Wisconsin students will be given ID numbers!!!!

[pojo]

All I have to say is....idiotic! What are we jail bait now? You can tell the public school system is screwed up!


New IDs to keep tabs on students

Questions raised about use of information on children


Staff and wire reports

MADISON — The state plans to assign every public school student in Wisconsin an identification number to better track dropout rates, student transfers, academic performance and other information mandated by federal law.

Administrators say it will help fill in data gaps as students move between districts, but some students argue the government just wants to snoop.

“It’s not necessary at all,” said Kim Godfroy, an 18-year-old senior at Kaukauna High School.

“It’s none of the government’s business to find out what your background is. I don’t see how this has anything to do with your schooling,” she said Sunday.

Under the state’s Individual Student Enrollment System, all public school districts must supply the Department of Public Instruction with information on every student including name, gender, race, birth date and grade level.

The department will then assign students identifying numbers that will stay with them throughout their academic careers.

The first students will get their numbers in spring 2004, DPI spokesman Joe Donovan said. Every student should have one by the beginning of the 2004-05 school year, he said.

John Foster, Kaukauna’s superintendent of schools, said it is too early to tell what the outcome will be.

“There are two sides to this,” he said Sunday.

“It will be helpful in getting the child’s information from one school to another. But the question is, how is that information going to be used? How’s it going to be protected? It’s a matter of implementing the appropriate technology and firewalls. This is all fairly new, and we just have to wait to see how it will play out.”

The DPI already tracks graduation and attendance rates. But the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 requires states to start collecting more detailed information on the performance of students in more demographic subgroups, such as students who move to another school, have limited English skills, are disabled or come from poor families.

Onalaska High School Principal Pete Woerpel said his school sees a 25 percent turnover in students annually. Many newcomers have incomplete records, he said.

“I don’t like the term ‘tracking.’ It sounds like you’re hunting down a deer,” Woerpel said. “But in order for us to gain information and place them in classes and meet their needs, I think it’s a good thing.”

The federal act doesn’t specifically require an identification system such as the one Wisconsin will put in place. But the new database should help officials cross-match student data faster and more reliably, said Jean Whitcomb, DPI education data consultant. About 40 other states already have similar number systems or are designing them, she said.

Setting up the project could cost about $1.2 million, Donovan and Whitcomb said. About half of that will go to a Mississippi-based computer company to set up a database to assign students the numbers and train state and local staff in how to run it, Whitcomb said.

Districts probably won’t have to hire anyone new to work the system, Donovan said. Some districts already use outside contractors to collect enrollment data internally. Donovan said those districts can use their vendors to compile information for the identification system.

Districts without outside contractors should be able to use their own technology workers to put the system in place, he said.

State officials believe the federal law provides money to build the system, but they’re still researching it, Donovan said. State dollars would be a last resort, he said.

The state budget doesn’t allocate any money for the identification system, Donovan said. He declined to speculate on where the state might get the money if the federal act doesn’t provide it.

Whitcomb said the public won’t have access to raw data collected but will be able to read summary reports on different demographic groups. Any information that could be used to personally identify a student would be omitted, she said.

Wisconsin officials haven’t heard of any information leaks in other states with similar identification number systems, Donovan said.

But state Rep. Marlin Schneider, D-Wisconsin Rapids, called the identification “one more nail in the coffin of liberty.”

Cynthia DiCamelli, Wisconsin Parent Teacher Association president, said the organization hasn’t taken a stand on the identification system.

But she said she personally doesn’t have a problem with the state collecting more data on her son and daughter at Oregon High School — as long as their names aren’t used.

[opera ghost]

I recieved a number when I entered college. I had a student ID number (specific to my school) my last 2 years of high school. Maybe I've become accoustomed to it- but this doens't seem all that bad to me.

I spent months in the 4th grade while the school cycled me from remedial classes to top honor classes because information in my transcripts didn't make it from my prior school. I did it all over again in the 6th when we moved again. My husband "lost" an english class he took in the 10th grade and was forced to graduate late because he didn't know about the screw up until a week from graduation and couldn't get proof back from the previous city fast enough.

Information gets lost all the time in the public school systems. Especially when students move schools and districts. If assigned student numbers would cut down on the losses and get the kids in the right classes the first time... then it's a major bonus to the system.

I have a # for my drivers liscense. I have a social security number (which doubles as my student number in college).

Doesn't seem that strange to me...

[stormchazer]

I recieved a number when I entered college. I had a student ID number (specific to my school) my last 2 years of high school. Maybe I've become accoustomed to it- but this doens't seem all that bad to me.

I spent months in the 4th grade while the school cycled me from remedial classes to top honor classes because information in my transcripts didn't make it from my prior school. I did it all over again in the 6th when we moved again. My husband "lost" an english class he took in the 10th grade and was forced to graduate late because he didn't know about the screw up until a week from graduation and couldn't get proof back from the previous city fast enough.

Information gets lost all the time in the public school systems. Especially when students move schools and districts. If assigned student numbers would cut down on the losses and get the kids in the right classes the first time... then it's a major bonus to the system.

I have a # for my drivers liscense. I have a social security number (which doubles as my student number in college).

Doesn't seem that strange to me...

I'm with you....I fail to see the problem!

[coriolis]

Our kids have their SSN as their student ID# starting in kindergarten. It's tied in to their cafeteria accounts, and probably all their records. I am concerned about loss of privacy, government snooping, and government databases about the people, but there's not much difference between a number and a name. We've all had "permanent records" as we went thru school, and it's probably electronic by now.

Now if they wanted to mark the number on the kids, that would be different.

[Guest]

I had an alpa code throughout my middle and high school years. In college we use our social security numbers. I can see why they'd want to implement an identification system. But I think that it's an invasion of privacy. Don't we have the freedom to decide that we don't want to be tracked?

[pojo]

I have a college ID number which I use frequently, but this is for elementary, middle and high school students.

We all have SSN and DL numbers, and we abide by those numbers on a daily basis. That's a form of tracking.

The reason why people are fighting is because of change.... they don't like the new system being implemented. Transcripts get lost on a daily basis and all the school system is trying to do is make transferring schools easier. That's what the school systems are fighting, but all to considered, the parents are making it hard the school boards to implement this...Its change....change is hard to take. Most school systems are in favor....which is why Madison is putting this into effect.

Our family doesn't care anymore because my brother is graduating in June and he is the last one.

[rainstorm]

i agree. i am always suspicious of govt intrusion

[David]

Our student ID is our Social Security Numbers here in USD 501 Topeka... just use that number!

[StormCrazyIowan]

We had a five digit id in high school, and a card with our picture... we used them for various school activies and such....I dont like the idea of students becoming "just another number" but if it would be beneficial, then I don't really see a problem.

[ColdFront77]

I had an ID card in high school, never had any reason to use it. At this moment, I am not sure where it is now. I don't believe I ever had an ID #.

[blizzard]

I had an alpa code throughout my middle and high school years. In college we use our social security numbers. I can see why they'd want to implement an identification system. But I think that it's an invasion of privacy. Don't we have the freedom to decide that we don't want to be tracked?

Sorry Jen, I have to disagree. I don't feel that it is an invasion of privacy at all. And as far as your choice "not to be tracked". Too late SSAN, DL#, bank account, all of that info is used to track you. Tracks your SS benefit contributions, driving record, all of your financial transactions. We are already being tracked in many ways. I believe that I would feel comfortable with a state-wide or federal number system just to ensure that records are kept straight in the event that I moved my children to a different school district. Besides, most schools assign a number to the students anyway.