Frequently Asked Questions

Before being able to access the data, a proposal must be submitted to the ERC Advisory Board for approval. If an approval is granted, only then can a researcher access the ERC data. For more information see the Proposal Preparation and Submission tab on the ERC website at: https://texaserc.utexas.edu/proposal-preparation-submission/.

Normally we start the project year for each project on the date it is approved by the Advisory Board, and not the date the researcher begins work at the ERC or is awarded funding (which as you can imagine, varies widely by researcher); this is because in the time between Board approval and actual data access by the researcher, quite a lot of work goes on behind the scenes at ERC in terms of staffing and labor to onboard the new researcher(s) and set up the projects, including: administrative tasks, billing and accounting, all required paperwork, updating our databases, preparing the data request files, coding them, downloading them from our sources, prepping them for the researcher, adding files to the server, ITS requests, coding door locks, adding researchers as affiliates through the UT HR system, ordering ID cards if necessary, and much more. The project fees that we collect (once a project year starts) help in part to pay for this work that begins on day 1 that a project is approved (and really, before, with the review of the project proposal); they also pay for the costs of the servers and other IT services that ERC incurs. Researchers/organizations have 30 days after invoicing to submit payment.

There have been a few instances where projects have been given special approval to begin on a delayed start date, usually due to unforeseen funding or personal circumstances; however, the original end date set by the Board still stands, even if there is a delayed start date. It is strongly recommended that secured funding sources be in place prior to submitting a project proposal to the Advisory Board.

Ideally you’d want to apply for an extension before the project ends; the Advisory Board meets quarterly in March, June, September and December. Application deadlines are 52 days before the meeting date. You can find more information about extensions and the application form in our Policies & Procedures for Approved Projects, pages 9-10 and Appendix E (page 33).

(These extension procedures do not apply to projects that are formulated through Directives/Legislature.)

Known meeting and application deadline dates can be found on the home page of our website at https://texaserc.utexas.edu/. The dates for the next meeting/application deadline are set at the end of each quarterly meeting.

There are times when we may pro-rate an access fee, for example, if a project is ending early during their second year and they only need six months instead of the full year; three months is the minimum amount of time that can be pro-rated.

If your project was approved by the Advisory Board, it depends on the term length that you were approved for; if your project was approved for two years, then your project end date is two years after the original Board approval date. Same for three years, five years, etc.

If your project is a directive, the project begin date is the date of the letter delivered to the ERC director informing us of the project; the end date is determined by how many years are anticipated by that project’s researchers.

Yes, you may have a maximum of four (4) active researchers per project, but Additional Researcher Fees will be charged for the third and fourth researchers. Inform the ERC Admin of the names and contact information of the additional researchers and she will begin the process to onboard them.

Researchers that are unable to complete a project should notify the ERC Director and Admin so that the appropriate closeout steps may be taken.

We are unable to accept credit cards at this time. We accept checks and ACH/wire transfer payments.

• For the north Pickle Research Campus, find map and parking info at https://texaserc.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/erc_map_and_parking_info.pdf. (This is also where ERC staff are located.)
• For main UT campus, our rooms are located in the BRB and SZB buildings: https://maps.utexas.edu/#/utm
• Detailed information regarding room locations/reservations, terminal access, and first-time log-on procedures is found in the Understanding Your Access document on our website (for approved researchers).

If you are already affiliated with UT (student/staff/faculty), your ID card will be programmed to allow you access. If you are not affiliated with UT, you will need to apply for a UT ID card following the procedures outlined on our website at https://texaserc.utexas.edu/researchers-of-approved-projects/erc-forms/id-card-application-form/.

Submit a request via email to the ERC Director at least two weeks in advance of the proposal deadline, and include project title, name and address of recipient, and project abstract.

A state-required written Policy Brief highlighting the findings of a study is to be submitted upon the completion of every ERC research project. This Policy Brief is due within 60 days of the end of your ERC project, will be reviewed by the ERC Advisory Board and ERC Director, and is one of the requirements to successfully conclude a project. We will also be listing it on the ERC website. It should only be 4-6 pages in length please; if you have a full/longer report you’d like to also share, you may send it along with the Policy Brief, but we still will need a shortened document for the Brief.

