Periodic Data Collection: Instructional Days and Hours

Overview

The Instructional Days and Hours data file collects the school calendar information as required per HB24-1063, specifically 22-2-310.

Submission Requirements:

All public schools serving grades K-12 (006-120) are required to report the below information. This includes districts, BOCES, and the Charter School Institute.

Data does not need to be submitted for pre-k (004) grades, public schools serving only pre-k (004), and 100% Home Options Schools (school system code 10).

By the beginning of the 2025-26 school year, CDE shall standardize the reporting method that schools of a school district, district charter schools, school districts, institute charter schools, and the state charter school institute use to collect and report data concerning:

Instructional hours;
School calendars; and
The number of hours students spend on instructional time during the school year.

Beginning in the 2025-26 school year, CDE shall collect from schools of a school district, district charter schools, institute charter schools, and the state charter school institute, at a minimum, the following data:

Days of instruction for elementary and secondary schools;
Instructional hours for elementary and secondary schools;
Estimated non-instructional hours, school closures, snow days, and time spent on lunch and passing between classes.

Deadlines

UPDATED! 2025-26 SY collection dates: Wednesday, September 17th 2025 - Friday, December 19th, 2025.

Moving forward, collection of school calendars will be collected in the Spring semester for the upcoming school year.

Quick Resources

File Layout File Upload Template HB24-1063 Summary Field Calculations FAQs

Business Rules

Please note that business rules are still being tested and may be updated. Please check back regularly.

Instructional Days and Hours Business Rules - as of 08/26/2025

Training

Upcoming

Instruction Days and Hours Training
- Wednesday, September 10th @ 10 a.m., Registration Link
Instructional Days and Hours Office Hours
- Wednesday, September 24th @ 10 a.m. Registration Link

SIS Guidance

Infinite Campus Instructional Days & Hours Custom Tool Setup (pdf)

Field Calculations

The general expectation is that most grades within a school will have their own line/record in the file upload. However, grades within the same school may be grouped together in one record/line/row if the below fields are the same for the grouped grades:

Total Days of Instruction/Student Contact Days

The total number of whole or partial mandatory attendance days for students.

To calculate:

For each grade review the school calendar and count the number of full and partial mandatory attendance days.

A partial day of instruction can be counted as a whole or half day of instructional time.
Do not include: Student non-attendance days or optional attendance days.
Do include: Testing days.

File expectations:

Must be between 100.0 and 250.0. Use .5 decimal for half days.
If the total number of school days varies by grade level, and new record/line/row must be submitted for that grade level.

Total Hours for the School Year

Includes all instructional and non-instructional time that fall between first and last bell or first and last scheduled bus for a school route.

To calculate:

Determine the hours of a full school day.
- The start of the instructional day is the time at which the first scheduled period of the day begins.
- The end of the instructional day is the time at which the last scheduled period of the day ends.
- If a school has periods that begin before, or end after, scheduled bus routes for the school, these periods should not be considered as part of the instructional day.
For each grade, multiply the full-day hours by the number of full, mandatory attendance days scheduled for the school year for that grade.
Determine the hours for a partial school day.
For each grade, multiply the partial day hours by the number of half-days scheduled for the school year for that grade.
For each grade, add the full- and partial-day totals and divide by 60.

File expectations:

If in a given schedule one grade has more half-days or fewer full days, then a new record/line/row must be submitted for that grade level.

Frequently Asked Questions

General

Q. Which schools need to submit data for this collection?

A. Districts, BOCES operating schools, and the Charter School Institute will need to submit data for all public schools (school system code 1) serving grades kindergarten through 12th grade (006-120).

Q. Which schools do not need to submit data for this collection?

Public schools only serving pre-k (004) do not need to submit data. If your school serves grades pre-k and above, pre-k may be omitted from the data submitted for the rest of the school.
100% Home Options Schools (school system code 10) do not need to submit data.

Q. Do I need to include summer school calendars in this collection?

A. Summer school calendars should not be included in the Instructional Days and Hours collection.

Hours of Instruction

Q. How do I classify assemblies?

A. All planned assembly time should be counted as instructional.

Q. How is graduation day calculated?

A. Graduation day (in which no classes or tests are held for any grade) cannot be included as an instructional day or hours. If other grades continue to have instruction and/or testing, these grades would be expected to have a higher instructional hour count than seniors.

Q. How do I classify remote learning days?

A. The use of remote learning days can only be used as instructional days and hours in the event of an emergency school closure, meaning there are no planned remote learning days allowed. Since this collection asks for information based on your planned academic calendar, remote learning days should not be factored in.

Passing/Recess Instructional Indicator

Q. How do I know if passing and recess are counted as instructional time or non-instructional?

A. Each district school board should have a policy on whether or not passing and recess are counted as instructional time. You will need to locate and review your district's policy on instructional time to determine if passing or recess are counted as instructional time. If a policy is not defined, assume that passing time is counted as instructional time and enter a 1 (yes) in this field.

Total Teacher Workdays

Q. Our new teachers attend an orientation the week before the rest of our teachers return. Should those additional orientation days be included in the Total Teacher Workdays?

A. Total Teacher Workdays is teacher contract days and should not should not include orientation days for new staff. To calculate, use full-time, full school year average of teacher contract days.

Contact

DirectoryData@cde.state.co.us