Data Errata - Making Data Changes after DPI Publication

Data Errata: Overview

Districts and schools work very hard to provide the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) with an enormous amount of data to meet annual requirements. They diligently compile and report student and staff data in a timely fashion nearly all of the time.

The data sent to WISEdata Portal by Wisconsin schools through their student information system(s) (SIS) is a 'live' collection. It is constantly changing with updates, corrections, and new submissions.

DPI collects this living data during various snapshots. Snapshot data is static. It is taken on a predetermined date and time to capture the data that exists in the WISEdash data warehouse exactly as it is at that moment.

Partner Support has an extensive process of reaching out to our school partners to conduct data quality outreach. We reach out to LEAs by electronic communications and phone calls. This is an annual process that starts every August and continues through the December Student Snapshot date. This occurs for the May Demographic Snapshot, too.

Despite all of our best efforts to get data accurate before a snapshot takes places, the process is not perfect. There are times when data is represented inaccurately on the snapshot report.

Whether the data is correct, incorrect, present or missing, snapshot data cannot be corrected. Once collected, the data stands. That report is permanently frozen as is, very similar to a family photo -- exactly how we look at that point in time. The snapshot data cannot be altered.

DPI passes this snapshot data on to the public using tools like:

WISEdash
Report Cards
ESEA (federal) Accountability reports

This is when data errata letters come into play. Translation of this Latin phrase means, "a correction of published information." Errata letters list incorrect data captured in a snapshot. They also list the correct data.

DPI maintains a master data errata webpage, containing all of the changes brought to our attention by schools and districts after the snapshot data has been published.

We present data errata because:

We want to be diligent in providing you with the most accurate information possible.
- The data errata letters are in lieu of actual data correction.
Errata should be consulted for any dataset downloaded or used in educational research.
Several federal education programs, including the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) require DPI to use an LEA’s student counts to determine:
- formula grant allocations
- school allotments
- private school proportionate shares, and
- maintenance of effort compliance.
Due to the fiscal impact, DPI uses data errata letters to present corrected counts, when allowed.

NOTE: Data Errata letters are PUBLIC RECORD. Student data-related letters SHOULD NOT CONTAIN PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE INFORMATION (PII)!

This webpage is organized into three sections:

A set of accordions at the top of the page, containing information, instructions, FAQs, and any template letters.
Our retention policy, explaining the school years you will see maintained on this page.
A set of accordions at the bottom of the page containing actual data errata letters submitted to DPI from LEAs.

Click the links below to navigate to different sections of this page:

General Information and Letter Templates

Retention Policy

View Submitted Data Errata Letters on File

General Information and Letter Templates

Data Errata FAQ

Data Errata FAQ

Will submitting a data errata letter change my snapshot data?
- No, once the snapshot is taken, the data in the WISEdash (data warehouse) and WISEstaff databases cannot be changed. After the snapshot, address data errors by submitting a data errata letter on the WISEadmin Portal.
Will submitting a data errata letter automatically correct the data in my school/district report card?
- No, data errata letters do not apply corrections to your report card. If you need corrections for accountability purposes, please submit an inquiry to OEA during the preliminary secure release of report cards, when the inquiry process begins. Please review the Report Card Inquiry Overview webpage for details on this process. Additionally, acceptable changes are only possible for the requested data in report cards and some federal accountability reports. These changes are not possible in other systems that include these data, like WISEdash Public.
Can I submit a data errata letter to refute educator licensing errors (reported on the final licensing audit)?
- No, audit errors are not reported publicly and there is no need to submit data errata unless the error was due to an improperly reported assignment code.
How do I prevent data submission errors in the future?
- We strongly encourage LEAs to continuously correct all data within their vendor tools (i.e., student information system or HR system) and to push those corrections to WISEdata Portal for student data (providing that the school year is one of the three school years still open in the WISEdata Portal) and to WISEstaff for staff data. This prevents the error from persisting into the following school year's reports. Importantly, the data errata letter does not work as an alternative to preparing one's data in time for a snapshot. Every LEA is responsible for their data quality. More information on snapshot preparation can be found on the Snapshot Preparation Guidance webpage.