Please review pages 10 and 32 (Appendix D) in the Policies & Procedures for Approved Projects for more information on submission guidelines and what sections headers/information should be included in the Policy Brief.

The ERC IT Coordinator will send you an email with additional instructions and information once your data folders have been set up and you have been given access to the ERC server.

Release times/dates of all ERC data can be found on our website in the Data Calendar: https://texaserc.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/ERC_DataCalendar_082015.pdf.

Researchers must request that specific new data be added to their folders, it is not automatic.

In Texas there are 5.2 million PK-12 students, 1.5 million higher education students, and 13.3 million workers.

The data is de-identified, but still all individuals. This means that the name, DOB, and SSN is removed and replaced with an alternate ID that is consistent through all the data and years of data.

UI Wage data only lists INDUSTRY codes. These are the NAICS codes. It also contains ID2 so you can link to the SBEC data.

Before any outcomes are removed from the secure server and given to the researchers, they undergo a FERPA/small cell review.

We do not have a dummy dataset. However, UT Dallas ERC have what they call synthetic datasets at: https://www.utdallas.edu/research/tsp-erc/documentation.html. These should be exactly the same as the data the UT ERC has, with the exception that UT Dallas has a long running project called Texas Schools Project for which they change some of the variable names, as can be seen in their documentation.

Look in the folder titled ERC-Master on the server. It contains all the publically available files that others have requested so far. There are only certain years so far for the CCD, AEIS/TAPR and IPEDS.

The attendance is not necessarily a “grading period.” Student attendance is important for funding (Average Daily Attendance) and accounting for mobility. Certain districts can have different grading periods, but have to report attendance in six-week increments. The link to Texas Attendance rules by year is https://tea.texas.gov/Finance_and_Grants/Financial_Compliance/Student__Attendance_Accounting_Handbook/.

TEA names data files by using the spring date (year) of the academic year. So academic year 2013-2014 is TEA File Name 2014. Although school enrollment data is collected in the fall of the academic year, the date on the file is still the spring date of the academic year.

Other TEA Information:

• School-Start Window is the period of time between the first day of school and the last Friday in September.
• There are basically two PEIMS data submissions by the school districts to TEA, in October and June.
• Summer Dropouts are attributed to the school year just completed and based on the last campus the student attended the previous school year.
• For some students who did not pass the test in the first sitting, there are additional files within the same school year which show test scores for repeat tests of the same accountability measure.
• Be careful considering what tests you need when looking at repeat testers, as sometimes the files for those testers have been packaged in the next year of testing (e.g., an October sitting for a 2012 STAAR repeat will be filed under 2013 tests).
• While tests historically span for a certain amount of time (see testing timeline), data persists on high school students for several years after a new assessment has begun. For example, high school students who start as 9th graders who began taking the TAAS were “grandfathered” in to TAAS and did not have to switch to TAKS even though all other lower grades began the TAKS.

At the bottom of the ERC Data Inventory page for TEA data, there are links to assist with what data are in each file:

• http://tea.texas.gov/Reports_and_Data/Data_Submission/PEIMS/PEIMS_Data_Standards/PEIMS_Data_Standards/
• http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/peims/standards/weds/index.html

These link to the variable level in the TEA data.

House Bill 5 replaced previous graduation plans with the Foundation High School Program beginning with the 2014-2015 school year. This information includes whether a student is enrolled one of the five endorsement plans: STEM_ENDORSE, BUSN_INDUS_ENDORSE, PUBL_SVCS_ENDORSE, ART_HUMANITY_ENDORSE, or MULT_DISCIPL_ENDORSE.

For more info: http://tea.texas.gov/graduation-requirements/hb5.aspx

There are geocodes through CCD data for districts that could be matched to each student. That data is publically available and can be added.