ISMS lottery data request memo

Memo

To: [District Name]

From: [Data Collection Liaison]

Date: XX/XX/XXXX

Subject: Lottery Data Collection for the Impact Study of Magnet Schools

Thank you for participating in the Impact Study of Magnet Schools, a study that Mathematica and Social Policy Research Associates are conducting for the U.S. Department of Education (ED). This memo outlines the scope of our planned request to [district name] for data related to school applications and admission lottery outcomes for schools of choice in your district. We are requesting data from spring 2018 (for admission in the 2018-2019 school year) and spring 2019 (for admission in the current 2019-2020 school year) for grades [list grades here].

For each lottery year, we are requesting districtwide lottery data for all schools of choice in your district. Districtwide data is necessary because your district uses a common admissions process where students may apply to multiple schools, and the study will compare students who were admitted to magnet schools to students who were not admitted to magnet schools on the basis of this common lottery. This includes information about all students who applied to enroll in one of the schools in your district, regardless of where they enrolled in the previous year. The study will examine which schools each student applied to, and the admission offers students received, to calculate each applicant’s lottery-based probability of attending a magnet school.

The remainder of this memo describes the specific data elements related to the lottery that will be used to conduct the study. To help alleviate the burden of data processing by your staff, we are requesting all available archived data from the spring 2018 and spring 2019 lottery rounds for the specified grades. These files should include schools’ criteria for prioritizing applicants; students’ application data showing their school choices, initial admission offers and waitlist outcomes; and students’ final school enrollment decisions.

We can accept the data in many formats (see section E), and the study team will work with your staff to establish an encrypted file-transfer protocol for sharing the data files in a highly secure manner. We are requesting access to the data by [customize date]. If you have any questions about the detailed data request described below or the overall study, please let us know.

A. Applicant school choice and enrollment records

Table 1 lists the school choice, application, lottery, waitlist, and enrollment records we are requesting for the students in your district. We recognize the exact format, data elements, or terminology used by your district may vary from the items shown below. We also understand that the items listed below may be stored across multiple data files. For this reason, we recommend that district staff consider sharing the available data files from the school application system and enrollment system in full, along with any documentation that will help us understand their contents.

We are requesting data from the spring 2018 admissions lottery and data from the spring 2019 admissions lottery. For both of these lottery years, please provide the following information on each student and each school to which they applied.

