The Arkansas Department of Education (ADE) and WorkForce Education have sampled school districts’ data and discovered some disturbing inaccuracies in data entered on students and school staff. For example, there are numerous indications of duplicate social security numbers. If a student attends a high school and also a technical school for a class, the student is entered into the system at both the high school and at the technical school. The identifying data should be identical for that student in both locations. However, some duplicate social security numbers are appearing for two different persons, e.g., one is a male and the other a female, or one is a student and the other a teacher. This misinformation may cause serious problems in collecting accurate data and creating reports required in the No Child Left Behind legislation.
It is imperative that districts appoint a staff member to take the responsibility for verifying all demographic data that is entered into the APSCN student and/or financial system. It is recommended that copies of students’ and staff members’ identifying information be kept on file so that the information may be readily verified. Some of the items that are necessary for verification are:
Name
Social Security Number
Date of Birth
Ethnicity
Gender
Meal (free and reduced price)
Migrant
Special Education
Handicapped
Homeless
Mobility
ELL (LEP)
If at the request of a parent a district series “900” number is assigned as the student identifying number rather than the social security number, it is imperative that the “900” series number follows that student throughout his/her public school career in Arkansas school districts.
The ADE sincerely appreciates all efforts toward providing more accurate data for statewide reporting.