Your Feedback Matters!

Please provide us with feedback on the Data Errata process (link opens in a new tab). You can give us suggestions about how DPI can make the process more efficient for you.

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How to Submit Data Errata: WISEadmin Portal

How to Submit Data Errata Letters

Submit data errata letters on WISEadmin Portal. For instructions on submitting data errata on WISEadmin Portal, refer to the Data Errata section of the WISEadmin Portal: Info, Help and User Guide webpage.

It is imperative that your data errata letters do not include any student-specific data (PII) for confidentiality and privacy reasons.

Steps in the Data Errata Process:

Correct all data that displays incorrect in the WISEdata Portal in your EdTech vended Student Information System (SIS).
Write your Data Errata letter acknowledging the data you corrected.
- Do not include any personally identifiable information, as Data Errata letters are published publicly.
- The templates linked within each accordion section below show examples on how to present your corrections with high level language. You can click the template links to download them.
Submit your Data Errata letter(s) on the WISEadmin Portal.

CESAs do not have access to WISEadmin, so they must submit their letters directly to DPI.

Email: DPIPartnerSupport@dpi.wi.gov
Physical (hard copy) mail: P.O. Box 7841, Madison, WI 54707 - or send to:
- Department of Public Instruction
- 210 West Washington Avenue, Madison, WI 53705

If you do not have access to the WISEadmin Portal, reach out to your District Security Administrator (DSA) staff. DPI cannot assign access to DPI secure applications to LEA staff.

You can also visit the WISEhome login page, click, Need Help Signing In? and then select one of the available questions that best addresses your situation.

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General Data Errata Sample Letter

Sample WISEdata Data Errata Letter

Data errata letters must contain certain pieces of information. Review or download this sample WISEdata data errata letter. to help ensure your letter is complete.

Submit data errata letters on your school/districts letterhead, whenever possible. Make sure that the address of your school/district is included in the letterhead.

Please write each data errata letter about a single topic. Your data errata letter should not cover multiple topics or data errata categories.

Data errata letters must contain certain pieces of information based on what data is being corrected. Certain data, such as Third Friday in September and Economically Disadvantaged student counts, October 1 Child Count, CEIS / CCEIS impacted student counts and WISEstaff reporting require data errata templates to be used to submit corrections. If these templates are not used, DPI will not have the information needed to affect federal grants.

Submit data errata letters on your school/LEA’s letterhead, whenever possible. Make sure that the address of your school/LEA is included in the letterhead.

Except for the unique case of the Third Friday in September (TFS) / Economically Disadvantaged (ECD) student counts, please limit each data errata letter to a single topic. Your data errata letter should not cover multiple topics or data errata categories (such as submitting a correction for both TFS-ECD and October 1 Child Count in the same letter).

The screenshot below, and the listed items beneath, provide general guidance on how to format your data errata letter. Please check the category accordions for specific details on each category topic, and to locate sample templates, when they are available.

screenshot displaying format of sample data errata letter. numbered sections are written below the screenshot.

Include the date on which the data errata letter was written.
Include the mailing address for DPI that receives data errata letters:
- Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, 210 West Washington Avenue, Madison, WI 53705;
- Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, P.O. Box 7841, Madison, WI 54707
Include both the Category and Sub-category for the data errata letter you are sending. Categories and sub-categories are listed in the WISEadmin Portal.
- Remember to write a separate data errata letter for each topic.
- Do not combine multiple topics (e.g., Third Friday of September and October 1 Child Count) in a single letter.
Include a header that states the school year that your data errata letter pertains to.
In the body of the data errata letter, describe the error in detail, but never include personally identifiable information.
Include the numeric data that was incorrectly captured in the snapshot. Indicate if this was for a December or May snapshot.
Include the actual, correct data.
Each data errata letter should be signed by the District Security Administrator (i.e., the school district superintendent or Choice school administrator ). Building principals are also reasonable persons. DPI discourages other staff from signing off on data errata letters.
You must submit your data errata letter to DPI using the WISEadmin Portal.

