Policymakers Ponder National Data System.

STUDENT records; DATABASES; SCHOOL records; SOFTWARE compatibility; INTERSTATE agreements; UNITED States education system; COMPUTER software

The article reports on the logistics, benefits, uses, and challenges of an interstate student-data sharing system. The author notes preference for a system that allows state data systems to communicate, which 45 states are developing as of July 2007, over a federally-controlled national database. Proponents argue that such a system would have helped in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, for example, when thousands of Louisiana students were sent to schools in other states.