MARSS Reporting Using
Student Plans
A Brief Overview of MARSS
Reporting at Anoka-Hennepin
Bill Underwood
Anoka-Hennepin Special Education
Technology Facilitator
Presented at 2008 User Conference
Why did we need to change our
reporting methods?
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In the past, a system of
midpoints was used.
It was discovered, that
this system did not
accurately reflect the costs
of educating some specific
groups of students.
New requirements were
put in place to make sure
districts were getting a
more appropriate
compensation.
So What’s the New
Requirements?



For some students,
you need to calculate
all the hours for some
services that student
received.
New Field XXXX.X
(implied decimal)
Hours should include
direct and indirect
minutes.
Who do we report on?

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Select Special Education Students Including
Early Childhood
Handicapped Kindergarten
Shared Time students (SAC = 16, 17, 18, 19)
–
–
–
–
Shared resident or non resident (aid to resident dist)
Shared non resident (aid to serving dist)
Shared nonresident - (parent pays tuition)
Tuition agreement/district placement
Who else?
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Students enrolled in on of the following sites:
Multidisciplinary Teaching Model
Inclusive Program
Students grade 10-12 participating in a
transition program
Program Cooperative Teaching Model site
And?

Students with homebound flag = “Y”

Students whose membership is based on credits
earned or a combination of seat based time and
credits earned and receiving special education
services. This includes
– Independent Study
– Project Based
– Online Learning
So… What Can Student Plans
(Student Plans) Do For Me?
Student Plans allows you
to import your MARSS
B file in Student Plans
then exports an updated
MARSS B file that
automatically calculates
hours.
Anatomy of a MARSS B Number
When you receive the MARSS B file, each
student will have an entry that looks something like
this…
BE0700010009490380000000000011014641
1001601000272006110914042006111610000
0600006N0000N401N00000000NM5199004
2801108000NNN001101NN00001
000148225 Farkell,Douglas,B
Anatomy of a MARSS B Number
In the picture below, spaces have been added to show the
different groupings of numbers. This is NOT how your data
should look.
Running The Export Process
Start with a clean MARSS B file of just the students you’re
concerned with
Running The Export Process

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Go to MARSS IEP
Service Hours report in
Student Plans
Browse for your MARSS
B file
Select what type of output
you’d like (they’ll need a
“B” File)
Click on Submit
Running The Export Process
Every time you’ll get a PDF of the information. If
you selected “B”, you’ll also get a .txt file.
Tips and Tricks
How to ensure your MARSS
reporting is accurate
First Tip
Are students
missing grades?
Grades in Student Plans

The MARSS B file is
trying to match up
with the State Grade
Code.
Second Tip!
Are student
records missing
school
Numbers?
School Numbers in Student Plans


It is very important
that your school
numbers match
between the “MARSS
B” file and the school
numbers in Student
Plans.
Not having correct
numbers will cause the
program to error out.
Third Tip!
Are calendars
incorrect or
Missing?
Calendars in Student Plans
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
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Make sure that each
calendar has the
correct school days
marked
Make sure to mark
ESY days differently
Make sure you select
all the grades that
could be attending that
school.
Fourth Tip!
Missing Bill-It Codes
(doesn’t matter what the
codes are, you just need to
have them)
Bill-It Codes in Student Plans

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You add the Bill-It
code as you are
defining your services
in Student Plans.
Here it is also
important to define if
the service is ESY or
not.
Fifth Tip!
Are the frequency
codes correct in the
service table?
Frequency of Service in Student
Plans


Student Plans
administrator defines
the options staff have
to choose for
Frequency of Service.
Staff need to
understand how to
mark the student’s
frequency of service.
Correct!
Sixth Tip!
Are there inappropriate
number of hours of
service on IEP/IIIP?
Service Minutes in Student Plans
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Teachers may
misunderstand or
miscalculate the hours.
Check any kids with
over 3,000 hours.
If the hours reach
more than 9999.9 the
program will error out.
INCORRECT!
Seventh Tip!
Is student missing a
MARSS ID number
in Student Plans?
MARSS Numbers in Student
Plans
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
The MARSS number
should pull in directly
from your Student
Information System
You can check on the
student information
page to see if they
have a MARSS ID
Number in SP.
Eighth Tip!
Have staff made
significant changes to
OLD IEPs without
copying the IEP?
Staff Input Errors
Archiving students before the reporting is
done
 Staff input the service or IEP dates wrong in
Student Plans
 Staff mark ESY services as regular services

Ninth Tip!
Export File is in a
Format Different
From What Student
Plans is Expecting
B File Format

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It should be a .txt
document
There have been
problems when
created on a Mac
Plain text record
Tenth Tip!
Report Process Times
Out - Too Much Data
 Make sure to get a B
File that only has
Special Ed Students
 Make sure only the
students you need to
report on are in the B
File
 You may need to do it
by school or by grade
Eleventh (and Final) Tip!
Student Enrollment
Date in Student
Information System
does not match up
with an IEP for that
student