The more you know ...

• Position: STATESTATS - National Center for Educational Accountability's Data Quality Campaign

Data-crunching is no longer just for geeky statisticians. In education, data-driven decision making is taking its rightful place among the important tools teachers, administrators and even legislators are using to improve student achievement. Due in part to the information gathering and reporting requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act, states are investing in student information systems (also called longitudinal data systems) as a way to track student progress over time.

The Data Quality Campaign, an effort managed by the National Center for Educational Accountability, to improve the collection and use better education data and implement state systems to improve student achievement, lists 10 elements that contribute to a successful system.

At least two from this list are not without controversy. Some people have expressed concern for students' privacy in creating a unique student identifier. And there is also some reluctance to create a teacher identifier system that matches teachers to students for fear that it will be unjustly linked to salary or performance reviews.

Although no state data system currently includes every one of these 10 elements, the Data Quality Campaign reports that eight states have eight or nine, while three states have yet to implement a single element.

Important Elements of Student Data Systems and How Many States Have Them

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