Date: Friday, February 22, 2013
TO THE ADMINISTRATOR ADDRESSED:
Subject: TSDS Unique ID System Training and Required TEAL Access
On December 5, 2012, TEA communicated that beginning March 25, 2013, the Texas Student Data System (TSDS) Unique ID System will be available for all Local Education Agencies (LEAs – Texas Public School Districts and Open Enrollment Charter Schools) and that all districts and charter schools must implement this by April 8, 2013.
Over the next few weeks, Regional Education Service Centers (ESCs) will conduct training for LEA staff on the Unique ID system. Attached is a schedule of Unique ID training dates as well as periods for TEAL access rollout for each region. During your region's training week, LEA staff can apply for access to the TSDS Portal Unique ID application in the TEA Log-in (TEAL) - the secure log-in page, or gateway, to the TSDS portal and other applications. Any LEA staff member who will be using the Unique ID application must have a TEAL account and request access to the TSDS Portal and Unique ID system via TEAL.
What Does My LEA Need To Do?
- Determine who in the LEA needs training to use the TSDS Portal Unique ID system. All new students and staff will be added to the Unique ID database and all demographic changes will be made through the Unique ID system. Each ESC has a Unique ID Champion who can help you make this determination.
- Have appropriate staff attend training provided by your ESC Unique ID champion on the dates scheduled.
- For required TEAL access:
- Verify your organization head (superintendent, ESC director, charter school head, or designee) is set up in TEAL to approve accounts for organization staff. The organization head must have a TEAL account and be set up in the account with approval rights. (To verify or add approver rights, log on to TEAL at https://pryor.tea.state.tx.us/, click Edit My Profile, scroll down and click Manage Approver Status.)
- If you anticipate a large number of staff will need TEAL accounts and Unique ID access, consider designating an Alternate Approver or Limited Organization Approver to help review account requests. (For more information about Alternate and Limited Approvers, see the TEAL online Approver Training module at https://pryor.tea.state.tx.us/ApproverTraining/.
- Watch for notifications from TEAL - delivered to the organization head via email - that indicate accounts or access requests need to be approved. Log on to TEAL daily to review TSDS Portal Unique ID access requests. (Requests not approved within five days are cancelled). Review each request to make sure the person applying for access is the appropriate person for this work, has entered the appropriate role and organization, and has entered the correct email address.
For more information on the TSDS project, visit the TSDS website: www.texasstudentdatasystem.org
If you have questions regarding the TSDS Unique ID system, please contact us at
TSDSCustomerSupport@tea.texas.gov or call 512.463.9229. (Select Option 3 for issues with TEAL for TSDS Portal, or Option 5 for issues related to PID or Unique ID.)
Sincerely,
Melody Parrish
Director
Statewide Education Data Systems
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