Pile Confusion On Top Of Disorientation

Almost two years ago I wrote about a change in ed code that, in an attempt to win Race To The Top money for California, allowed the state to create a database linking teachers to student test scores. My post was somewhat rambling, in part because I couldn't get any clear information on what exactly changed or why that change was significant or why it was important enough to be a requirement for the RttT money.

Well, it was a waste of time even to try to understand:

California must return a $6 million federal grant to develop a data system tracking information about teachers, state officials were told Thursday.

The money was withdrawn in the wake of Gov. Jerry Brown's veto last month of $2.1 million in federal funding for the proposed California Longitudal Teacher Integrated Data Education System, known as CalTIDES...

CalTIDES was approved in 2006 and was supposed to be rolled out in 2011-12. A contract to develop the system had yet to be signed with a vendor.

In recent years, California has lost out on millions of federal stimulus dollars in part because it lacks data systems tracking student and teacher information.

I have to ask: how difficult can this truly be? Apparently it's harder than I think it is.