At the end of the legislative session, a number of bills I've been involved with were passed.  HB 1270 calls for an audit of the data technology systems and procedures at CDE.  HB 1320 calls for a data dictionary to be created at CDE and the establishment of appropriate windows for changes to the data collections.  Both bills were passed and will be funded for 07-08.

I am hopeful that the audit will reveal what many of us have known for years.  The methods for data collection at CDE are diverse, duplicative and overly burdensome on the school districts.  There are significant ways to improve the method of sending data to CDE and I'd expect any data audit will reveal this to be true.

The data dictionary will require CDE to keep a complete list of all the data they have and collect in a single document.  This will allow them to identify where they are duplicating reporting and help them avoid perpetuating the problems we experience today.

Finally, HB 1320 calls for the establishment of two 90-day windows for changes in data collections.  The first 90-day window is for CDE and the State Board of Education to work through any changes pushed to them by the Legislature, the US Department of Education or any other source.  Subsequently, when the new data collection formats/procedures are established, the school districts (and our software vendors) shall have another 90-day window to comply with the new format or methodology.  Gone will be the days when we get notified that we have to collect new data ten days before a collection due date!

All of these are back-office issues and hard to get people excited about.  So explain to me why HB 1320 had 26 co-sponsoring members of the House of Representatives?  I can't, but I'm glad it happened!  With the prospect of streamlining our data reporting, I am looking forward to the day when I can repurpose some of our database management resources away from bureaucratic reporting to serving teachers and learning.  Imagine that [;-)