Gender
Gender: WISEid/WISEdata/WISEstaff (Individual Staff Record)
Sex Type in WISEdata, known as Gender in WISEid and WISEdash, submitted as Male, Female, or Non-Binary.
It is up to local school districts to make substantive decisions on how to report gender data using WISEdata, including how to report data for transgender students and whether to utilize the non-binary gender option. The DPI encourages districts to report data as indicated below:
- The gender reported should be the gender a person identifies with.
- The LEA should update the gender marker at the request of the parent and student. Birth certificates may not be requested.
Uses
Gender codes are used for a wide range of public reporting and accountability purposes. The gender reported should be the gender a person identifies with. This data element is part of a staff member's WISEid record or Individual Staff Record. All WISEid data elements are also considered school level demographic data elements for a student record.
FAQs, Details, and Points to Note
This data element is required for Choice and public schools.
- Creating safe and supportive school environments for all youth, including those who identify as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) is essential for their educational success. For more information, please see DPI’s page on Safe Schools for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Students.
- Students who are Transgender: A student who is transgender is a student whose gender identity is different from what is assumed based on their sex assigned at birth, and/or whose gender expression is different from the way certain genders are stereotypically expected to look or behave. In this sense, transgender serves as an umbrella term for a variety of gender identities and expressions with which a student may identify.
- The decision on how to mark the gender of a student who is transgender is a decision that the student and the family make, subject to local district policy. Keep in mind that gender identification may be fluid, meaning that students may change how they identify at any point during the school year.
- The LEA can proceed with the WISEid student name change by the request from one custodial parent or guardian (depending on the specific authorities of each adult per any court orders). This is true whether the parents are married, separated, or divorced as long as the parent/guardian who provides the request has educational decision-making authority for the student.
- In defining “parent” via current federal regulations (§300.30) require that when more than one party under the definition qualifies to act as a parent, the biological or adoptive parent attempting to act as the parent must be presumed to be the parent unless that person does not have legal authority to make educational decisions for the child.
- WISEid has fields that state First Name and Last Name. A person could originally be documented in the system by creating a WISEid reflecting a previous name and gender, but then once the WISEid has been created, the name and gender could be changed to reflect the new name and/or gender that aligns with the person’s identity. For purposes of finding possible matches in the match review process over time and across districts, the original name could be used in the “Other Name” field (for persons under 18, with permission from the family).
- For transgender students submitting a name change at the district, please see the Data Elements for Students Who Are Transgender page for more information.
- Visit the WISEdata Uncommon Situations "Data Elements for Students Who Are Transgender" for more details about name changes for Transgender students.
- System of Record: As Gender is entered and maintained in both WISEid and WISEdata, it's important to note that WISEid is the system of record. At the time of a snapshot, the WISEid value will be the value pulled into WISEdash and used in the snapshot collection. If a student’s gender marker is changed after the snapshot, it will appear correctly in any “current” data view but would appear as it was prior to the snapshot for that school year.
Certified Snapshot Data
At the time of the student data snapshot, the WISEdata Portal value will be the value pulled into WISEdash and used in the snapshot collection. If a student’s WISEid name or gender is changed after the snapshot, it will appear correctly in any “current” data view but would appear as it was prior to the snapshot for that school year.
For More Information
Creating safe and supportive school environments for all youth, including those who identify as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) is essential for their educational success.
For more information, please see DPI’s page on Safe Schools for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Students.
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