Dear Colleagues,

The purpose of this document is to provide a stand-alone guide for local and state education agencies faced with the task of designing a new or upgrading an existing automated student information system. While based on a chapter from the Student Data Handbook for Elementary, Secondary, and Early Childhood Education, this guide contains additional information from a variety of resources, most of which are cited in the text. Included in the contents are guidelines, checklists, and real-life examples.

This document was commissioned by the National Education Statistics Agenda Committee (NESAC) of the National Forum on Education Statistics (a part of the National Cooperative Education Statistics System) and funded by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) of the U.S. Department of Education.

Through contract with the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) and NCES funding, this document was developed by Barbara S. Clements of Evaluation Software Publishing, Inc. It is an adaptation of the chapter, Building a Student Record System, contained in the Student Data Handbook for Elementary, Secondary, and Early Childhood Education: 2000 Edition. Beth Young of NCES and Oona Cheung of CCSSO provided overall guidance to and management of this activity. Comments on the text were gratefully received from state and local education agency staff including Raymond Yeagley, Rochester (NH) School District, Lee Tack, Iowa Department of Education, Bethann Canada, Virginia Department of Education, and Carol Hokenson, Minnesota Department of Children, Families, and Learning. Design assistance was provided by The Creative Shop.

The original Student Data Handbook was developed in 1994 by NCES. It was the result of the collaborative effort and work of NCES staff and contractors, the NESAC Student Data Task Force, local, state and federal education representatives and researchers from around the country.

We hope this document will provide you with useful and interesting information to aid in designing your automated student record system.

Patti High
Oklahoma Department of Education
Chairperson
National Education Statistics Agenda Committee