The Press-Enterprise

State plan to track student performance advances:
EDUCATION: The state picks IBM to develop a program that will track individual performance.

By Shirin Parsavand - STAFF WRITER
11:53 PM PST on Wednesday, January 2, 2008

The California Department of Education has selected IBM to develop a student data system that can track individual students' performance over time.

The system will be used to improve the accuracy of dropout and graduation rates and gauge how well programs are working.

Legislation to authorize the system and assign each student an identification number was adopted in 2002, but the state still lacks a way to compile and report the information.

IBM's Global Business Services division, subcontractor Microsoft Corp. and several other partners will receive $15 million over a three-year period for the new system.

Proposed funding to help school districts submit accurate data was cut from this year's state budget. The department has recommended districts receive $32 million in 2008-09 for training on the system, said Keric Ashley, director for data management for the state Education Department.

Regardless of whether the funding is available, however, districts will be required to submit information on individual students starting in 2009, he said.

The system in California will be based on similar ones that IBM developed for Illinois and Ohio, said Kirsten Schroeder, of IBM's education division.

IBM is also developing a data system for New York City, at a cost of $80 million over five years.

Schroeder said that system is more complex and will provide data on students' performance to individual teachers.

State Education Department officials expect to have California's system, known as the California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System, or CALPADS, running by 2009-10.

Reach Shirin Parsavand at 951-368-9645 or sparsavand@PE.com .

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