Hello everyone and Happy April!

The NC-SARA Data reporting period is almost upon us! The 2021 time frame to report fall 2020 distance education enrollments and calendar year 2020 out-of-state learning placements is May 15, 2021 through June 15, 2021.

As a reminder, as part of our participation agreement with NC-SARA and the CDHE, we're required to submit information to NC-SARA on an annual basis that documents the number of students enrolled in 100% distance education and in any Out-of-State Learning Placements (eg., internships, student teaching, practica, clinical placements, etc.). You can read about how NC-SARA uses this data, aside from complying with the state higher education agencies, in the Revised (2021) Data Sharing Agreement.

NC-SARA has, as usual, updated their Data Reporting Handbook for this reporting cycle. It's still somewhat unclear on some issues, but generally there aren't too many changes though there are some additions in -

• Addressing the Covid issue
• Noting the addition of reporting distance education or OOSLP that emanate from branch campuses (which.... everyone should have already been doing that, I'm a little surprised to see this called out as something new).

Reporting window: 5/15-6/15, 2021

• Distance education enrollment - 2020 fall snapshot from IPEDS
• OOSLP - calendar year 1/1/20 - 12/31/20

Data To Be Reported
1) Distance Education Enrollment: Institutions must report the number of students engaged exclusively in distance education (i.e., enrolled in only distance ed. courses and nothing on ground) who are enrolled at the institution. The distance education enrollment data must be disaggregated by state, territory, or district where the activity takes place. These distance education enrollment data need to include both degree and non-degree for-credit courses.

• For distance education enrollment reporting, institutions should report the same distance education data they reported for IPEDS’ EF reporting, but disaggregate the data by state/territory. IPEDS provided guidance on how to report courses that have changed modality or used mixed modality in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. IPEDS uses the term “remote learning” to describe courses that would otherwise have been delivered in person. NC-SARA requests that we report remote learning as they did for IPEDS EF. Please work with your IR office.
• Remember that we're reporting the number of distance education enrollments for all states and territories, including CO and non-SARA members.

2) Out-of-State Learning Placements (OOSLP): Institutions participating in SARA should also annually report to NC-SARA the number of their students engaged in certain OOSLP activities, such as clinical rotations, internships, student teaching, etc., disaggregated by state and two-digit Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP) codes as assigned by the U.S. Department of Education.

• Report All OOSLP Activities. NC-SARA recognizes that many OOSLP activities scheduled to take place in 2020 may have been disrupted. If
  learning placements were started, but not completed, please report them.
• OOSLP include on-the-ground, out-of-state learning placements (clinical rotations, student teaching, internships, etc.) that occurred between 1/1/20-12/31/20. If, due to Covid, your students participated in their internships or other OOSLPs online (i.e. remotely or via distance delivery), remember you're only reporting the number of students who were enrolled in these courses and were located OUTSIDE of Colorado. Students who remained in Colorado while participating in one of these placements will not be counted in this report. Put another way: Do not report learning placements that were intended to be in-person but occurred entirely remote due to COVID as an OOSLP.

Q: Which placements need to be counted in this report?

A: Did the student pay the University and/or receive credit? If yes to either or both of those, then you need to report it.

Q: What about a field trip, or a service learning or a short course (i.e. a course that took place for part of the semester online or on campus and then spent the rest of the semester at an off-site location), do we report those?

A: No.

Q: But what about a virtual internship (100% online)?

A: Not as an OOSLP - but if the student was located outside of Colorado when participating in the virtual internship, they would be counted in Distance Education Enrollment.

Q: What if we report these placements to another third-party or through a different placement data set?

A: Yes you still have to report it - third party reporting has no effect on your NC-SARA reporting.

Q: What if we don't track these?

A: well.... you're required to as part of the institution's participation in NC-SARA, and you're required to know where your students are located when accessing education per federal regulations, so.....

Pro Tip
If your OOSLPs are part of a degree program intended to prepare students for professional licensure in another state (e.g., the program is being advertised to students in CA to prepare them for license in CA) regardless of modality, prior approval by the other state’s professional licensure board that oversees practice of the discipline may be required to offer learning placements in that state. SARA participation does not include such professional licensure approval. In some states, an even broader range of activities fall under the jurisdiction of licensing boards.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Erika

Erika G. Swain
Interim Assistant Director for State Authorization
Office of Academic Affairs
University of Colorado System
e: swaine@cu.edu
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Assistant Director for Compliance and Authorization
Office of Data Analytics | Office of Institutional Research
University of Colorado Boulder
e: Erika.Swain@colorado.edu
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o: (303) 735-8184
c: (518) 637-9785