In 2003, the Connecticut State Department of Education developed the Public School Information System (PSIS), an individual student-tracking database. Since that time, several enhancements have been made to this system. In 2005, an unique ID Number was issued to every student in the database, PSIS data elements were redefined to adopt the standards in the NCES Student Data Handbook and School Interoperability Framework (SIF) metadata specifications, and a register/un-register component was added. Recently, the Department took the first step toward the deployment of an identity management process. The hardware and software needed to provide secure network access was procured in the fall of 2005 and will be configured for pilot testing in February 2006. At the conclusion of the pilot, the department intends to provide new secure access methods to districts during the late summer of 2006 while allowing for the phase-in of school level access in the 2006-07 school year.
Statewide Longitudinal Data System Grant Program Work
In November of 2005, Connecticut was awarded a grant from the Institute of Education Science to aid in the further development of a statewide longitudinal data system. With the aid of the grant funds, Connecticut's Enterprise-wide Longitudinal Data strategy, specs, and architecture will include the following enhancements to its technology infrastructure:
- The development of an enterprise-wide data dictionary to serve as a meta-library for each collected and reported element
- The integration of SIF data standards and the development of a SIF model for agents
- The development of secondary and tertiary identifiers and one-way hash transformations to facilitate the sharing of data among the research community and other state agencies
- The specification and development of a persistent data storage facility for all identifier, demographic and collection data
- The migration of legacy database applications to enterprise ready operational databases
- The development of facing applications used to disseminate data from persistent data stores to the LEA, district, school, student, parent and public
- Collaboration with the University of Connecticut Health Center to create a FERPA/HIPA compliant environment which will allow shared access to de-identified health and education information across state agency databases
- Expansion of the Security Framework to include the specification of access roles in the data dictionary, the continued development of role-based application identity management solutions, and training LEA staff on the process of identity management and password provisioning
Other Technology Projects
Governor Jodi Rell and Education Commissioner Betty Sternberg have embraced and supported these efforts with several funded technology projects. Governor Rell has approved $5 million in 2006 and $4.8 million in 2007 for the Connecticut Education Network (CEN) to wire each district and school in the state. Commissioner Sternberg has championed a laptop computer initiative and has secured $1.5 million of funding for the purchase of laptops to be distributed to schools within the state.