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Attendance Data Errata Letter Info

Submitting Attendance Data Errata Letters in WISEadmin Portal

Attendance data errata letters are written to annotate corrections to student snapshot data.

From WISEadmin Portal, select, Attendance as the Data Category.

There are no sub-categories.

Screenshot of the WISEadmin Data Errata screen, Attendance category, with no sub-categories.

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Coursework/Roster Data Errata Letter Info

Submitting Coursework/Roster Data Errata Letters in WISEadmin Portal

Coursework/roster data errata letters are written to annotate corrections to student snapshot data.

From WISEadmin Portal, select, Coursework/Roster as the Data Category.

There are several sub-categories you can use to describe the data in this data errata letter:

AP or IB course participation
Arts course participation
Dual enrollment course participation
Industry recognized credential completion
Perkins - CTE participants
Perkins - CTE concentrators
Work-based learning participation

Screenshot of the Coursework/Roster data errata category and its associated sub-categories.

You can reference the CTE and Career Ed Data, Data Quality Auditing webpage for detailed information on where to look and how to verify or cross-check that the data on WISEdash for Districts is accurate.

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Discipline Data Errata Letter Info

Submitting Discipline Data Errata Letters in WISEadmin Portal

Discipline data errata letters are written to annotate corrections to student snapshot data.

From WISEadmin Portal, select, Discipline as the Data Category.

There are no sub-categories.

Screenshot of the WISEadmin Data Errata screen for Discipline, with no sub-categories.

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Dropouts Data Errata Letter Info

Submitting Dropouts Data Errata Letters in WISEadmin Portal

Dropouts data errata letters are written to annotate corrections to student snapshot data.

From WISEadmin Portal, select, Dropouts as the Data Category.

There are no sub-categories.

Screenshot of the WISEadmin Data Errata screen, Dropout category, with no sub-categories.

You can reference the Dropout Data, Data Quality Auditing webpage for detailed information on where to look and how to verify or cross-check that the data on WISEdash for Districts is accurate.

Choice schools can reference the WISEdash Extracts webpage for similar information.

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Enrollment Data Errata Letter Info

If you need to submit a data errata letter for Third Friday in September enrollment data, or economically disadvantaged student counts (as of the December snapshot date), there are some very specific requirements that must be submitted so DPI may adjust counts in WISEgrants. This data impacts formula grant allocations, school grant allotments, proportionate shares, ESEA maintenance of effort, as well as a variety of other federal requirements. In addition, the Achievement Gap Reduction (AGR) Program (state funding) uses the count of students economically disadvantaged in grades K-3, which is captured in the December Student Snapshot along with the Third Friday in September count. Although not a federal program, the same student count data used for federal grants also applies to this program.

Generally, the guidance given for data errata letters is to create a separate letter for each category/topic. Some enrollment data errata letters, however, stray from this guidance. When dealing with the Third Friday in September (TFS) and Economically Disadvantaged (ECD) student counts, DPI's guidance is that this data errata letter *must* combine two topics into one letter.

Please use this template to report TFS / ED corrected student counts at the school level.

Submitting Enrollment Data Errata Letters in WISEadmin Portal

Enrollment data errata letters are written to annotate corrections to student snapshot data.

From WISEadmin Portal, select, Enrollment as the Data Category.

There are several sub-categories you can use to describe the data in this data errata letter:

Choice Program participant
Count Inclusion TFS
Disability Status
Economically Disadvantaged Status (Econ Status)
EL Status

Screenshot of the WISEadmin Portal, Data Errata screen, Enrollments category with its associated sub-categories.

