Background
The Kansas Individual Data on Students (KIDS) system was implemented by the Kansas State Department of Education during the 2004-2005 school year to meet the reporting requirements of the Federal No Child Left Behind legislation. The KIDS system maintains student confidentiality while allowing for the submission of timely, accurate data in multiple formats.
The KIDS system assigns a unique, randomly-generated state identification number for every student attending accredited public or private schools in Kansas. This ID number follows the student throughout his/her preK-12 education in Kansas schools. Through the use of the state identification number, KIDS reduces the time needed for data collection and allows quicker responses to data requests.
Goals
The goals of KIDS are
- to reduce the data burden on local schools and districts
- to encourage better policy-making by maintaining a cost-effective and reliable method of reporting and accessing accurate and timely educational information among agencies and educational communities
- to eliminate the need for manual operations before data can be used
Components
The KIDS system includes two web-based software components:
- The Collection System was developed by KSDE. The Collection System collects various data elements such as a district entry date, the number of minutes enrolled, and student’s grade level, among many others, on every student in Kansas. This data is used for district funding, student assessments, school accountability, and state and federal reporting requirements.
- The Assignment System is a vendor software program that can be accessed through the Collection System. The software uses a set of “core data elements” such as the student’s name, grade level, and date of birth to assign a unique, randomly-generated state identification number to the student; and tracks the student as they move between Kansas schools.
Functionality
The KIDS system allows a school or district to send data stored in the local student information system to the State by using secure batch file submissions. No direct data entry into the KIDS system is required. The KIDS system provides a number of reports to allow schools to review and verify the data submitted.
Multiple record types allow the KIDS system to identify the purpose of the data being collected. For example, enrollment data are collected early in the year and separated from assessment data collected during the school year and accountability data collected at the end of the year. Multiple record types also accommodate the unique relationships that a student may have with different school buildings for accountability, funding, and attendance reasons. A student’s unique state identification number enables the data to be linked across time and geographic locations to provide a more complete picture of the student.
Support
KSDE offers a wide variety of help resources to support school and district users submitting data via KIDS.
- The KIDS Help Desk, where users may seek help working directly with the KIDS software, is staffed during normal business hours.
- The KIDS email account (kids@ksde.org) allows school and district personnel to submit questions and receive a personal response.
- Weekly conference calls with the KIDS Team members allow school and district personnel to speak directly with the KIDS support team.