California School Superintendent Jack O'Connell has the financial backing to move forward with developing the state's first-ever student tracking system. KPBS reporter Ana Tintocalis has more.
Governor Schwarzenegger set aside more than $60 million in his revised budget for the new database. The system will keep tabs on the more than six million California public school students as they move through the education system.
O'Connell says each student will get an I.D. number that will be digitally linked to their student records. O'Connell says the state will finally get an accurate picture of how many students graduate or dropout every year.
O'Connell : Ask me the drop-out rate in the state of California or the graduation rate. The reality is we don't know. We don't track our students all the way through the system, we don't know which programs are most effective, we don't know where many of these students go when they leave high school.
The money will help build a central database, as well as databases at local school sites.
Ana Tintocalis, KPBS News.
