Before You Build the Query: Which Task Are You Doing?
| I need one student's historical recordUse the simpler individual-record procedure when you are researching one known student. | I missed a Census/EOY population and need an estimateUse the historical-population reconstruction workflow instead of designing the fallback population here. |
| I already have the population and want to analyze itUse Article 750 for Found Set → Statistical Report / Data Export analysis. | I need to build a custom historical/archive queryStay here. Choose the Historical/Advanced Query result type that answers the research question. |
Use Article 100 when the investigation question is “What did SIRAS show or archive historically?” The historical query finds evidence; it does not by itself determine what actually happened or which source owns a correction. For that decision, return to Data Monitoring Help — Investigate.
Choose the Historical Query Result You Need
| Archived transactions from a date rangeFind historical records even when the Current student is no longer at your district. | The most recent archive as of a dateUse an archive-as-of comparison when the historical value matters more than every transaction. |
| Archived records whose Current data changedExample: archive had Service 415 but Current no longer does. | Current records that differ from a qualifying archiveReturn Current records whose archived history meets the criteria. |
Find Archived Transactions from a Date Range
- Open Search.
- If you are looking for one student, enter the SSID/local identifier first. If no Current record is found, continue anyway.
- Select Modify → Historical/Advanced Query.
- Change Historical Query Type from Current to Archived Records.
- Set the date range to include the report-event dates you need.
- Add additional criteria only when they help define the historical population.
- Select Search to List.
- Use the dates in the result links to identify the relevant archive.
Open Historical/Advanced Query when Current data is not the population you need.
Archived Records returns dated historical transactions rather than Current student records.
Set the date range to include the report-event dates being researched.
Historical results include dated archive links so the specific transaction can be opened.
Return to Data Monitoring Help — Investigate to compare the evidence with SIS, SIRAS Current, CALPADS, and information from the field before deciding what should be corrected.
Use a Most Recent Archive As Of Query
Use a Most Recent Archive As Of style query when the question is not “show every archive” but rather “what was the most recent archived state during/before this historical period?”
This is useful for comparing an earlier archived condition with what is true in Current data now.
After the Historical Query Returns the Right Records
Article 100 stops at historical population/query construction. Once the query returns the intended records, verify that the Found Set matches the historical question before analyzing it.
An Archived Records query can return multiple historical transactions for the same student. Article 100 owns that query-design decision.
Continue with Analyze a Current or Historical Student Population. Article 750 owns the Found Set → Statistical Report / Data Export workflow after the population has been established.
Method 1 — Return Archived Records Where Current Has Changed
The existing source example finds archived records where the student had Speech Service 415 in the archive but the Current record no longer has that service.
- Choose a Most Recent Archive As Of historical query type.
- Set a date range broad enough to include the archive where the historical value existed.
- Add the historical search criteria — for example, All Services = 415.
- Add comparison criteria such as Services Has Changed.
- Search to List.
The result is a set of archived records where the archive met the historical criterion and the Current record differs.
Comparison criteria can identify records whose Current values differ from an archived record.
Method 2 — Return Current Records That Differ from a Matching Archive
Use an Archive Exists style query when the desired output is the Current record, but the Current student must have an archive that meets historical criteria.
Using the same Service 415 example:
- Choose an Archive Exists historical query type.
- Set the date range to include the qualifying historical archive.
- Set the archive criteria to All Services = 415.
- Use Exclude on Service 415 for Current data.
- Add comparison criteria such as Services Has Changed.
- Search to List.
The result is a set of Current records where a qualifying archive had Service 415 and Current no longer does.
Choose the Right Historical Method
| Question | Best starting point |
|---|---|
| I missed Census Day and need a population estimate. | Reconstruct a Historical SIRAS Population |
| I need one student's old archive. | Find One Historical Record |
| I need every archive in a date range. | Archived Records query on this page. |
| I need the last qualifying archive before/as of a date. | Most Recent Archive As Of. |
| I need to compare archived and Current values. | Use the comparison methods on this page. |
| I have a SIRAS extract and a CALPADS extract/report to compare. | SIRAS vs. CALPADS Bulk Extract Reconciliation |
