Almost like being tagged with a barcode, at some point schoolchildren in Georgia will receive a unique number that tracks their test scores and other data from the moment they enter kindergarten until they've graduated.
Such a data system, which would update nightly, school officials say, may sound like a pipe dream. In fact, if the state wants a crack at a huge pot of additional stimulus money from the U.S. Department of Education, that system must one day become a reality.
The money, $4 billion total in what Education Secretary Arne Duncan has dubbed the "Race to the Top" fund, will be distributed next year at Duncan's discretion.
A strong data system is one of four measures the secretary will use in awarding the grants. The others are creating international academic standards, turning around low-performing schools and teacher quality.
Because of the sums of money involved, and because the grants will only go to a few states, the Race to the Top represents a potentially enormous payoff.
The amount of the grants or how they will be distributed is unknown at this point.
"This is definitely a top priority for our office right now," said Chris Schrimpf, spokesman for Gov. Sonny Perdue.
As with most of the bureaucratic maze that is the federal recovery package, states are waiting for Washington to explain the requirements for applying for the Race to the Top grants. The guidelines will be printed in the Federal Register by the end of the month.
Duncan has made one thing clear: Each state must be able to produce in-depth, reliable data in nearly real time to track student achievement.
In Georgia, officials are working on a system in which each student has a unique code —- called a Georgia Testing Identifier —- that will track him or her from preschool through age 20. The state Education Department has been working on the system since 2003, said Matt Cardoza, spokesman for the state Education Department.
The first phase, which uploads student data monthly or quarterly, recently was completed, Cardoza said. In April, the Education Department received $8.9 million in federal money —- not related to the recovery act —- to beef up the system so data can be uploaded nightly.
The AJC reported last month that data coding errors, in part, led to the state losing track of thousands of students who transfer or drop out each year.
Cardoza said ramping up the data system was not a reaction to that but said the ability to upload data more frequently should prevent the state from losing track of its transfer students.
Cardoza thinks the Education Department is "ahead of many states" in data tracking and the three other areas that Duncan said he will scrutinize. However, the $8.9 million grant may be pivotal in receiving Race to the Top funding, as the state likely wouldn't have been able to improve the data system without it, he said.
Cardoza said there's definitely a "wish list" of projects that could happen more quickly with federal stimulus money. At the same time, the state has not set aside specific projects that will be done with the help of stimulus dollars because the federal government hasn't said which ones would fit the bill.
"I'm not sure anything would suffer without the funds," he said. "We're not going to go get ahead of [ourselves] in terms of funding a major program that would be in danger of not continuing."
If this money didn't have the word "stimulus" attached to it, it's likely states wouldn't have to worry so much about having souped-up data systems. But the Obama administration touts the hundreds of thousands of jobs that the recovery act will either save or create —- and has placed the burden on the state governments and agencies to keep tight records that show just that.
"There are 8,000 reasons [why a good data system is necessary], and not the least of these reasons is that the public through the government of Georgia and the federal government is investing billions of dollars to boost achievement," said Amy Wilkins, the vice president of government affairs for Education Trust, a Washington-based independent nonprofit.
But it's likely the state's plans will be enough, said Jennifer Cohen, a policy analyst with the Education Policy Program at the Washington-based nonprofit think tank New America Foundation.
Even if Georgia doesn't have a great data system now, it's willingness to change that will likely bode well with getting some of the money," Cohen said. "So it's possible that if Georgia says, 'We're committed to doing X, Y, Z,' it will be fine."
The Race to the Top funding will go to states and school districts for innovative programs. Applications for the first bucket of money are due in December, and the cash will be awarded the following March. Applications for the second phase are due in June, and the money will be given out in September 2010.
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