State receives $6 million for Teacher Data System

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell today announced the California Department of Education was awarded a $6 million Statewide Longitudinal Data System Grant from the U.S. Department of Education's Institution of Education Sciences.

          "California must have a robust data system that enhances our ability to improve student academic achievement," O'Connell said. "This funding will help us implement the California Longitudinal Teacher Integrated Data Education System to make sure that educators' skills are matched to their students' needs."

          The California Department of Education is working with the state's Commission on Teacher Credentialing on the California Longitudinal Teacher Integrated Data Education System (CALTIDES) project. The agencies are in the final stages of procuring a systems integration vendor to develop and implement CALTIDES. The Commission is also almost done assigning Statewide Educator Identifiers to each teacher in the California public school. These identifiers will be used in the proposed CALTIDES program to track teachers and other credentialed administrators over time and link them and their credentials to what they are teaching to help ensure they are appropriately assigned. 

Under the current schedule, a systems integration contract will begin in early 2010 with the implementation of CALTIDES in the fall of 2011. Once implemented, CALTIDES will automate about 80 percent of assignment monitoring and federal reporting requirements. CALTIDES will also provide a rich set of data that will support research and policy decision making.

CALTIDES will work with California's student data system called the California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System (CALPADS). This program is the foundation of California's K-12 education data system that will maintain student academic progress over time. CALPADS will be implemented statewide in 2009-10.

          The federal Statewide Longitudinal Data System Grant program is designed to help state education agencies develop and implement longitudinal data systems. These systems are intended to enhance the ability of states, districts, schools, and teachers to make data-driven decisions to improve student learning, as well as facilitate research to increase student achievement and close achievement gaps.

The competitive grant extends for three years. California was one of 27 states to receive this grant. The state must submit periodic reports on the development and implementation of its systems. California received a similar $3.2 million grant for the development of CALPADS.

          For more information on the federal grant program, please click here. 

          For more information on CALTIDES and CALPADS, please click here.