The Colorado Department of Education

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Educator Identifier Project - Frequently Asked Questions

What is the purpose of having an educator identifier?

The main purpose of the identifier is to enable Colorado to examine issues related to teaching and school leadership that will improve teacher quality. This includes strengthening teacher and principal preparation, providing effective training and support for educators throughout their careers, and closing the teacher gap statewide. The premise is that increased school and teacher effectiveness will increase student learning and achievement. An identifier is not a mechanism to punish or blame individuals. Another benefit of the identifier is that the state would no longer require local education agencies to report social security numbers in its data collections.

What is an educator identifier?

An educator identifier is a unique 8-digit number that is being assigned to every employee in a Colorado school. The number is random in that it has no intelligence behind it and cannot be used to determine a person's identity. The identifier will be used to link data between different datasets. This will enable the examination of educator attributes and determine trends across many different variables, such as linking student data to information about their teachers – like years of experience and type of teacher preparation.

What statute authority does CDE have to assign identifiers?

HB-09-1065 directs the CDE to develop a system that will assign unique identifiers to teachers and principals employed by a local education agency.

Who will receive an educator identifier?

All staff members employed by a local education agency.

I'm neither a teacher nor a principal so why am I getting an identifier?

CDE has an annual Human Resource data collection that captures social security numbers on all staff employed at a local education agency. The goal is to assign an identifier to these individuals and in the future reduce the reliance on continuing to collect social security numbers.

How will the identifier be used?

Ultimately, the identifiers will be used to:

  • Identify what makes "great" educators and determine how to replicate those attributes or conditions
  • Support data-driven decisions aimed at improving teacher quality
  • Improve educator preparation programs and professional development
  • Study educator mobility, recruitment and retention issues
  • Address inequities in the distribution of qualified and highly effective educators between high/ low poverty schools as well as schools with high/low minority populations.
  • Develop strategies for improving teaching and learning by linking student achievement data to the student's teacher(s)
  • Retaining and recruiting quality teachers and principals with experience in all regions of the state and in all content areas to provide equitable learning opportunities for all students
  • Identifying what makes "great" teachers and principals and determining how to replicate those characteristics or conditions
  • Identifying and building effectiveness in teacher/principal preparation, induction, and leadership programs
  • Improving professional development efforts
  • Allowing individuals and programs to inform their programs and develop their own plans for improvement
  • Examining the relationship between teacher and principal characteristics and student outcomes, including, but not limited to, longitudinal student growth
  • Peer assistance and review
  • Identifying whether the state is losing teachers and principals, including their levels of experience and education, to other professions, what professions they come from, and to what professions they are going
  • Identifying whether districts and schools are hiring or losing teachers and principals, including their levels of experience and education, to neighboring districts
  • Identifying where experienced teachers and principals come from and why
  • Finding out how a particular district is doing compared to districts with similar educator preparation and training programs
  • Finding out where teachers and principals are prepared or if certain approaches are more effective
  • Taking a deeper look at the teacher equity gap within schools within districts and between districts
  • Determine whether there is a principal equity gap within districts and between districts
  • Comparing the retention of teachers and principals who participated in traditional programs to the retention of teachers and principals who participated in alternative programs
  • Identifying shortage areas in teacher preparation
  • Examining the impact of teacher and principal induction and mentoring programs and identifying the characteristics of the support that influence retention and teacher and principal effectiveness
  • Researching the effects of working conditions, hiring practices, induction, mentoring, turnover, experience, funding and resources available to schools, recruitment, teacher and principal preparation for high-need schools, educator supports during the first three years, administrator support, seniority, and diversity of teachers.
  • Analyzing the composition of staff background "gap" and related distribution among schools by socio-economic and academic performance of their students
  • Looking at teacher and principals characteristics and supports over time

When will an educator receive an identifier?

The department educator ID implementation team met with several internal and external clients, including the Quality Teacher's Commission and the Department of Higher Education, to determine the best point of entry for educator identifiers. Many different avenues were considered including teacher preparation programs, licensure, fingerprinting and employment. The goal of the project is to give identifiers to all staff employed by a local education agency, not just teachers and principals. Not all teachers are licensed and not all staff members require licenses. Therefore it was determined that the "upon employment" option would capture the broadest representation of Colorado educators.

How will identifiers be assigned?

Similar to the RITS system, people with access to the Educator Identifier System (EDIS) will login and assign id's to educators a couple of ways:

  • Add single educator
  • Add multiple educators
  • Bulk upload

Why is my social security number being used as a variable in EDIS?

Social security numbers are being used to ensure an accurate match and verify that the correct person has been identified. At the same time the goal is to have the Educator Identifier System (EDIS) be the only collection where social security number is captured and maintained. All other ata collections would use the educator identifier as the primary identifier.

How can I get access to the Educator Identifier System (EDIS)?

You must fill out and submit a respondent form. Forms are located at http://www.cde.state.co.us/edidproject/Resources.asp