Imagine the research possibilities if every student in the country carried a "virtual backpack" stuffed with statistics on his or her entire educational history. The data, traveling with students as they moved from school to school, could be used to update parents on their children's learning progress, register students in school, or import information when they moved to a new city or entered college.
Many school districts have begun to administer periodic assessments to complement end-of-the-year state testing. Assessments are used to guide instruction, monitor student learning, evaluate teachers and predict scores on future state tests.