Utah schools have won $4.6 million from the U.S. Department of Education to improve student data tracking, the Utah State Office of Education announced Wednesday.
The money will fund design and implementation of a better transcript transfer system. The proposed system will allow student records to follow them across districts, grade levels and even into college, the State Education Office said.
The current system requires transcripts to be mailed when a student transfers to a new school or applies to college. Because districts choose their own student-tracking software, transferred records often must be manually transcribed for the new system, said John Brandt, the State Education Office’s information technology director. But the proposed system would allow schools to send or request automatic electronic copies of those records.
“Because this is a federal grant, the improvements won’t come at the expense of classroom funding,” Judy Park, associate superintendent for data, assessment and accountability, said in a prepared statement.
Twelve other states also won grants based on the merit of their proposals, their need for the project and available funds. Grants went to Arizona, Colorado, Indiana, Kansas, Maine, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Oregon, Virginia and Washington, D.C.