Like seemingly everyone else connected to K12 education, vendors that offer student information systems are being called upon to do more with less. Where past generations of these systems focused on nuts and bolts such as time, attendance and behavioral issues, the latest generation has created--and drawn inspiration from--districts' desires for…

In December 2008, with funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and in partnership with the Data Quality Campaign, the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE) hosted a meeting of the West's key leaders in building state-wide integrated longitudinal data systems. Such data systems are essential to developing a better…

The paper describes the Special Education Data Management System (SEDMS), an approach which provides flexibility in meeting changing data requirements and which can generate reports in a reliable manner. Further, SEDMS is operable by a non-programer within a multi-user environment. SEDMS checks the validity of entries to ensure against inaccurate…

A complete school district technology-integration plan includes student information and business information. To avoid entering the same data numerous times, the plan should include student information, financial information, human resources, and specialized applications, thus interfacing core student and business information. (MLF)

Six papers on educational management systems and indicators development are presented in this document. Research was conducted under the Improving the Efficiency of Educational Systems (IEES) Project, which provided assistance in several countries, some of which include Indonesia, Botswana, Haiti, Guinea, and Nepal. The papers include:…

This paper describes promising practices in developing model student information systems, with a focus on information management and administrative record keeping. Three school districts with exemplary information systems are profiled, using data derived from document analysis, on-site observation, and interviews with district and site-level…

A survey of America's 244 largest school districts, with responses from 215, showed that 28 percent are actively procuring at least 1 of 3 major administrative information systems: financial, human resources, or student information. Describes the installation and use of a new information infrastructure in a Maryland school district. (MLF)

This paper suggests methods for collecting and using student information for school improvement by describing how the Richardson Independent School District (RISD), Texas, determines data for effective school management decisionmaking. RISD readily accesses student information via a networked database on line with the central office's IBM…

This report addresses the technical and legal issues attendant to the implementation of a comprehensive student information system in California. It documents the legislative origins of the study and the conditions of state-level information systems within California and other states. It then describes the legal issues arising from the collection,…