 15 days. In March, of 2, 496 TREx transcripts delivered, over 800 were un- acknowledged. Discussions with TEA. 4/25/09 broadcast to TACRAO listserv and TX-SPEED. May 2009: 79 Texas colleges received TREx transcripts, but only 38 of these sent any acknowledgments for them.

TREx Acknowledgments Of 99 Texas schools receiving transcripts, 75 sent at least some acknowledgments. Just 2 schools of the 61 sending transcripts did not also send any ACKs (DCCCD and EPCC). About 16 schools received 7 or more TREx but sent no TREx ACKs: ACC, EPCC (37), Lamar Univ Beaumont (19), NE Lakeview (23), NW Vista (41), PVA&M (39), SAC (240), STC, SWTJC, St. Phillip’s (23), Tarleton, TAMUCC (23), TX Southern (45), UTPA (20), UTEP (55), WTAMU (13). Quite a few private schools received a few TREx – and no other transcripts. Unless those privates were listed on the web, they should have been contacted first. I fear that those fell into the void. The CANCEL method works in those cases. Publics are SUPPOSED/REQUIRED to receive, though.

To ACKNOWLEDGE Use UT Austin’s free, downloadable Q&E Software . Select FILE option from menu. Select Open File – browse your SPEEDE folder and select the incoming file. See a list of student names with transcripts in that file. Highlight/select one record – single click. From ACTION menu, click Generate Acknowledgment. It generates TS 131 acks for all transcripts in the incoming file. Provide a name for the file (xxxxxxx. ack). Secure FTP to UT Server using Filezilla or your software of choice.

TEA/THECB June 2 Mtg TEA Message to high schools: - Supposed to be sending all via TREx to TX public colleges - if destination is private, check readiness website or contact them - report back to TREx helpdesk if tested and not listed on website. (include name of college with which they tested) - HS needs to have tested. (see list of colleges willing to test) THECB. - to reiterate Summer 2008 message that all publics are expected to receive TREx. - to receive and follow up with public colleges not sending ACK. TAKS Score Inclusion Issue - resolved, we think: TREx to continue to deliver scores as long as they do not identify students with disabilities.

In New TREx Release (6/12/09) Schools can still send in the earlier format until they upgrade. V 3. 4 is the new release, but TREx is “upwards compatible”. New Note Fields for Advanced Measures Such as “Original research project”, “AP score of 3 or above”, “IB score of 4 or above”, “Qualifying PSAT score”, “College course – 3. 0 of higher”, “Articulated course – 3. 0 or higher” New Note Field containing Texas Grant Indicator. TX GRANT IND=_____, where value is “MINIMUM/NO”, RECOMMENDED/YES”, or “DISTINGUISHED/YES” New Note Field for new race/ethnicity fields. Supplements current DMG 05 data. Ethnicity=[R, W], Race =[T, U, Q, V, S] (most colleges will get this from the application anyway)

New Release Implementation (How) will new Notes Fields be coded? As formatted notes? (formatted required for automated processing) Q&E: Are there certain types of Notes Segments which colleges would like to be able to suppress printing, as not needed by colleges, and adding to the length of the printed TREx transcripts? Similarly, since the course note codes (for AP, Honors, Dual Credit, etc. . ) are the same for all Texas HS, do we need to print the extra half page on each transcript, as opposed to being posted one time on the TREx (in IHE Tools, perhaps) website? Will TEA provide sample AAR’s and EDI files for transcripts in the new release?

June 10 TX SPEEDE Conference Great Discussion on TREx Much Concern about TAKS Writing (subtest) Scores Glenn Shelton Reports Back: - Writing IS a subtest of Language Arts - Therefore, it will not PRINT on AAR Transcript - However, IF it is provided by the high school, it WILL BE CARRIED in the TREx FILE - The key is that the high schools must actually provide the data.

ACTION ITEMS for TACRAO Verify your readiness to receive send receive readiness status to regist@ediserver. reg. utexas. edu test with high schools – and report test results check the send-receive reports to see if your school is sending TS 131 acknowledgements back to Texas Education Agency. Be patient and positive!

TREx TOOLS UT Austin TREX site http: //registrar. utexas. edu/speede/trex/ TEA TREx Site – Data Standards, Sample Files (see IHE Tools), Corresponding Sample AARs. http: //ritter. tea. state. tx. us/trex/ TREx Helpdesk – forward data problems there, along with TREx transcript transmission ID. (512) 463 -7246 or email TREx@tea. state. tx. us This presentation will be added to the presentations from the TX SPEEDE Conference at http: //www. southwestern. edu/~stonesd/

Contact information Dave Stones, Southwestern University, dstones@southwestern. edu Elaine Lang, Northwest Vista College, one of the Alamo Colleges elang@mail. accd. edu