Table 1. Applicant-level data on school choices and lottery outcomes

Data element	Description
Applicant Identification Number	Number that uniquely identifies applicants, and links students to other enrollment, demographic, and test score data sets provided to the study
School Year (Fall)	School year for which applicant is seeking admission (e.g. 2018 for 2018-2019 school year)
Application type	Type of application/enrollment process: Common application for a subset of district schools [specify types], Common LEA-wide application, Unified Enrollment system, etc.
Application Date	Date application was received
Grade Level	Student’s grade level in school year for which applicant is seeking admission
Prior School Identifier	Value that uniquely identifies the applicant’s school of enrollment at the time of application (e.g. school year prior to the year applicant is seeking admission)
Prior School Name	Name of the applicant’s school of enrollment at the time of application
First Choice School Identifier	Value that uniquely identifies the first choice school to which student applied
First Choice School Name	Name of the first choice school to which student applied
First Choice Sibling Preference	Indicator for whether the applicant has a sibling currently enrolled at the school chosen (if SEA/LEA prioritize siblings of enrolled students)
First Choice Proximity Preference	Indicator for whether the applicant lives within a neighborhood receiving admission prioritizations (if SEA/LEA prioritize students from certain neighborhoods for the school and grade to which student applied)
First Choice Additional Preference 1, 2, etc. [If applicable, add variables for additional admissions priority rules]	Indicators for whether the applicant meets criteria for the school and grade’s additional admissions priority
First Choice Initial Lottery Number	Random lottery number the applicant received to determine admission to their first choice school (if applicable for oversubscribed schools)
First Choice Initial Lottery Offer	Indicator for whether the applicant received an admission offer to their first-choice school at the time of the lottery
First Choice Initial Waitlist Status	Indicator for whether the applicant was placed on a waitlist for their first choice school at the time of the lottery
First Choice Initial Waitlist Position [If applicable]	Initial position of the applicant on the waitlist for their first choice school at the time of the lottery (e.g., number of waitlisted applicants who would receive an offer from the school before this applicant)
Second Choice School Identifier [If applicable]	Value that uniquely identifies the second choice school to which student applied
Second Choice School Name [If applicable]	Name of the second choice school to which student applied
Second Choice Sibling Preference [If applicable]	Indicator for whether the applicant has a sibling currently enrolled at the school chosen (if SEA/LEA prioritize siblings of enrolled students)
Second Choice Proximity Preference [If applicable]	Indicator for whether the applicant lives within a neighborhood receiving admission prioritizations (if SEA/LEA prioritize students from certain neighborhoods for the school and grade to which student applied)
Second Choice Additional Preference 1, 2, etc. [If applicable, add variables for additional admissions priority rules]	Indicators for whether the applicant meets criteria for the school and grade’s additional admissions priority rules
Second Choice Initial Lottery Number	Random lottery number the applicant received to determine admission to their second choice school (if applicable for oversubscribed schools)
Second Choice Initial Waitlist Status	Indicator for whether the applicant was placed on a waitlist for their second choice school at the time of the lottery (number of waitlisted applicants who would receive an offer from the school before this applicant)
Second Choice Initial Waitlist Position [If applicable]	Initial position of the application on the waitlist for their second choice school
Note: Please include data elements for third choice schools, fourth choice schools, etc., for as many schools were chosen.
Initial Lottery Result –Identifier of assigned school	Value that uniquely identifies the school for which the student was initially offered admission following the lottery (or, an indicator showing that the student did not receive an initial offer for any school)
Initial Lottery Result –Name of assigned school	Name of the school for which the student was initially offered admission following the lottery
Date of Initial Application Result	Date of the initial application result
Initial Enrollment Status	Initial enrollment status of student as of the beginning of the district’s enrollment period (e.g., September 1st), indicating whether student enrolled in any district school, or did not enroll in a district school.
Initial Enrolled School Identifier	Value that uniquely identifies the school the student was enrolled in at the beginning of the enrollment period. Please record the school even if the student did not apply to it through the lottery.
Initial Enrolled School Name	Name of the school the student enrolled in at the beginning of the enrollment period
Final Enrollment Status	Final enrollment status of student as of the end of the district’s enrollment period (e.g., October 1st), indicating whether student enrolled in a district school, or did not enroll in a district school
Final Enrolled School Identifier	Value that uniquely identifies the school the student was enrolled in at the end of the enrollment period
Final Enrolled School Name	Name of the school the student enrolled in at the end of the enrollment period
Applicant information
Age or Date of Birth	Student’s age at beginning of school year, or date of birth to calculate age
Gender	Student gender
Race	Student race
Ethnicity	Student ethnicity
IEP or 504 Plan	Student has an IEP or 504 plan
FRPL	Student’s free or reduced-price lunch eligibility status
X Coordinate [drop if not available in district data]	State Plane X coordinate (or longitudinal coordinate) of student’s residence
Y Coordinate [drop if not available in district data]	State Plane Y coordinate (or latitudinal coordinate) of student’s residence
Right-to-attend/Campus of residence School Identifier(s)	Multiple fields containing the unique school identifiers (NCESID) for all elementary, middle, or high schools which the student can attend automatically, outside the lottery application process (e.g., neighborhood public schools corresponding to the student’s location of residence)
Right-to-attend/Campus of residence School Name(s)	Multiple fields containing the school names for all elementary, middle, or high schools which the student can attend automatically, outside the lottery-based application process

^a As of end of the enrollment period defined by district.

B. School-level data for schools participating in the lottery system

Table 2 lists the school-specific data requested for each school listed in the application, admissions, and lottery files requested above. Please provide separate files for 2018 and 2019, including one record for each grade level in each school, for all schools participating in your district’s common application system.

