Wisconsin Department of Education

This project will integrate several key systems into the WISE suite, including our Education Choice systems, the primary mechanism for distributing the vast majority of our school aids, and the underlying enterprise database which feeds nearly all information systems at DPI.

Building on the current success of Wisconsin’s Statewide Longitudinal Data System, we seek funding to support activities that provide educators with resources that are both relevant to their needs and guided by research.

The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI) and key partners view the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) state longitudinal data system (SLDS) grant as an opportunity to expand beyond our currently planned PK-16 data system capacity. The proposed grant will enable the implementation of additional capabilities to promote a more robust and sustainable PK-16 data system with greater interoperability among education institutions and other state agencies.

Wisconsin’s state education agency, the Department of Public Instruction (DPI), is submitting an application to continue development of our longitudinal data system (LDS) in order to meet the demands of our state’s educational priorities: closing the achievement gap, building 21st century skills, and moving toward a PK-16 model in which all stakeholders—educators, students, business, government—can make informed decisions based on sound longitudinal data.

In the spring of 2004, Wisconsin began assigning each public school student a unique statewide ID. Approximately 880,000 unique student numbers were assigned in the first year. In March 2005, Wisconsin began to collect individual student level data through our Individual Student Enrollment System (ISES). Through our assessment vendor (CTB McGraw-Hill), encrypted student identification will become the basis for test tracking.