1. Direct Certification
Welcome to the Direct Certification Self-Pace training.
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2. Agenda Security Obtain Results Overview Access Evaluate Results
Resources
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3. Overview
Direct Certification is the federally mandated process through which students are certified as eligible for the NSLP program without further application.
CALPADS provides the pupil data used for the Direct Certification statewide matching process.
Direct Certification is the federally mandated process for the National School Lunch and School Breakfast programs. This is where school-age recipients of CalFRESH and CalWORKS benefits are certified as eligible for free school meals without further application. CalFresh used to be known as the Food Stamps program.
The California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System is not the only means to obtain Direct Certification results. LEAs have two options in implementing direct certification. The LEA can obtain a list of eligible recipients of CalFRESH and CalWORKS benefits at the local level from the County Welfare Department (CWD) and manually identify the students eligible for direct certification OR they can utilize the direct certification results from the monthly state level data matching process in CALPADS.
CALPADS began conducting the State-level Direct Certification process in August CALPADS shares student demographic data with Department of Health Services for the state-wide Direct Certification matching process. CALPADS stores the matched results for the current school year and makes the results available to download by authorized LEA officials. In April 2017 the matching was expanded to include MediCal receipients for Free or Reduced priced meals. The CALPADS match results will indicate if the student is directly certified as eligible for free or reduced meals. LEAs are reminded that when a student is directly certified for free or reduced meal, a local policy should be implemented to notify the student’s household of the eligibility.
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4. Overview The CALPADS Direct Certification matching process
Extracts Data
Matches Data
Shares Results
Student ‘s name
Student’s date of birth
Student’s gender
Student ‘s address
Each month, the “DHCS Match” results are uploaded to CALPADS as a directly certified or not directly certified free meal eligible record per student.
The  CALPADS data is compared with data from CalFresh and CalWORKS recipient list.
The Direct Certification matching process:
The CALPADS Direct Certification process has three parts:
we extract data from CALPADS, we match data with Department of Social Services and we put the results back in CALPADS for LEA access and reporting
The monthly data extract from CALPADS for Direct Certification matching includes students who have open enrollments. All students with a non “S” value will be resent each month. The CALPADS extract uses pupil name, gender, birth date, and address to match student information against California Department of Social Services (DSS) data.
There are three rounds of matching: the first round of matching uses the student name, gender, birthdate and address, the second pass is conducted with the name, gender and birthdate and county and the last pass is just on name, gender and birthdate.
*The direct certification status of a student is valid for a school year. Direct Certification status will be purged at the end of each school year. The Direct Certification process starts new each July.
Data Guide: Section Student Program – Eligibility and Participation, Page #53-54.
*The direct certification status of a pupil is valid for one school year.
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5. Overview Direct Certification Process CALPADS Results are available
Pull data from CALPADS for matching with DHCS 2
DHCS match results
Local Student Information System
Upload files to the ODS
CALPADS data matched with DHCS
Automated Process
Creates DC File (Monthly) from the SENR & SINF Data
Data extracted from local SIS
Return Results to CALPADS
The Direct Certification matching and retrieval process:
Direct Certification is a 4 step process.
In Step 1 the LEA uploads and posts the student information record (SINF) or student address record (SIAD) in CALPADS. The Operational Data Store, also referred to as the ODS now holds the data for the matching extract.
In Step 2, the extracted data is sent to Department of Social Services (DSS) for matching against CalFresh, CalWORKS and MediCal recipients.
In Step 3, the matching process creates the Direct Certification results. The results file contains a status for each student record extracted.
In Step 4, the results are loaded back into CALPADS where the LEA can review and/or retrieve the results. These values can be viewed and retrieve each month to assist the LEA CALPADS administrator in determining and reporting FRPM data to the State.
Return results to CALPADS
Results are available
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6. Evaluate Results
The CALPADS Direct Certification results contain a Certification Status code for each active student record within your LEA. The Certification Status are also defined in CALPADS User Manual.
Definition S
SNAP - The student is directly certified for free meals because the student is receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits (also known as CalFresh). M
Free MediCal – The student is directly certified for free meals because the student has met the income eligibility criteria through the MediCal program. R
Reduced MediCal – The student is directly certified for reduced-price meals because the student has met the income eligibility criteria through the MediCal program. T
TANF – The student is directly certified for free meals through TANF, the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program (CalWORKS). N
Not Certified – The student is not directly certified for free meals.
