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The Sacramento Bee Editorial: Despite tight budget, aim high for education Published 12:00 am PST Saturday, January 12, 2008 California, global home of the information economy, says the Governor's Education Quality Commission "has woefully inadequate data systems that lag behind those of nearly every other state in the nation." That's a costly embarrassment. The state spends money in an attempt to improve education but has little idea what works and what doesn't. California grudgingly has done only the minimum required to meet federal No Child Left Behind reporting requirements. The state only this month signed a three-year, $15 million contract for IBM to establish a minimal statewide K-12 data system with a record for each student by 2009-2010. So it represents a sea change that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has made the first priority of his Year of Education to "fund, link and determine additional data elements" for an ambitious education data system. A key part is an Education Data Commission that will make recommendations within six to eight months for the design and cost of a comprehensive data system. For the first time, California should get a two-way information exchange – not just a one-way transfer of reports from local districts to the state and federal government. Teachers and administrators should have access to all parts of a student's individual and historical record so they can tailor instruction and figure out what works and what doesn't. And the information exchange ought not be limited to K-12. Begin with preschool and track what works into college or a job. It's ludicrous that a child can be in a preschool special education program and her progress never communicated to the K-12 system. It's foolish that middle schools can't easily determine whether individual students are on track to succeed in high school. And how can California hope to raise student achievement without information on what teacher education or training programs work? Those kinds of problems could be addressed with a new form of information exchange. The model should be Florida's P-20 system, in place since 1986. The national Data Quality Campaign describes what's possible at www.dataqualitycampaign.org. So far, Schwarzenegger's budget seems only to have funding for the IBM contract and technical assistance to build the minimal system. But you can't just build a system and hope that it will run by itself and produce good outcomes. In a lean year, budget tradeoffs will be necessary so local districts get the money to make the system work over the long haul. As businesses do, Florida gives school districts a budget allocation each year for data and information services to assure high quality data. Florida reports "very high use of data by teachers and administrators," allowing educators to make adjustments for individual students, choose curricula and adopt new policies to improve student achievement. Getting the data piece right is a high priority for Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell, key legislators, university researchers and education, business, foundation, grass-roots groups. Even in a tough budget year, that lineup gives California the champions to push for a comprehensive data system. The aim this year should be to set a timetable for meeting or exceeding what Florida has done. *** |
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