Interim and Beginning of Year (BOY) – Accepted Data File Layout
- This file is a fixed length file provided by Cambium (updated 08/30/21).
- File cannot be compressed or zipped.
- File name cannot contain spaces.
- When naming files, only use letters, numbers, dashes or underscores.
This file is a fixed length file and should be in .TXT format
TEA Data File format 2023
2023 tx-boy-interim-file-layout-district-version (as of 05/02/23)
Important file information with regard to Year Association
BOY (Beginning of Year) and Interim data year are derived from the Test Date column in the data file format, which provides the date in MMDDYYYY format (i.e., Month, Day, and Year). To determine the school year based on this date format, we follow these steps:
1. Extract the year information from the MMDDYYYY format. For example, if the Test Date is 09102021, we would extract the year as 2021.
2. Analyze the month information to determine which school year the date falls into. Generally, a school year starts in the fall of one year and ends in the spring/summer of the following year. For example, the 2021-2022 school year typically begins in August or September 2021 and ends in May or June 2022.
Here’s a basic rule to follow:
– If the month is between January and July (inclusive), the date falls in the second half of the school year. In this case, subtract 1 from the extracted year to find the start of the school year. For example, if the date is 02052022 (February 5, 2022), the school year is 2021-2022.
– If the month is between August and December (inclusive), the date falls in the first half of the school year. In this case, the extracted year is the start of the school year. For example, if the date is 09102021 (September 10, 2021), the school year is 2021-2022.
By following these steps, you can accurately determine the BOY and Interim data year based on the Test Date column in the data file format.
Further Information Concerning BOY Assessments can be found on TEA’s website:
TEA Beginning of Year Assessments (BOY)
Please consult with the Texas Student Assessment Program Calendar of Events to determine the date the file will be released in your TIDE folder here