Table 2. School-level data on lottery procedures (by grade)

Data element	Description
School ID	SEA/LEA unique school identifier
School Name	Name of the school
School LEA	Name of LEA for the school
School Type	Type of school (e.g. traditional public, magnet, charter, private, etc.)
X Coordinate [drop if student locations are unavailable]	State Plane X coordinate (or longitudinal coordinate) of school
Y Coordinate [drop if student locations are unavailable]	State Plane Y coordinate (or latitudinal coordinate) of school
School Year (Fall)	Year (Fall) corresponding to enrollments through the application process (e.g. 2018 for 2018-2019 school year)
Total Enrollment	Total number of students enrolled at the school the previous academic year
School grade level	Grade level accepting applications for admission through the lottery [record one set of variables for each grade accepting applications]
Available seats at this grade level	Number of seats available for enrollment through the application and lottery process at this grade level for the corresponding school year
Guaranteed/automatically exempt seats	Number of seats automatically guaranteed to or reserved for specific types of students (e.g., those living in the neighborhood, siblings of current students, or students of staff)
Total seats	Total number of seats available. (This should equal sum of prior 2 rows)
Specialized Program	Name of program if seats are offered separately for specific programs within the school-grade level (please include a separate school, grade, and year record for each program within a school that has a separate allocation of seats)
School Sibling Preference	School prioritizes applicants with an enrolled sibling
School Proximity Preference	School prioritizes applicants living within a particular regional boundary
Additional School Preference 1 [if applicable]	School prioritizes admission to students meeting additional preference criteria 1
Additional School Preference 1 Description [if applicable]	Description of preference criteria 1
Additional School Preference 2 [if applicable]	School prioritizes admission to students meeting additional preference criteria 2
Additional School Preference 2 Description [if applicable]	Description of preference criteria 2
Note: Please include similar data elements for each of the “N” admissions preferences recognized for the school and grade level, ordered highest to lowest priority.
Start Date of Initial Lottery	Start date applications are accepted for first interim lottery
End Date of Initial Lottery	Date first interim lottery decisions are made
Deadline to Accept Initial Offers	Last day to accept admissions offers from the initial lottery
Start Date of Interim Lottery 2 [if applicable]	Start date applications are accepted for second interim lottery
End Date of Interim Lottery 2 [if applicable]	Date second interim lottery decisions are made
Deadline to Accept Interim Offers 2	Last day to accept admissions offers from interim lottery #2
Note: Please include similar data elements for each of the “N” lottery rounds during which applicants can receive admissions offers.
Date of Final Lottery Decisions	Date of final lottery decisions
Date Waitlist Period Ends	Date the school stops making waitlist offers

C. Justification for requested data

We greatly appreciate your assistance with this data request. We want to assure you that the study team and the U.S. Department of Education carefully considered this request to ensure it includes the data necessary to conduct a high-quality study. We will use these data to account for how your district implements its school admissions lottery and to understand the full menu of school options available to students in your district. Without these lottery details, we will be unable to compile appropriate data to measure the outcomes of interest for the magnet schools that are the focus of the study.

D. Data confidentiality

Mathematica and its subcontractors follow the confidentiality and data protection requirements of The Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002, Title I, Part E, Section 183. We will use the data provided in response to this request for research purposes only. The reports prepared for the study will summarize findings across the sample and will not associate responses with a specific district, school, or individual. We will not provide information that identifies respondents to anyone outside the study team, except as required by law.

E. File format

We can work with almost any file format, including (but not limited to) Excel, comma delimited or fixed-width text files, R, SAS, SPSS, Stata, and Access. Please also provide documentation of the data, including definitions of variables/fields, any codes used as values, and contact information for someone who can answer questions about the data.

Thank you very much for your assistance with this data request! We greatly appreciate your assistance. Please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions or concerns at [liaison phone number and email].

According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, no persons are required to respond to a collection of information unless it displays a valid OMB control number. The valid OMB control number for this information collection is 1850-0943. The time required to complete this voluntary information collection is estimated to average 8 hours per district, including the time to review instructions, gather the data needed, and complete and review the information collected. If you have any comments concerning the accuracy of the time estimate(s) or suggestions for improving this form, please write to:  U.S. Department of Education, Washington, DC  20202. If you have comments or concerns regarding the status of your individual submission of this form, write directly to:  U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, 555 New Jersey Avenue, NW, Washington, DC  20208.

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