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Ottumwa Community School District

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ACHIEVE Family Portal

ACHIEVE Family Portal Updates

Since the launch of the ACHIEVE Family Portal, nearly 5,000 IDEA Parents have successfully created an account to access their learner’s records! This number will continue to rise as families receive their learner’s truncated State ID information from AEAs and districts.

Updates

  • Invite to Portal Button: Eligible IDEA Parents who have not yet created an account in the ACHIEVE Family Portal will display an “Invite to Portal” button in the Family Contact stepper. This button can be used to manually resend an email invitation to the eligible IDEA Parent.
    Note: If the learner has more than one eligible IDEA Parent with the Invite to Portal button, we have noticed that selecting the button for one parent turns all of the Invite to Portal buttons gray momentarily. However, only the person for whom the button was selected will receive another copy of their invitation.
  • ACHIEVE Family Portal Account Status: The Family Contact stepper now displays information about an IDEA Parent’s ACHIEVE Family Portal Account Status under the Portal Status column.
    • An Active status with a Family Portal Username displayed next to it indicates the family member has successfully created an account with interactive access.
    • An Active-View Only status with a Family Portal Username displayed next to it indicates the family member has successfully created an account with view-only access.
    • An Active status without a Family Portal Username displayed next to it indicates that a problem has occurred. Please direct the family member to submit an ACHIEVE Family Portal Support Request form for assistance.
    • A Locked status indicates the family member has locked themselves out of their account in one of three ways. In all of these cases, the family member must complete an ACHIEVE Family Portal Support Request form for assistance with unlocking the account.

1. Entering incorrect learner information when registering for an account 3 times.

a. First and Last Name fields must be an exact match to the name displayed in ACHIEVE.

2. Entering incorrect password information 3 times.

3. Entering incorrect multi-factor authentication verification code 3 times.

  • Last 4 Digits of State ID: Many family members are encountering issues when attempting to create their account because they are entering incorrect information when asked for the Last 4 digits of their learner’s State ID. If your agency has not yet provided this information to families, you may refer to the following communication guides for assistance with proposed language:

If a family member incorrectly enters their learner’s State ID information 3 times, their account will be locked and they will be directed to complete an ACHIEVE Family Portal Support Request form for assistance. These requests are routed to the Iowa Department of Education ACHIEVE Family Portal Help Desk for review.

State ID information for Special Education learners can be located on the Learner Dashboard below the learner’s name. State IDs for Early ACCESS learners can also be located on the Learner Dashboard by expanding the accordion menu at the top of the page.

Known Issues

  • Move-in/Migration Learners without an approved Consent for Special Education and Related Services in ACHIEVE: We have identified a known issue in which approximately 8% of eligible IDEA Parents did not receive their email invitation. This has generally been limited to family members of learners who do not have a signed consent for Special Education and Related Services documented in ACHIEVE. This may occur for two reasons:
  1. Move-In from Another State: The learner first began receiving special education services in another state (and therefore signed a consent form in the other state's system). Iowa does not require a new consent for services to be signed upon moving to Iowa.
  2. Learner was migrated into ACHIEVE from a legacy system:

a. Move-in from another State in legacy system (same as above; new consent was not required in Iowa)

b. Migrated learner from legacy: Consent for Special Education data wasn’t pulled into ACHIEVE after the initial migration

We are working on a solution for this. Once implemented, invitations will automatically be generated in the near future.

  • Family Contact Validation: Family members employed by an AEA, district, signatory partner, or the Iowa Department of Education should not have their work email address stored in ACHIEVE in the Family Contact stepper. For security purposes, ACHIEVE users must access the ACHIEVE Family Portal via a personal email address.

March 12, 2025