Effective: November 24, 2002
Revised: May 12, 2003

This document lists the updates that have been made to the FASTER system since the release of the manual.

As of May 12, 2003 -

New withdrawal code, WFW, has been added to the I/S01 format in data elements Withdrawal Code (item 37), and Diploma Type (item 46). Associated I/S01 edits, edit 36 and edit 49, in appendix R have been updated accordingly.

Three Test Name codes, (ESI, RFS and WSS) for the School Readiness Uniform Screening System (SRUSS) have been added to the I/S08 format, and edit 11 in appendix R has been updated accordingly.

Five Test Subject Content codes have been added for the FCA Test have been added to the I/S08 format, and edit 15 in appendix R has been updated accordingly.

Test Subject Content codes have been added for the three new SRUSS Tests (ESI, RFS and WSS have been added to the I/S08 format, and edit 15 in appendix R has been updated accordingly.

Code OS has been added as a valid Test Score Type, item 13 on the I/S08 format, and edit 16 in appendix R has been updated accordingly.

For the I/S08 format and the new SRUSS tests and score type, edits 16.6, 16.7, 16.8, and 16.9 have been added. Edit 17 has been modified.

As of February 25, 2003 -

Edit 65 for International Baccalaureate Diploma, item 63 on the I/S01 format has been modified so that a "Y" is not valid if the Diploma Date, item 45, is blank or zeroes.

A new edit 65.5 has been added to check that the sending institution is a valid institution for the International Baccalaureate program when the value of International Baccalaureate Diploma on the I/S01 format is a "Y".

The definition of Immunization Status, item 7, has been corrected to refer to the new statute number.

As of February 10, 2003 -

Talented Twenty, 82, has been added as a valid addressed district number with 0000 as the valid school number. Bright Futures, 95, is now also a valid Talented Twenty address, along with corresponding valid Bright Futures addressed school numbers.

Q20 has been added as a valid Message Type for 82, Talented Twenty and 95, Bright Futures. If the addressed institution is 82, Q01 and Q20 are the only valid Message Types.

Edit 46.2 for Grade Point Average District, Cumulative on the I/S01 format has been modified so that the edit is also applied when the addressed is 95, Bright Futures, and the Message Type is Q20.

Edit 46.4 for Grade Point Average State, Cumulative on the I/S01 format has been modified so that the edit is also applied when the addressed is 95, Bright Futures, and the Message Type is Q20.

The edit for District Where Credit Earned and School Where Credit Earned on the I/S04 format has been corrected to allow a district number of 99 with a school number of N998.

As of January 22, 2003 -

The value D is now a valid code for Grade Promotion Status. The corresponding edit was modified to agree.

As of December 24, 2002 -

The College Ready Diploma flag was deleted from FASTER with the November upgrade. However, we have since learned that the it remains valid for two years after graduation, allowing a student to enter a postsecondary institution without testing. Because of this, school districts need to be able to send to postsecondaries the fact that a 2002 graduate was flagged with a "Y" for College Ready Diploma for the next two years. Therefore, College Ready Diploma has been added back to the I/S01 format. Edit 66 has been restored but slightly modified to allow spaces.

Edit 49B has been deleted. It was an edit that applied only to Bright Futures transcripts and is no longer applicable now that FACTS transcripts are being sent to the Bright Futures address.

Subtests EN and LW have been added to the list of valid subtests for the Stanford Achievement test (STA). Edit 15 has been modified to agree with this.

Edit 8.3 in format I/S04 has been corrected to allow a value of N997, N998, or N999 in School Where Credit Earned when the District Where Credit Earned is FL. A new version of SRTS03 is now available in FRN.DISTRICT.SOURCE at NWRDC.

As of October 24, 2002 -

Edit 2 in the Header record edits in Appendix R has been modified for clarity.

A typo was corrected in the description of the award codes in Attachment 1 to format G99ATV in Appendix H. Edit 4 in the Activities and Awards (G99ATV) generic record edits in Appendix R has been corrected to base the edit on the value of the Activity/Award Type Code Qualifier when editing the Activity/Award Type Code.

Edit 38 in the postsecondary fixed segment (P01) record edits in Appendix R has been corrected to an edit based on the value of the Student Communication Numbers 1-4 when editing the Student Communication Number Qualifiers 1-4.

The definition of item 14, Grade/Academic Level of Student This Session, has been corrected to include the code value of 20.

Note number 7 listing the size increase of Term Description, item 8, has been added to the introduction of the postsecondary Term Header record, P02. The subsequent notes have been renumbered.

Another new code, J, has been added to Course Type, item 10 in the P03 format. Edit 11 in the Postsecondary course edits (P03) has been modified to include the new code.

Edit 3.5 in the postsecondary degree format (P07) record edits in Appendix R has been deleted. The definition of Term Tag Number, item 4, in the Degree Format has been modified to agree with the deletion, as has note number 5 in the introduction to the format.

The text of Edit 8 in the postsecondary degree format (P07) record edits in Appendix R has been modified to agree with the renamed data element.

The definition of Contact Type, item 10 in the Participant Status Format (Appendix K) has been updated to include the new codes P and E. Code B has been modified for clarity.