Direct Certification Results Codes
The CALPADS Direct Certification results contain a Certification Status code for each active student record within your LEA.
LEA should be aware there will be four codes that indicate whether a student is flagged for Direct Certification: Codes S, T, M, and R.
S -SNAP – The student is directly certified for free meals because the student is receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits (also known as CalFresh).
T-TANF – The student is directly certified for free meals through TANF, the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program (CalWORKS).
M- Free MediCal – The student is directly certified for free meals because the student has met the income eligibility criteria through the MediCal program.
R- Reduced MediCal – The student is directly certified for reduced-price meals because the student has met the income eligibility criteria through the MediCal program.
N- Not Certified – The student is not directly certified for free meals.
Students who were not directly certified in a previous data match AND students who were directly certified with a T, M or R will continue to be processed monthly for a potential upgraded status. If the match process finds that a student is eligible or has an upgraded status, the “match” code will overwrite the previous “non-match” or “non “S” code. If the match process finds that a student has an upgraded code, the system will overwrite (?) the previous “match” code with the upgraded value, but keeps the original certification date. Please note: if a student had a “R” status and later had AN UPGRADED match to a “M” status the “R” code will remain on file.
Also note the Direct Certification status will remain with the student for the duration of that school year even if they no longer qualify.
If the student isn’t Direct Certified through CALPADS, and you feel they should be, they should send home the Household Application Form. Also, the LEA can choose to do Direct Certification through both CALPADs and their county. They are not limited.
When an LEA needs a complete list of all students who are directly certified, the extract request must include four statuses: “S” for SNAP, “T” for (TANF), “M” for Free MediCal, “R” for (Reduced MediCal). When LEA nutrition services staff report counts of students directly certified through SNAP on the Food and Nutrition Services Report #742 (FNS-742), they should only use students directly certified with an “S” and use a “Certified Since” date from July 1.

7. Overview Direct Certification Schedule
The CALPADS Direct Certification (DC) process occurs once a month. Generally, the CALPADS student data will be pulled from CALPADS on the second of each month. A Direct Certification notification will be posted on the CALPADS Home when the results are available..
The Direct Certification Schedule
The CALPADS Direct Certification matching process occurs once a month. Generally, the CALPADS student data will be pulled from CALPADS on the second of each month, or the next following business day if it falls on a weekend or holiday.
Once the results are loaded back into CALPADS a Direct Certification notification will be posted on the CALPADS Home page when the results are available. Look for a message type of “Direct Cert” to know when it was last updated in CALPADS. 7
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8. Security Access Direct Certification Roles
The LEA Administrator must assign the Direct Certification role to the appropriate staff
LEA users with Direct Certification Roles are able to view student(s) direct certification status online or can request an extract file containing the direct certification results.
Security Access
The LEA Administrator must assign the Direct Certification role to the appropriate staff using the Admin Tab in CALPADS. CALPADS accounts with the “Direct Certification” security role can either view student(s) direct certification status online or can request an extract file containing the direct certification results.
LEAs must determine which staff should be granted access to CALPADS’ Direct Certification data. After appropriate local users are identified, they should read and understand all applicable State and federal privacy laws. LEAs must set in place appropriate privacy safeguards. It is a best practice to require staff to read and sign documentation attesting to their comprehension of applicable State and federal privacy laws when working in CALPADS or with electronic or printed material (e.g., reports) from the CALPADS. 8
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9. Obtain Results View Direct Certification Status online
Log into CALPADS and navigate to the Admin menu
Select View Direct Certification Status
Manage results displayed by updating the filter options and clicking on the Apply Filters button
There are two ways to access the Direct Certification Results – Online and a downloaded extract
View Direct Certification Status online:
This functionality allows the user to view results quickly online in a browser window.
Log into CALPADS and navigate to the Admin menu
Select View Direct Certification Status
Results can be viewed multiple ways using the filters; by all schools, one school, one SSID and by Status Code(s).
You can obtain all statuses or individual status codes. You can also retrieve students from a point in time or since the last time you requested an extract. It is recommended you use July 1 as the “Student Certified since” date to make sure you capture students that have a status upgrade.