You can reference the following Data Quality Auditing webpages for detailed information on where to look and how to verify or cross-check that the data on WISEdash for Districts is accurate:

Choice schools can reference the WISEdash Extracts webpage for similar information.

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Graduation Data Errata Letter Info

Submitting Graduation Data Errata Letters in WISEadmin Portal

Graduation data errata letters are written to annotate corrections to student snapshot data.

From WISEadmin Portal, select, Graduation as the Data Category.

There are several sub-categories you can use to describe the data in this data errata letter:

4-year graduation rate
5-year graduation rate
6-year graduation rate
7-year graduation rate
Graduation Requirements (Graduation Plan)
Special Education Exiters/Graduates

Screenshot of the WISEadmin Portal Data Errata screen, Graduation category, with its associated sub-categories.

You can reference the Graduation Data, Data Quality Auditing webpage for detailed information on where to look and how to verify or cross-check that the data on WISEdash for Districts is accurate.

Choice schools can reference the WISEdash Extracts webpage for similar information.

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October 1 Child Count Sample Data Errata Letter

Sample October 1 Child Count Data Errata Letter

If you need to submit a data errata letter for October 1 Child Count data, there are some very specific requirements that must be submitted in order for DPI to complete adjustments in WISEgrants, particularly for the IDEA formula allocations and IDEA Maintenance of Effort (MOE). You can also contact the DPI Special Education Team: either submit a Special Education Team Help Ticket, or call: 1 (608) 266-1781.

Please use this template for any October 1 Child Count related corrections.

Submitting October 1 Child Count Data Errata Letters in WISEadmin Portal

October 1 Child Count data errata letters are written to annotate corrections to student snapshot data.
From WISEadmin Portal, select, October 1 Child Count as the Data Category.
- There are no sub-categories.

Screenshot of the WISEadmin Portal, Data Errata screen, October 1 Child Count category, with no associated sub-categories.

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Other: CEIS/CCEIS Impacted Student Count Sample Data Errata Letter

Sample CEIS/CCEIS Impacted Student Count Data Errata Letter

LEAs who voluntarily use IDEA funds for Coordinated Early Intervening Services (CEIS) or are identified as racially disproportionate and must use IDEA funds for Comprehensive Coordinated Early Intervening Services (CCEIS) are responsible for identifying students impacted by the use of these funds through their student information systems. Annually, DPI must report the accurate count of impacted students to the US Department of Education. In situations where the LEA is unable to fix the prior year counts before the December snapshot, the LEA must submit a CEIS / CCEIS Student Count data errata letter.

Please use this template for any CEIS / CCEIS related student count corrections (template includes language for both Voluntary CEIS and Comprehensive CEIS).

Submitting CEIS/CCEIS Data Errata Letters in WISEadmin Portal

CEIS/CCEIS data errata letters are written to annotate corrections to student snapshot data.

From WISEadmin Portal, select, Other as the Data Category.

Then select the Coordinated Early Intervening Services sub-category.

Screenshot of the WISEadmin Portal Data Errata screen, Other category,with the Coordinated Early Intervening Services sub-category.

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WISEstaff Sample Data Errata Letter

Sample WISEstaff Data Errata Letter

Data errata letters must contain certain pieces of information. Review or download this sample WISEstaff data errata letter to help ensure your letter is complete.

Submit data errata letters on your school/district letterhead, whenever possible. Make sure that the address of your school/district is included in the letterhead.

You do not need to submit a separate letter for each person or topic when it comes to WISEstaff. Your WISEstaff data errata letter can cover multiple topics and staff members.

Remember, data errata letters cannot be used to refute educator licensing errors reported on the final licensing audit that are a result of late submission of a licensing application. Audit errors are not reported publicly and there is no need to submit data errata unless the error was due to an improperly reported assignment code.

