Importing Participants and Registrations (Non-Choice/Private Pay Students)

Last Updated on May 7, 2026

Public School Districts and Choice Schools that receive the “all student” report card will have all their participants imported and registered by DPI. Choice Schools that only receive the “choice student” report card will have their choice participants imported and registered by DPI.

Choice schools that do not receive the “all student” report card and any other private schools that wish to administer the Forward Exam to their non-choice/private pay students will need to follow the instructions on this page to import their non-choice/private pay participants into the Forward Portal.

Before you begin

  • Records successfully uploaded using the Participants and Registration file are automatically registered for registrations. It is critical that all designated supports and accommodations are added to a participant’s record prior to printing test tickets.
  • Test Monitoring will default to off. To turn on, see Update Test Monitoring for a Single Registration.

When the CSV file(s) are complete, follow these steps:

To import a Participant and Registration file, do the following:

  1. From the My Applications menu, click Import Management.
  2. Click Select a Site … and enter the name or code of the school or district to which you want to import.
    • Note:
      • Users can import for multiple schools by selecting a district instead of an individual school. They can then include student records for each school in the district in a single CSV file.
      • If users want to import for a single school, the CSV file must contain student records for only that school.
  3. On the Import Management page, click the Start New Import button and the New Import window displays.
  4. Complete the fields as follows:
    • Import Job Title: Enter a recognizable name.
    • Select Import Type: Select Participants and Registrations.
    • Click Browse to navigate to the files on your system or you can drag and drop the files into the drag and drop area of the window.
  5. Click the Start Import button to import the files into Import Management. The import job displays in the Import Management grid. While the job is being processed, the status for the job displays as In Progress.
  6. When the import job completes, the status is COMPLETED or VALIDATION ERRORS.
    • If the job is in VALIDATION ERRORS status, click the job to display the error report. Update your CSV file to fix all of the errors shown in the error report. Once you have corrected the errors in the CSV file, restart the import process (return to Step 2). Although the records that do not have errors are not required to be uploaded again, it is often faster and easier to simply upload the entire file again.
    • If the job is in COMPLETED status, click the job to display the Details report, which includes information about each imported record.

Participants and Registrations Import Layout Instructions

This topic shows you how to complete the Participants and Registrations Sample Import File. First, download the Participants and Registrations Sample Import File and save it to your system.
Note: The file downloads as an .xlsx file. You must save it as a CSV file after downloading it (See Save the Excel File as a CSV File).

Use the table and rules listed below to help ensure the Import file is completed correctly and will upload.
When the CSV file is completed and saved to your system, you can import the Participants and Registrations file into Import Management.

Participants and Registration Import File Layout Guide and Rules
Ref# Column Name Max Length Required (Y/N) Acceptable Values Description
1 District Code 10 Y
  • Alpha/Numeric
  • 0-9, T; leading zero(s) required
  • Must be ten char/digits exactly; If leading zeros are not included, DRC shall pad the value with leading zeros
 Public districts and schools should be adding students through their SIS, not via PRI Import.

DPI assigned 10 digit system code.

The district code must match the district code displayed in the DRC INSIGHT District dropdown menu.

The district code must be the same for all records in the file.
2 School Code 10 Y
  • Alpha/Numeric
  • 0-9, T; leading zero(s) required
  • Must be ten char/digits exactly; If leading zeros are not included, DRC shall pad the value with leading zeros
 DPI assigned 10 digit school code.

The school code must match the school code displayed in the DRC INSIGHT Portal School dropdown menu.
3 WISEID 10 Y
  • Numeric
  • 0-9
 Student’s State ID

Must be 10 digits exactly
4 Local Student ID 30 N
  • Alpha/Numeric
  • A-Z, a-z, 0-9, blank, hyphen/dash (-), apostrophe (‘), period (.), space, pound (#), slash (/)
  • May be blank
 Student ID used locally at the district or school level.
5 Last Name 35 Y
  • Alpha/Numeric
  • A-Z, a-z, 0-9, blank, hyphen/dash (-), apostrophe (‘), period (.), space, pound (#), slash (/)
 Last name of student.
6 First Name 35 Y
  • Alpha/Numeric
  • A-Z, a-z, 0-9, blank, hyphen/dash (-), apostrophe (‘), period (.), space, pound (#), slash (/)
 First name of student.
7 Middle Name 35 N
  • Alpha/Numeric
  • A-Z, a-z, 0-9, blank, hyphen/dash (-), apostrophe (‘), period (.), space, pound (#), slash (/)
  • May be blank
 Middle name of student.
8 Gender 1 N
  • Alpha
  • F – Female
  • M = Male
  • X = Nonbinary
  • May be blank
 Indicates student’s gender.
9 Date of Birth 10 Y
  • Alpha/Numeric
  • MM/DD/YYYY; M/D/YYYY; M/D/YY
  • MM = 01-12; 1-12
  • DD = 01-31; 1-31
  • YYYY = 2004-2019; 04-19
  • Leading zero for month and day is not required
 Date of Birth for the student.

