Who should I contact with questions?
CAOLA can only provide information regarding our courses and vendor teachers. All reporting and PIMS-related questions should be directed to your district or IU PIMS administrators. For questions regarding information from the CAOLA PIMS report, please contact Matt Zeglen (mzeglen@caiu.org).
What if I don’t have a teacher’s PPID?
As per the state PIMS guide, "Individual information should be available from the contracting agency that supplies the educators. If individual information is not available, personnel employed by private vendors or IHEs may be reported with fictitious IDs as represented below.
- 9999999 – Private Vendor
Where can I find PIMS information on vendor teachers?
Vendor teacher information is uploaded and stored in Genius where programs can download reports to gather this information. In Genius, navigate to the Reports tab. On the left side of the page, under the Activity menu, select the following two reports:
- All Teachers with Enroll
- All Teachers with Certification
Please note, PPID’s can be found in the All Teachers with Certification report, under the column labeled ‘Specific Certification ID’.
How often is PIMS information updated?
PIMS information is updated bi-monthly. PIMS information is also confirmed ahead of the PIMS collection windows.
Where can I find the Course Codes for CAOLA courses?
Course Codes can be found in the PIMS information folder in the Knowledgebase. Course codes are updated yearly by the Department of Education. Course codes can be referenced in PA Department of Education’s Appendix A.
Are all of the required portions of the Staff Upload Template included in the Genius PIMS reports?
The CAOLA team has partnered with other intermediate units and online programs throughout Pennsylvania to collaborate on the PIMS reporting feature in GeniusSIS. Both PIMS reports cover the most current required information from the PA Dept. of Education based on their updated PIMS Manual, Volume 1 and Volume 2.
What are the required portions of the PIMS report?
- First and last name
- DOB – those who do not wish to disclose a birthdate will be labeled 1/1/1900
- Gender – blank for those who do not wish to disclose
- Status – typically active or terminated
- Email address
- Address
- Employment types – full or part time
- Race – blank for those who do not wish to disclose
- Home phone number
- Current service date – typically their first day
- Exit – will only show for those who have been terminated
- Years experience teaching
- Years experience in district
- Job Class Code – PE (professional employee)
- Highest degree achieved
- Annual salary – blank for those who do not wish to disclose
- Certification area
- Jurisdiction – state the teacher is certified in
- Minimal and maximum grade level
- Certificate number
- Certificate issue date
- Teacher Certification Status – active or inactive, typically active
- Specific Certificate ID – PPID number
What should I enter if I find missing data on the PIMS reports?
Some vendors are unable to share certain pieces of teacher information due to privacy or contract restrictions. If that is the case, the information is left blank on the report. The typical pieces that vendors are not able to provide are date of birth (these are noted with 1/1/1900), gender, race, address, and salary. Filling in blank information is at the school’s discretion.
How are schools addressing the Annual Salary field in the PIMS upload?
Many vendors will not share salary information. The CAOLA team has confirmed with several PIMS administrators that the Pennsylvania Department of Education has stated that schools are able to take an average of all district in-school teachers to use for the salary of a vendor teacher. If your school does not feel comfortable using that method, the 9-code would be an alternative. Schools may also report the enrollment cost per teacher that they have utilized.
Where can I find a report that shows which teachers are assigned to students?
The Advisor Dream report under the Reports tab in Genius will show each student enrollment with the specific course and teacher name. To access this report you will sign into Genius, navigate to the Reports tab, scroll down to New Reports and select Advisor Dream, and filter the start/end dates and you affiliation.
Where can I find information on the Staff Assignment PIMS upload?
In the Knowledgebase, the Staff Assignment template is included in the PIMS folder. Schools will want to reference Appendix B in the PIMS Manual to locate specific codes for the teachers and finish the template with their specific information (like AUN number, completion date, etc.)
Are CAOLA vendor teachers certified?
All CAOLA vendor teachers are certified to teach their subject. However, there are a few subjects where the teachers are certified in a different state but do not currently hold a PA teaching certification (like specific electives or CTE courses). All of the vendors are working on getting reciprocity and having PA certification for all of their teachers. Vendors have been instructed that a teacher must, at least, have submitted their application for certification before being assigned to a course.