AIM Data Dictionary
Click on the hyperlink below to see a PDF version of the AIM Data Dictionary. This Data Dictionary is intended to assist local education agency (LEA) staff and their student information system vendors in understanding the specific data elements and codes that must be populated for state reporting through AIM. It is intended to improve the accuracy and integrity of collected data by maintaining consistency in data elements. It relies and builds on previous data definitions used throughout the agency that meet state and federal guidelines for collecting and reporting purposes.
AIM Data Dictionary
Updated March 2022
There are new Data Validation reports available for districts to use to verify collection data - beginning with the Fall Enrollment and Fall Program Participation data. These validations allow a district to see all of its data issues for collection with a single click.
Setup instructions are found here: Data Validation and Certification
The purpose of this page is to provide general information about the OPI AIM student information system, along with its purpose and processes.
Questions can be directed to the OPI AIM Help desk at 877-424-6881 or Submit an AIM Help Desk Ticket.
AIM, THE MONTANA STATE STUDENT INFORMATION SYSTEM
The AIM system is designed to collect demographic, enrollment, program participation, and assessment data for each student. The program also tracks special education student's IEP data and all students’ movement from school to school and district to district within Montana. It allows for timely reporting and data accuracy through standardized reporting capabilities. This system allows school districts to submit the required student information electronically. The AIM system provides the OPI, the State of Montana, federal entities, and the education community with timely and accurate data about the progress of our students, schools, school districts, and the state.
Please see the AIM Policy References webpage (buttons listed on the main AIM web page) for pertinent State and Federal laws that apply to AIM.
INFINITE CAMPUS, THE COMPANY, AND SOFTWARE
The state of Montana Office of Public Instruction (OPI) adopted the Infinite Campus software application as its statewide student information system (SIS). The OPI calls the state-level SIS ‘Achievement In Montana’ (AIM). The name of the company that owns the Infinite Campus software is also called Infinite Campus.
The ’State Edition’ of Infinite Campus is used by the OPI staff and contains the state-reported student data from all Montana districts.
The ‘Montana Edition’ of Infinite Campus is provided to the districts at no cost so that the schools who don’t use Infinite Campus as their local SIS can submit their data into our Infinite Campus statewide system for state reporting.
The ‘Montana Edition – Valued Added’ is typically used by small districts as their main local student information system. Districts use it to maintain their basic set of enrollment, demographic, programs, and special education IEP data. The ‘value added’ feature of this edition also allows districts to maintain students’ daily attendance and marks data.
The ‘District Edition’ of Infinite Campus is used by some districts as their complete local SIS.
THE MOVEMENT OF THE AIM DATA
The data originates at the district level and gets copied to the state level of Infinite Campus by a syncing process. The syncing process happens automatically when data is manually entered and ‘saved’ in Infinite Campus or when the district executes a mass syncing process to get the data copied to the state level.
If the local district data is housed in a different local student information system (other than Infinite Campus), for larger districts it goes through a mass export and then an upload process to get into the Montana Edition of AIM. The smaller districts can choose to hand-enter their data into the Montana Edition. It then goes through a final nightly syncing process to get copied into the State Edition of AIM.
Once the data is at the state level it is ready to be reviewed and validated by the OPI staff for reporting purposes. The OPI utilizes state-level data snapshots processes for some of the federal reporting which affects district funding. The districts utilize import processes to copy their district’s state-level data into other OPI subsystems that also affect school funding (such as MAEFAIRS and Special Education). There are multiple other systems that pull data from the State level AIM system data such as (Child Nutrition Program) CNP for Free and Reduced lunch funding.
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Please Note: These updates are done on the weekends, which means the Infinite Campus system is usually down after 5:00 p.m. on Friday and is expected to be back up the following Saturday morning. The following are targeted weekend dates and may be subject to change.
2022-23 School Year:
| Campus Release |
Date In Production |
| 2223, 2227 |
August 5, 2022 |
| 2231 |
September 2, 2022 |
| 2235, 2239 |
October 14, 2022 |
| 2243, 2247 |
December 16, 2022 |
| 2247 |
February 17, 2023 |
Information on Infinite Campus Releases:
From the Campus Community page, the following may be accessed:
Infinite Campus Technical References:
From the Campus Community page, the following may be accessed:
Submit an AIM Help Desk Ticket or call 877-424-6681 for the documentation on Creating a Campus Community Account, as well as for documentation on Firewall and Web-Filter Rules.
