In 2002, SB1453 mandated that California School Information Services (CSIS) create a statewide system to track longitudinal pupil achievement data in compliance with federal requirements under No Child Left Behind. This system will use a unique student identifier to track each student's achievement as long as the student is in the public educational system. The longitudinal database will give the state and districts the capability to monitor pupil achievement from year to year and school to school on the STAR tests, English language development test and high school exit examination. The system will provide districts and schools with information that can be used to improve student progress, and accurate data on drop out rates and graduation rates.

To comply with this legislation, all Local Educational Agencies (LEAs), including charter schools, must assign a unique student identifier to every student by June, 2005.

Procedures for assigning the unique student identifier differ depending on the Student Information System (SIS) used in the district. More than 60% of all districts currently use CSIS-capable SIS systems. These districts will work with their product vendors, who, in collaboration with the CSIS office, will offer training on assigning student identifiers using their specific software. Districts with automated systems that are not CSIS-capable and districts without an automated SIS will be trained by CSIS on procedures for assigning and then storing and maintaining student identifiers. Starting in 2005-06, student identifiers will be required on all state assessments.

All districts and independent charter schools should:

• Designate a staff person responsible for assignment of CSIS student identifiers by clicking here for the registration form and faxing it to the CSIS office.
• Choose a training cycle for all district personnel who will assign student identifiers by clicking here for the registration form and faxing it to the CSIS office.
• Set up a CSIS workstation and develop local procedures for maintaining student identifiers.
• Review the current status of student data and start cleaning the data within the district before starting the statewide process of assigning identifiers. This includes verifying that the following data are available and accurate for all students:

1. gender
2. birth date
3. ethnicity
4. legal name
5. primary language
6. birth country
7. birth state
8. birth city
9. local student ID
10. enrolment date

Districts will receive:

• A one-time allocation to assign unique identifiers to all students in the district. The amount will be $1.00 per pupil for districts less than 5,000 students, $0.75 per pupil for districts with 5,000 to 30,000 students and $0.50 per pupil for districts with over 30,000 students.
• A smaller yearly allocation to perform a yearly maintenance update to account for students who have entered or left the district

In addition to the assignment of student identifiers, CSIS has an incentive program under which participating cohorts of districts have been testing the feasibility of submitting CBEDS and other information to the CDE in electronic form. This aspect of the CSIS program, which is not required for non-cohort LEAs, has the potential of reducing federal and state reporting burdens by making information available in the state-operated database, rather than having districts submit similar data separately to many different programs. The system also has the potential of facilitating transfer of information between LEAs and to postsecondary institutions.

For more information, click here to see the slides from the CDE's CSIS overview workshop, visit the CSIS website at www.csis.k12.ca.us or contact the CSIS office at 916-325-0887. Or contact Janice Morrison at CTAP Region IV at 510-670-4165 or through email.