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10. Obtain Results Request DC Extract
Navigate to the Reports menu
Select Extracts
To Request Direct Certification Extract
Navigate to the Reports menu
Select Extracts
Select Direct Certification link under the Request CALPADS Files section
Specify additional filters if desired
LEA: request an extract for an LEA
School: request an extract for a single school. If left blank, extract will include all schools in the LEA
Student Certified Since: request an extract for students certified since a specified date
Certification Status code: request an extract for a specific Certification Status Code
The status code selection is a multi-selection drop-down menu that can be controlled as follows: With a mouse click plus the Shift key (to select an entire group of continuous options) or with a mouse click plus the CTRL key (to select various status code options in a random order).
A (All)
S (SNAP)
T (TANF)
M (Free MediCal)
R (Reduced MediCal)
N (not certified)
Type a name to Identify your Extract file in Extract File Name
Select Request File
Navigate to the Reports menu
Filter Options
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11. Obtain Results Retrieve DC Download
Navigate to the Reports menu
Select Extracts
Displayed are the steps to retrieve a Direct Certification Extract for downloading:
Retrieve DC Download
1-Navigate to the Reports menu
2-Select Extracts
3-Select Direct Certification link under the Retrieve CALPADS Files section
4-Configure Filter Options and select Apply Filter
District level is default
School level extracts are optional
5-Select Download button (located in the Extract file view).
6-Click Save and choose a location to store the file
The file layout is documented in the CALPADS Extract Specifications document on the CDE CALPADS System Documentation Web page.
You may want to consider creating a direct certification folder on your computer to store all electronic direct certification files and/or create a file folder to house all paper direct certification documents. This will be especially beneficial because you will have quick access to any direct certification documentation that is requested from other local staff in your LEA.
Navigate to the Reports menu
Specify additional filters
Select Download button
Save file
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12. Evaluate Results Direct Certification Results Layout#
CALPADS File Element
Field Type
Max Length 1
Academic Year ID CS 9 2
Reporting LEA 7 3
School of Attendance 4
Local Student ID 16 5
SSID 10 6
Student Legal First Name 30
Student Legal Middle Name 8
Student Legal Last Name 50
Certification Date DT
Certification Status
Here is an example of the Direct Certification Extract layout
The specification for the extract file is included in the CALPADS Extract Specifications document on the CDE CALPADS System Documentation Web page.
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13. Evaluate Results Analyzing Direct Certification Results with Excel
Converting an Extract CSV file to Excel Columns makes the extracts easier to view.
Scenarios:
Use excel filtering to refine a list of the student records that need the Household Application Form administered.
Use excel filtering to export a list of student records that are SNAP certified
Use excel filtering to export a list of student records that can be import into the Local SIS.
Analyzing Direct Certification Results with Excel
Here are few scenarios in which you can benefit from Excel’s filter capability to find a subset of students:
Use excel filtering to refine a list of the student records that need the Household Application Form administered. Status =N
Use excel filtering to export a list of student records that are SNAP certified. Status =S
Use excel filtering to export a list of student records that can be import into the Local SIS. Status=S,M,R
Note: There is a mini Clip demonstrating how to import text data into Excel on the CSIS Training mini Clip menu. Refining the results is a key factor of an efficient method of maintain the Direct Certification work load
Mini clip:
How to Importing-CALPADS-Extract-To-Excel –Quick Self-Paced
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14. Resources CALPADS System Documentation
Document
Description
Sections
CALPADS Extract Specifications
File layout and requirements for DC extract
Direct Certification
CALPADS Flash
Communication to the field regarding any changes to State-level Direct Certification Process
Flash #76 , #92 and #112
National School Lunch Program Documentation
Document
Description
Sections
NSLP Fact Sheet
Equity in School Lunch Pricing
Nutrition Services Division Information
CalFRESH County Contacts for Direct Certification
List of local welfare or social service office contacts
CalFresh County Contacts for Direct Certification
National School Lunch Program
Information about applying for and administering the National School Lunch Program (NSLP).
Program Information
Nutrition Services
Fiscal information to aid nutrition sponsors and to provide information about claiming meal reimbursements.
School Nutrition Program (SNP)
Direct Certification Resources
Here we provide a list of Supporting Documents with hyper-links .
CALPADS Extract Specifications
File layout and requirements for DC extract
CALPADS FLASH
Communication message for CALPADS activity
NSLP Fact Sheet
Equity in School Lunch Pricing
CalFRESH County Contacts for Direct Certification
List of local welfare or social service office contacts
National School Lunch Program
Information about applying for and administering the National School Lunch Program (NSLP).
Nutrition Services
Fiscal information to aid nutrition sponsors and to provide information about claiming meal reimbursements. 14
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