Class

A class is a group of students in one or more course sections being taught by one or more teachers in the same room at the same place.

A Class ID allows multiple course sections to be counted as one class for class size analysis and enrollment reporting. It is a unique identifier, assigned to one or more course sections by the LEA or school submitting the data. Since the submission of course data occurs at the course section level, not the class level, the class ID assigned to a course section enables the identification of a unique class within the data submission.

The Class ID must be unique within a school for the Academic Year. See CALPADS File Specifications for a definition of Class ID (Field 9.18). Following are guidelines for assigning the Class ID to represent a class.

A class should not …

  • have a duplicated SSID in course sections that have the same Content Area

A class can …

  • have course sections that map to multiple State Course Codes

  • have multiple or varying Academic Terms

  • duplicate course/course section combinations (CRS-Local

Course ID/Course Section ID) if there are different SEIDs and the multiple teacher code is populated (i.e. team teaching/job sharing)

Reporting by Class ID generally presents information such as numbers of classes, average class size, and class enrollment. The reports present data by State Course Code or Content Area Category.

Classes are not reported by course section attributes that can vary within a Class ID, such as non-standard instructional level, Education Service provided, Language of Instruction, Instructional Strategy, Independent Study Indicator, Distance Learning Indicator, Education Program Funding Source Code, HQT Competency Code, Academic Term, etc. While these attributes may be presented on a report for the course sections within a Class ID, aggregating information by these attributes occurs in reports that are organized to present data at the course section level, not at the Class level.

When counting enrollment, if an SSID repeats within a Class ID, the SSID is counted only once. For example, if an SSID appears in multiple student course section records with the same Class ID, the student is counted as one enrollment for the Class, even though the student has multiple records.

When counting classes by Content Area, if the course sections within a Class ID map to different Content Area Categories (see Content Area), the Class ID is reported as a class in a category called "Multiple." For example, if two course section records have the same Class ID (i.e. they are a class), however the state course code for one maps to a Science content area and the state course code of the other maps to an English content area, the class cannot be reported for both content areas. Therefore it is reported in a content area called “Multiple.”

If an SSID repeats in more than one Class ID within a Content Area, the SSID is counted in enrollment in each Class ID. For example, if two student course section records are submitted for an SSID with state course codes that map to the same Content Area, the student is counted in enrollment in both course sections within the Content Area, as long as the Class IDs for the course sections are different. In other words, they are two separate classes and the student should be counted in enrollment in each class, thereby contributing twice to the total enrollment of the Content Area.