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May 21, 2010 in Region
Wash. gets $17.3M from feds to track student data
OLYMPIA — Thanks to a $17.3 million grant from the federal government, Washington education officials will soon be able to track students from pre-school to college and their first job.
Washington is one of 20 states to win federal stimulus money for a statewide data system.
Gov. Chris Gregoire says the money will help state officials better understand the needs of the its young people and will help Washington improve education quality.
Washington already tracks students from kindergarten through 12th grade and colleges and preschools have their own tracking systems. Now the three systems will be joined. Besides looking at test scores over time, researchers will be able to examine topics such as dropout rates and the impact of early education.
An exploration of student privacy also is part of the project.
© Copyright 2010 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Antsy toddler kicked off plane at Sea-Tac 
Cougardave on May 21 at 4:27 p.m.
What a bunch of BS.
polistra on May 21 at 6:17 p.m.
17 million just to “join three systems”????? Come on. There are
plenty of cheap or open-source solutions for that “problem”, which
isn’t even a problem that needs to be solved. Pure waste.
TWOSTROKE on May 21 at 6:39 p.m.
The GOV can kiss my AZZ. Bunch of BS for sure.
mikeln on May 21 at 7:23 p.m.
You can bet some cousin or uncle of one of our honest statesmen will get a very good chunk of money for running this study. Another example of the rich feeding off the taxpayer. If we demanded an audit we would find there is a lot of cases where we only get a dollors worth of goods or services for every ten we spend, money going directly into someones pocket instead of where it should go. We need represenitives that will get us our monies worth instead of lineing the pockets of their buddies.
lewis8457 on May 21 at 9:15 p.m.
another way to keep tabs on upcoming future taxpayers. As if our SS numbers don’t have enough information. Now they can track what kind of student someone is and possibly pick a career for them.
Bee509 on May 21 at 10:15 p.m.
Where’s the opt-out link at?
SugarShane on May 21 at 10:17 p.m.
Wow all that money to figure out us students are broke and in debt, except for the ones that get a free ride on a scholarship or from mommy an daddy. Seriously, Didnt you guys just raise the crap out of tuition? Couldnt you spend this money better? Maybe we should fund a study on exactly why the people that run the colleges make so damn much money and why control of education fell from the hands of the students to the bureaucracy. Thats our money your playing with. How about a study to find out why higher education is such a low priority in this country.