NOTICE: Please do not email any student personally identifiable information (PII), including names or student ID's, to the OPI or AIM Help Desk. Please call AIM Support directly for assistance with individual student PII or use ePass MT for the secure transfer of larger student data files.
Montana File Transfer Service
User Guide
These webinars are tailored to help districts navigate the AIM user guides and various data collections which occur throughout the year.
NOTE: Webinar dates may be subject to change. Please be aware that these webinars are recorded to allow them to be viewed at a later time.
Click to view Webinar Recordings
We have completed the webinar schedule for the 2021-22 school year, please watch this space for information on upcoming 2022-23 webinars. As a reminder, all of the webinars are recorded and posted at the link on the right.
For security purposes, OPI Aim webinar links are not posted on our website. In order to receive the OPI AIM webinar links, you must be signed up to receive our emails/bulletins. OPI AIM webinar links are only sent via our AIM emails and via the OPI Monthly Compass. Users may subscribe by following the link below.
Subscribe to receive our OPI AIM emails
AIM Data Security Policies
Please refer to the OPI Student Privacy web page for OPI data security policies.
AIM Relevant State Laws and Rules
Montana Code Annotated (MCA):
| MCA Title 20 |
Education |
| MCA 20-1-212 |
Destruction of records by school records |
| MCA 20-1-213 |
Transfer of school records |
| MCA 20-1-230 |
Interstate Compact on Educational Opportunity for Military Children |
| MCA 20-1-301 |
School Fiscal Year Aggregate Hours |
| MCA 20-5-101 |
Admittance of Child to School |
| MCA 20-7-104 |
Transparency and Public Availability of Public School Performance Data |
| MCA 20-7-117 |
Kindergarten and Preschool Programs |
| MCA 20-9-309 |
Basic System of Free Quality Public Elementary and Secondary Schools Defined |
| MCA 20-9-311 |
Calculation of Average Number Belonging (ANB) - 3-Year Averaging |
| MCA 20-7-117 |
Kindergarten and Preschool Programs |
| MCA 20-7-1317 |
Electronic Directory Photograph Repository |
U.S. Department of Education
U.S. Department of Education Race & Ethnicity Policy
Q&A Links
The U.S. Department of Education has finalized changes to the collection and reporting of race and ethnicity. Starting with the 2010-2011 school year, the new standards will require all students to be identified using a new two-part race/ethnicity question. The federal government has established the two-part question to recognize Hispanic ethnicity and race as two separate and distinct concepts. Additionally, the change allows the reporting of multiple races, American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian, Black or African American, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, and White).
District Information
The OPI has developed the following guidance and resource materials for district use as they transition to the new standards.
Parent Information
Resources
Military Interstate Compact Commission
External Resources
Internal Resources
Montana Early Warning System (EWS)
The Montana EWS model uses readily available school, student, and other live data to identify students who are at risk of dropping out of school before they drop out. Students are identified early on so that action can be taken by school officials to help keep the student in school. The Montana EWS is a logistic regression model that uses attendance, behavior, grades, mobility, and other data to determine if a student is at risk. The model will identify students in grades 6-12 that are at risk and also provide indicators for why each student is at risk.
Watch Montana's Early Warning System (EWS) Introduction Recording
Since the Montana EWS uses live data it can be run at any time during the school year or summer. What this does is allow educators to see how a student is progressing or regressing over time. Tracking over time also allows educators to track any interventions they are administering with students to determine if the interventions are in fact working.
School reports are also available on the Montana EWS that allow educators to track their school-wide EWS results over time. The school reports also allow schools to compare their results to the statewide average results to get an idea of where their school is at.
EWS User Guide: Montana Early Warning system – Required Data Setup 12/16. This is a link to documentation inside Campus Community* and is for districts using the District Edition of Infinite Campus as their primary student information system. Please refer to the “Required Data Setup” section by clicking on that hyperlink at the top of the page, just under the title.
If you have further EWS questions please contact: Kaitlyn Greenhalgh K20 Data & Research Analyst Office of Public Instruction Kaitlyn.Greenhalgh@mt.gov 406-444-1610.