February 25, 2009
Dear POWER User,
We have recently learned of an error in our TAKS Information report that may affect the reporting of accommodations for a very small number of students. While we sincerely regret the error and its discovery so close to next week's big administration, we felt it was most important to inform you of this problem and its solution. This problem only affects ARDs that were held between July 5, 2008 and the date of your update to Version 8.0. For most districts, the update to Version 8.0 occurred in August. If another ARD was held for the same student after the 8.0 update, the problem will have corrected itself (i.e. this problem only applies to students who had an ARD in July or August and have not had another ARD since then). Here's what to do:
1. Go to Special Ed. Manager, Select "File Maintenance" and then click on "Options/Directories." On the "Options/Directories" screen, select the tab on the far right that says, "Folders." Finally, near the bottom right of the "Folders" screen, click on "View Versions," find "8" and write down the date that your Version 8 update occurred (not 8.1 or 8.2). Close all of the screens you just opened and return to the main menu.
2. If you have the Report Utility, go to the "ARD Types/ARD Count Report" and run this report for the date range between 07/15/2008 and the date of your Version 8.0 update.
3. If you do not have the Report Utility, go to SEM and open "Reports." Go to the "Miscellaneous Reports" and select the "ARD History Report." Run this report for the date range of 07/15/2008 and the date of your Version 8.0 update. You will receive a report listing ALL students in your district, but if an ARD was held between the range of dates, the field will be expanded and you will see the details of the ARD.
4. Run the TAKS information Report for the students generated in the report from Step 2/3 above and compare it with the last locked ARD.
5. If you have any ARDs that were completed between 07/5/2008 and your Version 8.0 update AND those students' accommodations are not displaying correctly on the TAKS information report, contact GG Consulting at (888) 442-6751 and we will install the quick fix on your program that will correct the errors for these students.
Additionally, we have received a number of calls from districts that have experienced user-generated errors on their TAKS report. In particular, some students' schedules may have the same school year (2008-2009) on both THIS year's schedule and NEXT year's schedule, causing an error. Others are receiving errors after holding an ARD after their update to Version 8.0, but not changing the TAKS accommodation codes to the new ones. Both of these errors can be fixed by unlocking that ARD and making the correction.
We are sincerely sorry for the additional work that this error has caused you during this very busy time and assure you that we will do everything we can to assist you with this in a timely manner.
I-Suite: Exponential POWER and convenience at your fingertips.
Rolando Ocanas, Director of Sales & Marketing
GG Consulting, LLC
(888) 442-6751
Please feel free to forward this POWER Note to other POWER Users in your district. If you are not receiving POWER Notes directly from GG Consulting, LLC and would like to be added to our e-mail list, send an e-mail with "Add" in the subject line to Rolando@GGConsulting.com.
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