FASTER CHANGES FOR 2010-2011

Effective: December 12, 2010

ADMINISTRATIVE REMINDERS AND ISSUES

Districts, Postsecondaries, and Technical Centers

The cutover to the new version of FASTER and SPEEDE/ExPRESS will begin on Friday, December 10, 2010. The new version will be in place on Sunday, December 12, 2010. FASTER users will be notified via e-mail from the listserv when more details are available on the FASTER web page.

If you have not yet done so, visit the FASTER Web Page and sign up for the FASTER listserv by clicking on the Sign up for the Listserv link. Documentation on how to use the listserv can be found at http://lserv.fldoe.org.

We would like to encourage all schools to use the FASTER system to send and receive transcripts. The FASTER system is quick, economical, and the formats permit the transmission of data that is not included on printed transcripts. When receiving requests through FASTER, for student transcripts, please make all attempts to respond as quickly as possible.

FASTER will accommodate the transmission of the new PERT test. However, the details of this new test are still being finalized. As soon as that information is available, we will inform the FASTER community.

At this time, there is not a plan to include adult general education testing on the FASTER transcripts.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Whenever possible run FASTER jobs at night or on weekends. Use CLASS C when submitting jobs after 9 p.m. on Monday through Thursday, and CLASS G for jobs submitted after 9 p.m. on Friday or anytime over the weekend. By adding or changing the job class on the JCL, you could save the state up to 75% of the cost of processing that job. Even if you run your job at night, you do not get a cost savings unless you specify the appropriate class. Chapter 3 gives a break down of the job classes and examples of each.


Districts and Technical Centers

We would like to clarify the use of the old vs. new Ethnicity/Race codes. Ethnicity/Race codes are not required on the header record. However, if these codes are supplied they are edited.

Ethnicity/Race codes are required on the I/S01 Demographic Student record. The old Racial/Ethnic codes are required for those students who graduated or left the district before the 2010-2011 school year. In order to identify these students the Diploma Date, Withdrawal Date, or Certificate of Completion Date must occur before 08/01/2010. The new Race and Ethnicity codes are required for currently enrolled students and those who attended during the 2009-2010 school year. NOTE: If a student graduated or left between 08/2009 and 07/2010 then BOTH the old and the new race codes are required. On the occasion that either the old or new codes are NOT required, but are submitted, the codes provided will be edited for valid values.

Districts Only

FASTER PK-12 schools can be listed individually on the registrant list at the University of Texas, Austin, the server that handles SPEEDE/ExPRESS. The Office of Application Support (OAS) will continue to update the Texas server monthly per requests from the school districts.



FUNCTIONAL SYSTEM CHANGES

Districts, Postsecondaries, and Technical Centers

Changes that were made to FASTER over the course of the previous year are listed in Updates to the 2009-2010 Version of FASTER.

As many of you know, Florida was certified to go live in the federal Migrant Student Information Exchange (MSIX) system in July. FASTER began loading Migrant production data to MSIX in September. As part of the certification agreement, we are required to begin providing additional enrollment information for migrant students beginning with the cutover. That information consists of four new fields (Migrant Enrollment Date, Migrant Withdrawal Date, Migrant District Attended, and Migrant School Attended) that will be added to the I03 Enrollment format. It will also require a change in the way Districts collect and report migrant student’s enrollment information. Instead of reporting one enrollment record per migrant student per school year, we now must collect information on each school that the migrant student attended during the school year. That will require districts to send multiple enrollment records per migrant student per school year. At the same time, you will continue to send non-migrant student's enrollment information by school year, just as you always have. We understand that this is quite a change for us all. FASTER staff looked at multiple ways of collecting and reporting this data. We worked hand-in-hand with MIS staff from several key districts in order to arrive at the best solution. Detailed instructions concerning the migrant program, and this change specifically, can be found at the MSIX District Assistance Paper.

Out-of-State Courses continue to be a problem for migrant student records sent to MSIX. In an effort to eliminate any possibility of sending out-of-state course information to MSIX, FASTER is imposing new edits and is attempting to clarify the valid values for District and School Number, Where Credit Earned. Details can be found in the Format Changes and Edit Changes sections of this document.

The new FASTER Steering Committee is comprised of a representative from each program area that has an interest in the FASTER application. This group of stakeholders is your representatives. They represent your interests when it comes time to make policy changes and implement state or federally mandated requirements. This Committee will meet throughout the year to consider changes to the FASTER system. The FASTER Steering Committee will report to the Articulation Coordinating Committee (ACC). Requests for technical changes to the FASTER system should still be submitted to the FASTER e-mail address at FSTR@fldoe.org. Your requests will be researched and presented to the Committee for their consideration. Questions about policies or specific program areas should be submitted to your Steering Committee representative. See Chapter 1 for a list of Committee members.

Districts and Technical Centers

None.

Postsecondaries Only

None.





FORMAT CHANGES

Header Formats - Appendix H

I/S/P/T00

Postsecondary Formats - Appendix J

P01   Postsecondary Demographic Information Format

P02   Postsecondary Term Format

P03   Postsecondary Course Format

P04   Postsecondary Remarks Format

P05   Postsecondary Transfer Segment Format

P06   Postsecondary Test Format

P07   Postsecondary Degree Format

P08   Postsecondary Immunization Format



Interdistrict/Secondary/Technical Center Formats - Appendix I

I/S/T01   PK-12 Student Information Format

I/S/T02   PK-12 Student Immunization Format

I/S/T03   PK-12 Student School Year Format

I/S/T04   PK-12 Student Course Format

I/S/T05   PK-12 Student Vocational/ELL/Dropout Format

I/S06   PK-12 Exceptional Student Format

I/S/T07   PK-12 Student Comment Format

I/S/T08   PK-12 Student Test Format

I/S09   PK-12 Student Discipline Format

I/S10   PK-12 PAS Number Format

I11   PK-12 Migrant Student Format




EDIT CHANGES - Appendix R

Postsecondary Edits

P00   Postsecondary Header Record Edits

P01   Postsecondary Fixed Segment Edits

P02   Postsecondary Term Edits

P03   Postsecondary Course Edits

P04   Postsecondary Remarks Edits

P05   Postsecondary Transfer Segment Edits

P06   Postsecondary Test edits

P07   Postsecondary Degree Edits

P08   Postsecondary Immunization Edits

Interdistrict/Secondary/Technical Center Edits


I/S/T00   PK-12 Header Record Edits

I/S/T01   PK-12 Demographic Edits

I/S/T02   PK-12 Immunization Edits

I/S/T03   PK-12 School Year Edits

I/S/T04   PK-12 Course edits

I/S/T05   PK-12 Vocational/LEP/Dropout edits

I06   PK-12 Exceptional Student Edits

I/S/T07   PK-12 Student Comment Edits

I/S/T08   PK-12 Student Test Edits

I/S09   PK-12 Discipline Edits

I/S10   PK-12 PAS Code Edits

I11   PK-12 Migrant Student Edits