Keeping Track

Decades in the making, Florida's system stands out nationally for its use of student data to influence policy and practice.

By David J. Hoff

From the day children enroll in a Florida public school to the moment they start a career, the state is keeping tabs on them.

In mammoth sets of computerized data collected by several government agencies, the Florida Department of Education knows what courses they take, what grades they get, and the scores they post on state and national tests. It knows who taught them, where those teachers attended college, and how they scored on state certification tests.

For the students who stay in the state—and the vast majority of them do—Florida also knows where they work or go to college, and the grades...