Min year = 2004; Max Year = 2019
10 Grade 2 Y
  • Numeric
  • 03, 04, 05, 06, 07, 08, 10 or 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, or 8
  • Leading zero not required if one digit
 Grade Level in which the student is enrolled for the current school year.
11 Migrant Status 1 N
  • Alpha
  • Y = Yes
  • May be blank
 Migrant Status is an indication of whether or not a student is a migrant student.
12 Hispanic or Latino Ethnicity 1 N
  • Alpha
  • Y = Yes
  • May be blank
 Hispanic or Latino

Not part of race indicators. Identifies Hispanic ethnicity.
13 Race – Asian 1 N
  • Alpha
  • Y = Yes
  • May be blank
 Asian – One of the five race indicators that can be selected for a student. More than one can apply.
14 Race – Black/African American 1 N
  • Alpha
  • Y = Yes
  • May be blank
 Black or African American – One of the five race indicators that can be selected for a student. More than one can apply.
15 Race – American Indian/Alaska Native 1 N
  • Alpha
  • Y = Yes
  • May be blank
 American Indian or Alaska Native – One of the five race indicators that can be selected for a student. More than one can apply.
16 Race – Pacific Islander/Hawaiian Native 1 N
  • Alpha
  • Y = Yes
  • May be blank
 Pacific Islander or Hawaiian Native – One of the five race indicators that can be selected for a student. More than one can apply.
17 Race – White 1 N
  • Alpha
  • Y = Yes
  • May be blank
 White – One of the five race indicators that can be selected for a student. More than one can apply.
18 English Proficiency 1 N
  • Numeric
  • 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, or 7
  • May be blank
 1 = ELL/LEP Entering
2 = ELL/LEP Beginning
3 = ELL/LEP Developing
4 = ELL/LEP Expanding
5 = ELL/LEP Bridging
6 = Formerly ELL/LEP, now fully English proficient
7 = Fully English proficient, never ELL/LEP
or Blank
19 Disability Status 3 N
  • Alpha
  • A, DB, EBD, H, ID, LD, OHI, OI, SL, TBI, V, SSD, or N
  • May be blank
 A = Autism
DB = Deaf-Blind
EBD = Emotional Behavioral Disability
H = Hearing Impaired
ID = Intellectual Disability
LD = Specific Learning Disability
OHI = Other Health Impairment
OI = Orthopedic Impairment
SL = Speech or Language Impairment
TBI = Traumatic Brain Injury
V = Visual Impairment
SDD = Significant Developmental Delay
N = Not IDEA Eligible or No Disability
or Blank
20 Special Status 1 N
  • Alpha
  • Y = Yes
  • May be blank
 Indicates that the student has Special Status.
21 Accountable District 10 N
  • Alpha/Numeric
  • 0-9, T; leading zero(s) required
  • Must be ten char/digits exactly; If leading zeros are not included, DRC shall pad the value with leading zeros
  • May be blank
 District accountable for the student.
22 Accountable School 10 N
  • Alpha/Numeric
  • 0-9, T; leading zero(s) required
  • Must be ten char/digits exactly; If leading zeros are not included, DRC shall pad the value with leading zeros
  • May be blank
 School accountable for the student.
23 New to Country 1 N
  • Alpha
  • Y = Yes
  • May be blank
 Used to determine eligibility for ELA test exemption.
24 Choice Program 1 N
  • Alpha
  • Y = Yes
  • May be blank
 Indicates that the student is a Choice Program Participant.

Rules for the CSV file

  • The CSV file must contain a header row that includes all Column Name Titles in the table above.
  • If a header row is not included, the first student will be removed from the file.
  • The CSV file must contain data in the order listed in layout.
  • The fields cannot be longer than the value in the Maximum Length Column in the table above.

Save an Excel file as a CSV file

To save the Excel file as a CSV file do the following:

  1. Open file in Excel.
  2. On the menu bar, click File, then Save As.
  3. Choose a location you want to save the file.
  4. Click on the down arrow in the Save as type box and select CSV (Comma delimited) (*.csv).