To: All Choice school WISEdata primary, secondary, and generic contacts
Date: 7/22/2025
Subject: DPI Back to School Reminders & Updates
Welcome to the 2025-26 school year!
The Department of Public Instruction (DPI) welcomes you back to school, and the DPI Partner Support Team (formerly Customer Services) is here to help!
This is a lengthy communication, broken into the following sections:
- School year close-out tasks for 2024-25 year-end data
- Beginning of school year tasks for 2025-26
- Training opportunities for the 2025-26 school year and ways to stay connected
- 2025-26 WISE webpages with updated content
We encourage you to read it all to ensure you don’t miss any key updates. We also have a printable back-to-school checklist for you that you can find below and on the Annual Tasks Checklist page.
Choice Schools: Back to School Checklist
(NOTE: Checklist does not contain all information in this communication)
To-Do: 2024-25 Data Review
DPI does not have an official summer deadline, but we still encourage you to submit and clean up your 2024-25 data before the 2025-26 school year begins. DPI will review specific data areas to identify any significant and apparent issues but can’t review data that has not made it to DPI.
Mid-August:
DPI will review Attendance and Absenteeism data.
- Pay special attention to validation errors and warnings related to 0% and 100%.
Late August:
- DPI Partner Support will contact schools identified as needing more assistance with last year’s data. We will connect with the WISEdata contacts listed.
- If no new 2025-26 school contacts have been entered into WISEdata at that time, we will use contacts from last school year.
- If you know of someone new who might not have received this communication, please forward it and ensure they are added as a WISEdata contact.
To-Do: 2025-26 New School Year Tasks
Ed-Fi Credential Updates and SIS Vendor Certification
NEW! For the 2025-26 school year and onward, there will be new URLs for every new school year. Additionally, schools will need to create or resubscribe to vendor subscriptions annually for all vendors. Detailed instructions with screenshots for this new process are provided in the Ed-Fi Credential Application User Guide webpage. These changes will be demonstrated at the Back to School Kickoff trainings, and they were also demonstrated during the May 27, 2025, WISE User Group.
NOTE: If you’re a member of the WISE Community, you can find this recording in the WISE Community SharePoint drive, WISE User Group, Videos folder. Not a member of the WISE Community? Read the ‘Stay Connected All Year Long’ section below to join! You’ll then be able to access all WISE Community resources.
The Ed-Fi Credential application Key changes are the reason you need to resubscribe to your SIS vendor applications each year. Each year you will get an updated set of credentials (i.e., Key and Secret). Then you will need to provide these credentials and the URLS to your vendor each year. The annual resubscriptions eliminate the need for “access years”, making the process simpler. This annual renewal of credentials also adds increased security measures for safe data flow.
Switching or adding SIS vendors? The timing of a change in SIS is critical. If you are switching, please let us know as soon as possible by starting a Help Ticket and selecting “SIS Conversion: New SIS Set-up" from the application drop-down. It is important that you select a certified vendor from our list and that Ed-Fi Credential subscriptions are set up correctly. Any data from a prior vendor must be available for all applicable future snapshots. You can also review our SIS conversion guidance for in-depth info.
Update Agency Contacts
Please check your contacts to confirm that everything is up to date. An out-of-date contact list means that important communications will not get to the right people. Updating your primary, secondary, generic, and snapshot-specific contacts is a very important step for each new school year, as well as any time throughout the school year if/when staffing changes occur.
Review the Updating Agency Contacts mini tutorial for more information on how to update contacts in: WISEadmin Portal, WISEdata Portal, WISEid, and School Directory.
Tasks for District Security Administrators (DSAs) and Application Administrators
The June edition of the WISE Insights newsletter offered a number helpful tips for DSAs: Spotlight on Strong Data: New District Administrators and Data Quality Tips for New District Administrators.
A gentle reminder that along with onboarding new staff, DSAs and/or Application Administrators must also review role permissions in their DPI applications (e.g., WISEdata). They are also responsible for conscientious offboarding to ensure staff who have left have their access removed.
