Student ID Validations for Early Learners

To: School District Superintendents, Charter School Directors, Business Managers, MARSS Coordinators, SSID Maintainers, Early Childhood Family Education (ECFE)/School Readiness (SR) Coordinators

From: Heather Mueller, Senior Director of Teaching and Learning

Subject: Assignment of State Student Identification Numbers for Early Learners

Date: May 15, 2019

The purpose of this memo is to clarify the responsibility for assigning the state student identification (SSID) number for children participating in the Early Learning Scholarships Program, Early Childhood Family Education, School Readiness, Head Start and other public preschool programs.

The Early Learning Scholarships Program operates as a funding stream, providing access to high-quality early childhood programs for 3- and 4-year-old children to improve school readiness. To effectively administer the Early Learning Scholarships Program and ensure the integrity of the funds, children receiving scholarships must be identified as unique children before scholarship payments can be made on their behalf to a participating early childhood program. This means that a scholarship cannot be used to pay for services provided to an awarded child until (1) the child has a record in state’s Student ID Validation System that holds the child’s unique SSID number, and (2) that SSID record has been used to validate and assign the SSID number to that child’s scholarship record in the Early Learning Scholarship Administration System (ELSA).

For Early Childhood Family Education (ECFE), School Readiness, Head Start, and other public preschool programs, the SSID number provides a mechanism for identifying children participating in these programs and is critical to the discussion around the alignment of preschool programs and funding to K-12 data.

Assignment of an SSID number and validation of the SSID number for early learners participating in these programs is the responsibility of the resident school district. An allowable exception to this is when the early learner is attending a public program with authority to assign SSID numbers. In such a case, the program of attendance may assign and validate the SSID numbers of all early learners participating in their program regardless of the resident school district, provided a program staff member notifies the resident school district when this action has been taken.

Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) determined that the resident school district would be the best source for the assignment and registration of this number in order to maintain the integrity of the assigned student identification number consistently throughout the child’s educational career. MDE understands that in some cases this may create a small additional burden for the school districts. However, it is also important to note that in many cases, the resident district may have already assigned an SSID number to early learning participants at the time the child received Early Childhood Health and Developmental Screening or Early Childhood Special Education. In those cases, the existing SSID record in the Student ID Validation System is used to validate the child’s SSID number against other systems as applicable.

Every district already has at least one staff member in the SSID Maintainer role with access to the MDE secure system for assigning SSID numbers and reporting problems with SSID records (Student ID Validation System), as do other organizations with authority to assign SSID numbers. The designated Identified Official with Authority (IOwA) for an organization, typically the superintendent or executive director, determines how this responsibility is assigned within their organization and how many staff will have this role. If it is determined that the additional work of assigning and validating SSID numbers for early learners requires another staff person to function as an SSID Maintainer, the IOwA can authorize another staff person for the needed role through use of the External User Access Recertification System.

Districts that are not already doing so should begin assigning the SSID numbers to resident early learners. Whatever process is used, it is important that these numbers are assigned and validated within 30-days of an early learner being identified. This timeline helps ensure that families and programs participating in the Early Learning Scholarships Program do not experience access issues or hardship due to delayed payments. Additionally, this timeline may support a steady reporting preparations workflow.

MDE Resources

Contact MDE.ELSA@state.mn.us with questions concerning the Early Learning Scholarship Administration System (ELSA). A guide for assigning SSID numbers to child records in ELSA is available by request.

Contact mde.student_id@state.mn.us with questions about using the Student ID Validation System.

Contact MDE.ELS@state.mn.us with questions about using the Early Education Student System.