California has rolled out a student database known as known as CalPADS, the first component of a statewide system intended to track students, teachers and administrators year to year, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Such education systems are expensive, but experts say they are essential to learn how much of the nearly $60 billion that California spends on K-12 education makes a difference, a fact that student achievement tests only hint at.

CalPADS will eventually make it possible to measure what works and what doesn’t in classrooms throughout the state. The second major component, a teacher and administrator database known as CalTIDES, will not come online until 2011. Read full story

Filed under: K-12 Education News