WISE Updates for 2025-26
Data Elements: New Filters
The ‘Collection’ filters on the Data Element landing page have been updated. Aligned with this update, Partner Support reviewed each of the 600+ data elements to ensure they are all correctly aligned to the appropriate filter/s.
WISEid Updates for 2025-26
WISEid Files and Templates Webpages: All New files
All of the File Upload templates for WISEid have been reviewed, revised, and redesigned for clearer communication and screen reader accessibility. The files are now linked as either a Microsoft Word Doc in Read Only mode or a Microsoft Excel .csv file. You can locate these files on the WISEid: File Layouts and Templates webpage.
2025-26 Training Opportunities
WISEdata Calendar Events
Back to School Kickoff Training
We are pleased to announce the return of the WISE Back to School Kickoff! This year, our Kickoff training is split into two separate training opportunities for two unique audiences: new users and more experienced users. Regardless of your level of familiarity with WISE reporting, the trainings will provide opportunities for school staff to learn more about WISE, ask questions, and hear what questions other schools are asking about their data. Both sessions are virtual.
Attend the option that fits your schedule or experience level:
- WISE Back to School, New User Training: Tuesday, August 19; 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
- 1:00 – 4:00 p.m. has dedicated Choice content.
- WISE Back to School Kickoff Training: Thursday, August 21; 9:00 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.
New User Training for WISEdata Portal
Aside from the Back to School Kickoff training, Partner Support offers recurring, monthly WISEdata New User training sessions. The goal of this training is to teach you how to navigate the WISEdata Portal, troubleshoot errors/warnings in your data, where to locate self-help resources, etc. This course is for new users at your school or those unfamiliar with WISEdata Portal.
- First Wednesday of the Month: WISEdata New User Training, 1:30 – 3:00 p.m.
Weekly WISE User Group
User Group calls occur regularly throughout the school year on Tuesdays. Hosted by Partner Support and assisted by guest speakers from DPI, you can ask questions specific to your data needs and receive immediate answers from real people-- no robocall responses! The User Groups are for everyone, from the newest beginners to the most experienced.
Stay Connected All Year Long!
Join our WISE Community
To hear the most up-to-date WISE-related announcements, learn about system updates, and connect with your peers for tips and guidance, join our Microsoft Teams WISE Community. It’s a collaborative space for asking questions, as well as the spot Partner Support shares training slide decks, user group materials, etc. If you would like to join the WISE Community, submit a Help Ticket with your name and work email address.
Subscribe to the WISE Insights Newsletter
WISE Insights is a monthly newsletter published on the third Tuesday of every month. The newsletter has five main article types: Spotlight on Data, Data Quality Tips, WISEdash Featured Dashboard, App Feature, and Upcoming Events and Data Milestones. Stories are chock-block full of great information, helpful tips, and hyperlinks to web resources. Subscribe today!
Attend the WISEdata Conference!
The DPI hosts an annual WISEdata Conference. The conference is free to attend (cost of rooms and travel are not covered). The 11th annual WISEdata Conference will be held March 17 – 19, 2026, at the Chula Vista Resort! Visit the WISEdata Conference webpage to keep up on our ever-growing content for the 2026 event!
Please take the ‘Attendee Voice’ pre-conference survey. Your feedback will shape the session content, food options, and logistics for the 2026 WISEdata Conference. This survey closes Friday, August 1, 2025. Thank you so much for your valuable input!
Thank You for Your Hard Work!
As always, we thank you for working diligently to ensure that your staff and students’ needs are met. DPI is always here to assist and support you. We look forward to working with you!
- For a multitude of WISE resources, see our WISE Help page.
- Remember to check our WISE Events Calendar for opportunities to join us for our training sessions and weekly user group calls.
- Reach out to us with any questions or concerns by submitting a WISE Help Ticket.
Regards,
~The DPI Partner Support Team