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Retention Policy: How Long Do We keep Data Errata Letters on File?

WISEdata Portal: Four Years

The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI) has legal obligations for record retention. There are different schedules for different types of records. The record retention schedule for data errata letters is five years after the letter is posted.

Since WISEdata Portal keeps three years' worth of data, those same three years of data errata letters will remain on this webpage, plus the two years prior. This includes the following years, current as of July 1, 2026:

(2026-27)
2025-26
2024-25
2023-24
2022-23

Data errata letters that are more than five years old will be deleted. Since all five years of data errata are maintained on this webpage, there is no more need for the Archive page, and the URL for that page has been inactivated.

WISEstaff: Five Years

Due to the five-year cycle of teacher and other staff license renewals, the DPI Educator Licensing Team requires five years worth of WISEstaff Data Errata Letters. This includes the following years, current as of July 1, 2026:

2025-26
2024-25
2023-24
2022-23
2021-22

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Data Errata Letters

DPI maintains five years of Data Errata letters. The headings match the categories available on the WISEadmin Portal. You can see all appropriate sub-categories in the accordions below.

WISEdata

WISE

Data Errata - Making Data Changes after DPI Publication

Data Errata: Overview

This webpage is organized into three sections:

Click the links below to navigate to different sections of this page:

General Information and Letter Templates

Data Errata FAQ

How to Submit Data Errata Letters

Steps in the Data Errata Process:

Sample WISEdata Data Errata Letter

Submitting Attendance Data Errata Letters in WISEadmin Portal

Submitting Coursework/Roster Data Errata Letters in WISEadmin Portal

Submitting Discipline Data Errata Letters in WISEadmin Portal

Submitting Dropouts Data Errata Letters in WISEadmin Portal

Submitting Enrollment Data Errata Letters in WISEadmin Portal

Submitting Graduation Data Errata Letters in WISEadmin Portal

Sample October 1 Child Count Data Errata Letter

Submitting October 1 Child Count Data Errata Letters in WISEadmin Portal

Sample CEIS/CCEIS Impacted Student Count Data Errata Letter

Submitting CEIS/CCEIS Data Errata Letters in WISEadmin Portal

Sample WISEstaff Data Errata Letter

Retention Policy: How Long Do We keep Data Errata Letters on File?

WISEdata Portal: Four Years

WISEstaff: Five Years

Data Errata Letters

2025-26 School Year

2024-25 School Year

2023-24 School Year

2022-23 School Year

2021-22 School Year

2020-21 School Year

Choice Program Participant

2025-26 School Year

2024-25 School Year

2022-23 School Year

2021-22 School Year

2020-21 School Year

2024-2025 School Year

AP or IB Course Participation

Perkins CTE Concentrator

Perkins CTE Participant

Industry Recognized Credentials (IRC)

2023-2024 School Year

AP or IB Course Participation

Arts Course Participation

Dual Enrollment Course Participation

Industry Recognized Credentials (IRC)

Perkins CTE Concentrator

Perkins CTE Participant

Work-Based Learning Participation

2022-2023 School Year

Industry Recognized Credentials (IRC)

Perkins CTE Concentrator

Work-Based Learning Participant (WBL)

2021-2022 School Year

Arts Course Participation

Dual Enrollment Course Participation

Industry Recognized Credentials (IRC)

Perkins CTE Concentrator

Perkins CTE Participant

Work-Based Learning Participant (WBL)

2020-2021 School Year

Arts Course Participations

Dual Enrollment Course Participation

Industry Recognized Credentials (IRC)

Perkins CTE Concentrators

Perkins CTE Participants

Work-Based Learning Participant (WBL)

2022-23 School Year

2021-2022 School Year

2020-21 School Year

2024-25 School Year

2023-24 School Year

2022-23 School Year

2021-22 School Year

2020-21 School Year

Choice School Participant

2023-24 School Year

2021-22 School Year