Maryland Annual Collections - MAC2
STUDENT COURSE REGISTRATION SYSTEM (SCRS)
A. Collection Description
SCRS is an annual collection of course information that will replace the Course Information System (CIS) and the Student Registration System (SRS). The scope of this annual collection is designed to meet and support requirements for the BluePrint for Maryland's Future. It is critical to collect data on students registered in dual enrollment and early/middle college programs to study the outcomes of students with early access to college-level courses, particularly those who received state funding to take these courses and to support analysis required by the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future. Similarly, the state’s interest in course-taking has expanded beyond undergraduate courses. With the intense focus on educator preparation programs, particularly through the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future, and the large investment of state funds awarded to students pursuing undergraduate, graduate and non-degree educator preparation programs, the inclusion of these populations in course-level data collections is now critical.
The course collection system focuses on courses that start on or after January 1st and end on or before December 31st. Any course that starts on or after January 1st but does not end until after December 31st, should wait for the next reporting cycle.
B. Adhere to Due Dates and Record Frequency
| Annual Due Date: | March 15th |
| Collection Period: | Courses that begin on or after January 1 and end on or before December 31st |
| Record Frequency: | One record per course subject per course number per section number per session per student per term |
| Extraction TimeFrame | Data should be extracted no sooner than January 1st to ensure the completeness of grade reporting. Only extract data prior to January 1st if all grades and grade changes have been completed for the reporting period. |
C. Comply with the Selection Criteria
- 1. Who to include:
- The population scope for this file includes all students with the following degree sought codes: 10, 15, 20, 30, 40, 43, 44, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50 , 60, 65, 68, 70 and 87. The file must include all courses taken by students enrolled under one of these degree sought codes.
- 2. Who to exclude:
- Courses should not be included for students enrolled in Doctoral level programs (degree sought 81, 85, or 86), even if they are taken courses at the undergraduate or Master's level. This exclusion includes students taking courses where the Master's degree is En Passant (earning a Master's degree concurrently with a PhD).
The file must also include courses taken by all early/middle college, dual enrollment and other special populations (incarcerated students) taking credit-bearing courses at any academic level provided the enrollment is in one of the degree sought codes (10, 15, 20, 30, 40, 43, 44, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50 , 60, 65, 68, 70 and 87).
D. Helpful Insights
Helpful Insight to Reduce Errors – This list only includes select data elements or statements that are prone to errors. Please review the documentation page for full SCRS layout links and details for more extensive reporting information.
- Do not insert a space between commas when a data element is not reported.
- Data should be extracted no sooner than January 1st to ensure the completeness of grade reporting. Only extract data prior to January 1st if all grades and grade changes have been completed for the reporting period.
- Any course that starts on or after January 1st but does not end until after December 31st, should wait for the next reporting cycle.
- The file must include all courses taken by students enrolled under one of these degree sought codes: 10, 15, 20, 30, 40, 43, 44, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50 , 60, 65, 68, 70 and 87.
D. Data Collection Websites, Emails, and Responsibilities
To secure and ensure data collection integrity, it takes the cooperation of each institution partnering with the MHEC team to manage collections. Websites, specific email addresses, and established responsibilities all work together to offer guidance for data collections, reporting problems or concerns, and outlining due diligence necessary for successful data submissions and management. Detailed information about the websites, emails and responsibilities can be found on the responsibilities page of the data website.
E. Follow the File Layout
The SCRS file layout can be found on the documentation page of the data website. The required format is comma-separated values (CSV), which means each data element is separated by commas and the file extension is .csv. Data element submission details for the file layout relies exclusively on MHEC’s online data dictionary. The layout provides the item number, field length parameters, data type, name and the data definition (DD) link to the data dictionary for comprehensive, up-to-date data element guidance, explanations, and examples in some cases.
F. Include the Header Record
The SCRS header record can be found on the documentation page of the data website. It is required as part of the uploaded .csv file. It is critical that the uploaded header match MHEC’s header for data editing purposes. Headers that do not match create errors in the validation process.
G. Review the Sample Records
The SCRS sample record can be found on the documentation page of the data website. The sample records are available for your reference and serve for demonstration purposes only. The .csv version of the records shown below the samples is what a submitted record should look like. Note that if a field is empty please do not include a space between the commas.
H. Transfer the File to MHEC
To transfer a .csv file to MHEC, user credentials are required. File transfers between higher education institutions in Maryland and the Commission are secure. Please use the prescribed secure file transfer process and refrain from emailing submissions. The File Transfer page has different functional areas. Select the “Maryland Annual Collection 2 (MAC2)” link to begin the file transfer process. Use “P” to preface UserID credential. Select the option to perform either a preliminary edit or an official submission after editing is complete. Complete the form for the upload and include comments if necessary.
I. Perform File Editing Procedures
The submission process provides editing guidelines that includes an edit report for the purpose of reviewing and verifying data submitted. The report offers frequency distribution counts on selected variables that can be used to verify data counts. The edit program also checks records for proper data element ranges and position. If there are fatal errors or warnings, an explanation will be associated with the infraction and corrections should be made before a subsequent preliminary edit resubmission is performed. The correction and resubmission process should be repeated until the file is free of errors. Before submitting the official version of the file, internal institutional edit confirmations should be performed to check frequency output against uploaded data to verify the accuracy and completeness of the data. At the time of the official submission, if there are remaining fatal errors or warnings on the edit report that cannot be addressed with a correction, then comments with a detailed explanation from the institution must be included in the comments section of the upload form.
J. Check MHEC Internal Validations
The Stata syntax code used for validations can be found on the documentation page of the data website. Stata code is used to validate file submissions. Additional validation testing may be completed contingent upon the results of this baseline code. New validation steps may be added over time as the scope of the collection changes.
K. Data Cookbook
Data Cookbook is MHEC’s MAC2 On-Line Data Dictionary. It contains all data elements used in all unit record data collections managed by MHEC. On the “Functional Areas” tab, under "Sharing" in the far right column select the definitions link to view the data elements for one of the MAC2 collections. Each data element name is listed in alphabetical order with its functional definition.
To contact MHEC for questions or support, submit an email to mac2help.mhec@maryland.gov.