Gradelink will attempt to warn you prior to submitting to Data Exchange if any of your data is invalid and, as a result, won't be included in the submission process. If any of your data is invalid, Gradelink will highlight it for you on the Validation sub-tab. Gradelink validates four things:
Validating Student Data
Based on which data is missing or invalid, additional fields will appear in the "Missing Data" column for each student. You can correct missing or invalid Student data directly through the Validation page - no need to go hunt down fields all across Gradelink. As you update each field with appropriate data, they'll be saved automatically.
For more information about what Student data is submitted to Data Exchange, please click here.
Validating Staff Data
Gradelink validates several types of Staff data prior to submitting to Data Exchange, including Employment Status, Hire Date and State Personnel Number (SPN). Furthermore, Gradelink also checks to see if Staff members have at least one Email Address associated with their account. These fields can be found on the Staff tab in Gradelink. The Validation page will display all Staff members that are missing their SPN, Employment Status, and Hire Date. Additionally, it will also inform you if a Staff member doesn't have an Email Address as well as whether or not any Staff members have an SPN that isn't unique. Just like with Students, you'll be able to correct these issues directly through the Validation page and any changes you make are saved automatically.
Validating Race/Ethnicity Data
In order to submit Race/Ethnicity data to the Indiana Data Exchange, you must use Federal Race Designations. Gradelink allows schools to configure custom race and ethnicity groups; therefore, if your school is already making use of this feature you must ensure that each race or ethnicity group you've configured in Gradelink is mapped to a Federally-recognized race designation. For more information on how to set up Federal Race Designations, please click here.
If any of your existing race and ethnicity groups in Gradelink aren't assigned a Federal Race Designation, Gradelink will attempt to automatically match them before submitting to Data Exchange using the following rules:
| Race Designation in Gradelink (exact or similar spelling) | Reported to Data Exchange As |
|---|---|
| American Indian, Native American, Alaska or similar | American Indian - Alaskan Native |
| Asian, Filipino, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Thai | Asian |
| Black, African | Black - African American |
| Hawaiian, Pacific Island | Native Hawaiian - Pacific Islander |
| White, Caucasian | White |
| Hispanic, Latino | Hispanic Ethnicity and of any race |
| "Two or more races", more than one race selected, or no race selected | Multiracial (two or more races) |
Validating Calendar Dates
Calendar date validation is helpful for a variety of reasons; it can help you confirm:
- the total number of calendar days in the school year matches between Gradelink and Data Exchange
- the start and end dates of terms in Gradelink are correct
- that non-intructional days are appropriately excluded from the school year
If you notice that a day that is supposed to be non-instructional is still appearing in the list of calendar dates, you may need to create additional Non-School Days in Gradelink. For more information on how to create Non-School Days, please click here.