Exceptions

Individual exceptions will not necessarily be generated for every mismatch of CALPADS coding and credential authorizations.  Instead, if an educator is teaching multiple periods of the same CALPADS course, only one exception will be generated.  Within this exception, a course count field will tally the number of courses reported for the educator. This prevents users from duplicating their efforts when addressing identical courses.

Itinerant educators and service providers who are assigned to multiple courses and work across schools will trigger an exceptions at each site.  This is because CalSAAS will generate one exception per combination of educator (SEID), CALPADS assignment, and CDS code.

This exception is based solely on if the educator has the proper credential authorizations for the assigned CALPADS code, which is reported for either the course being taught, or the type of non-classroom based assignment that the educator is serving in. 

CalSAAS will generate one Course Code exception per combination of Educator (SEID), School (CDS Code), and CALPADS Course or Assignment Code reported. Exceptions will display the CALPADS code and course title (for course codes) or assignment title (for assignment codes) for convenience, but if you would like to view CALPADS codes and their corresponding descriptions, see the following resource:

CALPADS Codes

This type of exception should only occur in General Education or Service Assignments. If this is occurring for other assignments, the determination needs to indicate this: refer to the section regarding the Other determination on the Determinations webpage.

Electives, Home Hospital, and Independent Study Courses

Some elective courses, such as Home Room and Study Hall, have been coded so that they are authorized under any fully credentialed general or special education teacher under the Local Assignment Option outlined in California Code of Regulations, Title 5, §80005(b). This will reduce exceptions and eliminate the need to determine them through CalSAAS.  Courses indicated as home hospital or independent study may also be taught by any fully credentialed general or special education teacher under Education Code §44865.

However, note that “fully credentialed teacher” excludes those individuals serving on Waivers, Emergency Permits, or Intern Credentials.  These educators will produce exceptions when assigned to these courses, and they CANNOT be appropriately assigned via the previously mentioned local assignment option. 

Education Specialists are able to teach all subjects to their students, provided their credential authorizes them to serve within the disability areas of the students served.  Because of this, these educators are not subject to course code exceptions.  Instead, special education teachers are evaluated to determine if their credential authorization(s) authorize service for students within their primary disability areas.      

Note: When courses are reported with the Instructional Strategy Code of 700 - Special Education to the California Department of Educations through CALPADS, the educator will not be scrutinized for holding an appropriate General Education authorization for the course assignment.  Instead, they will be checked for the appropriate special education authorization to cover their student's primary disability.

CalSAAS will output one Special Education exception per combination of educator (SEID), school (CDS Code), and disability area. The course count on a Special Education exception represents the number of courses in which there was one or more students in the class with the listed primary disability area for which the educator did not hold the appropriate authorization. The 14 disability areas that CalSAAS considers are:

• Autism
• Deaf-Blindness
• Deafness/Hearing Impairment
• Emotional Disturbance
• Established Medical Disability
• Hard of Hearing
• Intellectual Disabilities
• Multiple Disabilities
• Orthopedic Impairment
• Other Health Impairment
• Specific Learning Disability
• Speech or Language Impairment
• Traumatic Brain Injury
• Visual Impairment

Exceptions of this type are generated based upon CDE’s data on students’ primary disability areas. Some Special Education exceptions will display as “General”.  This occurs when the course was recorded as Special Education through CALPADS, but there is no student disability information.  In these cases the LEA needs to communicate the population(s) of students served when determining exceptions.  

CalSAAS will output one English Learner (EL) exception per combination of educator (SEID), school (CDS Code), and Education Service Code, which is the CALPADS field that collects the level of EL service. The course count on a English Learner exception represents the number of courses in which there was one or more English Learners (EL) in the class who required the indicated level of EL services for which the educator did not hold the appropriate EL authorization.

There are six Education Service Codes that can be attributed to a course. They include:

1. Primary Language Instruction and Designated and Integrated English Language Development (ELD) Instruction
2. Designated ELD Instruction Only
3. Integrated ELD Instruction Only
4. Designated and Integrated ELD Instruction But Not Primary Language Instruction
5. No English Learner Services
6. Other English Learner Service

Different English Learner and Bilingual authorizations authorize different levels of instruction. For more information, refer to the Types of English Learner Services webpage. CalSAAS is coded to detect when an educator is not appropriately authorized for each level of English Learner instruction.  To view a summary of the documents issued by the Commission that authorize instruction to English learners, please see Leaflet CL-622.

If 1 - Primary Language Instruction and Designated and Integrated English Language Development (ELD) Instruction was selected, CalSAAS will perform one additional check to assure that the educator assigned to the course has the proper bilingual authorization to teach in the language of instruction. CALPADS provides the language of instruction field to enter this information.  CalSAAS compares the educator’s Bilingual Authorization against the language of instruction entered.  If there is a mismatch, an exception will be generated.

If 5- No English Learner Services was selected, and English Learner students were reported in the course, then an exception will be generated in CalSAAS. Note, all educators (TK-Grade 12) serving in General Education, Special Education, and Career Technical Education settings with one or more English Learner students in their classroom are required to provide EL services and hold a valid EL authorization for the services being provided.

Service Assignments

CALPADS Codes can be designated as an administrator or Pupil Personnel Service provider in the C Type Field.  If either of these are selected, the educator will not be scrutinized for an appropriate English Learner Authorization.