Title

Early Learning Scholarship Administration System (ELSA)

Intro

The Early Learning Scholarship Administration System (ELSA) supports implementation and oversight of the Early Learning Scholarships program. ELSA currently serves as the data and payment system for the real-time management of allocated scholarship funds, administration of child records and scholarship awards, and processing of scholarship and administrative payment requests.

Widgets

ELSA system access

Enter ELSA

ELSA user access is managed through the Education Identity and Access Management (EDIAM) Security System. All system users must have an EDIAM user account with an assigned ELSA access role in place. The Identified Official with Authority (IOwA) of an organization, using their EDIAM account, must assign individual system access roles to the EDIAM accounts of staff who require access to ELSA for their work.

Go to the Minnesota Department of Education's Data Submissions page for more details on EDIAM. Contact useraccess.mde@state.mn.us for EDIAM support.

ELSA user access roles include:

  • Scholarship Administrator [SA]: Individuals with this access role enter Pathway II scholarship child, parent/guardian, and award information into ELSA and initiate payment requests to be sent to DCYF.
  • Area Administrator [AA]: Individuals with this access role enter Pathway I or Pathway II scholarship child, parent/guardian, and award information into ELSA and initiate payment requests to be sent to DCYF.
  • Payment Approver: This role reviews payment requests initiated by a colleague in the SA or AA role, finalizing those that should be sent forward for processing through MDE payment systems. An individual may not have access as both SA/AA and Payment Approver.
  • SSID Maintainer: This role is automatically granted to all school district staff with existing SSID Maintainer access to the state Student ID Validation System (SIVS).
If you have any questions about using ELSA, contact DCYF.ELSA@state.mn.us.

Resources

  • Early Learning Scholarship Administration System (ELSA) User Manual (PDF)
    • Use the hyperlinked Table of Contents to jump to a particular topic within the manual
    • Search for keywords within the manual by using Ctrl+F (or Cmd+F)
    • The "Quick Reference Steps for Area/Scholarship Administrators in ELSA" section begins on p. 75. This section includes step-by-step instructions for common system actions.
  • Release Notes
    • September 2020: The update released September 11, 2020, included a new file export feature for the Award List, a processing enhancement to aid in SSID number assignment, as well as other changes and minor bug fixes.
    • June 2020: The update released June 19, 2020, included a reversion to system enforcement of the 105-day payment submission window, expanded collection of family information, addition of the Parent Under 21 priority population indicator, and Demographics report improvements.
    • January 2020: The update released January 10, 2020, included new page and section titles related to payments, added functionality to allow for editing of previously finalized attendance data, and other changes. A smaller update was released on January 24, 2020.
    • May 2019: The update released May 31, 2019, introduced the new "Award Verification Date" required field.
    • March 2019: Releases in the month of March 2019 included reintroduction of the address auto-complete feature and changes to do with the close of a funding fiscal year.
    • January 2019: Releases in the month of January 2019 included a reintroduction of the "Reactivate" award action as well as other updates and fixes.
    • December 2018: Notes for the December 21, 2018, system release include details of the changes to program selection as well as other updates.