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While California has basic tracking system architecture in place to allow the state's educators to closely follow the progress of students from kindergarten to post-secondary education, officials must overcome political and financial barriers, according to a RAND Corporation study.

The study shows that by developing such a data system -- known as a "student unit record" data system -- California policymakers and educators will be better equipped to create policies and adopt changes that decrease student dropout rates, encourage a smoother transition from secondary to post-secondary education and increase student retention in college.

"Such a system would enable California to answer important questions, such as how to improve course articulation between high school and college, what classes of students may need special intervention, and whether students are prepared to meet future labor demands," said Georges Vernez, the report's lead author and a senior social scientist at RAND, a nonprofit research organization.

But the study finds that California would need to overcome a number of challenges to integrate a student unit record system, such as eliminating the protective mindset that each of the state's four education segments has developed.

- The California School Information System, a mandated public K-12 system that has limited enrollment and demographic student data.

The sequence might be: integrating the four existing systems "as is"; adding data elements now collected at the school and campus levels; and linking the K-20 student data file to other state and federal data systems, such as preschool, employment and private universities.

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