The Kansas State Department of Education’s transition from the Kansas Individual Data on Students (KIDS) system, created nearly 20 years ago, to a more advanced Kansas Education Data System (KEDS) continues to progress.

Currently, in the KIDS system, a district employee extracts a data report from their student information system (SIS) and sends that report to KSDE. If a report contains errors, the employee corrects the errors and resubmits the report to KSDE. The employee must then go back and correct the information in their SIS so the same errors do not continue to appear in future reports. 

“This was not a great process,” Kyle Lord, assistant director of KSDE information technology, told members of the Kansas State Board of Education during their May meeting. “It was top of the line in 2006 and not so much in 2025. It’s time to move on to modern times.”

The current KIDS system is KSDE’s main longitudinal data system that collects student-level data from schools’ student information systems for the state’s school funding formula calculations, administration of the annual state assessments, accreditation, accountability, authenticated reports and various state and federal reporting requirements. This data includes demographics, transportation, enrollment and attendance, program participation and course outcomes.

“The key thing to know about this (KEDS) is that doesn’t change what student data we collect,” Lord said. “It is the mechanism for how we receive it. Districts will be doing their error-checking and correcting within their own information system. You have to fix it in your system for it to be transmitted to us. That’s a big deal for data management on our side.”

Lord emphasized KEDS does not violate student data privacy laws and KSDE will not have direct access to a district’s student information system. He said KSDE doesn’t collect students’ Social Security numbers in either system but instead assigns each student their own unique 10-digit identification number.

“That identifier allows us to track that student across all of our data sets and across their entire academic career,” he said.

Transitioning to KEDS

While the KIDS and KEDS systems will continue to run parallel to each other for the 2025-26 school year, Lord said KEDS is going to eventually replace KIDS. He said the data submitted to KSDE through KEDS will be cleaner with fewer errors.

Frank Harwood, KSDE deputy commissioner for fiscal and administrative services, told board members how the data submitted to KSDE will be streamlined and will align better for generating reports for the U.S. Department of Education.

“We’re changing the way we store the data elements to match a more national standard for how you store data,” he said. “We also think the data coming from the districts will be more accurate on a regular basis because there are fewer steps in the process.”

Julie Cook, a KSDE information systems manager, said she appreciates how open the state’s districts have been to connecting to KEDS.

“I’m amazed at how open they are to trying (KEDS),” she said. “We presented it to them as a ‘you can get on and try it out.’”

There are more than 90 districts that are connected to KEDS. Cook said they should be applauded for their willingness to learn more about how the system works.

“We’re very, very appreciative of the time and effort they’re putting in,” she said. “We know it’s a lot of time and effort. We’ve put a lot of time into it ourselves, so we understand.”

The KSDE IT staff have provided multiple information sharing opportunities to districts and their student information system vendors to learn about KEDS. PowerSchool, a well-known student information system used by more than half of the state’s districts, has been instrumental in promoting the benefits of connecting to KEDS.

Jennifer Shaffer, an assistant IT director at KSDE, said efforts have been made to reassure districts that the data they send to KSDE through KEDS will continue to be a one-way street.

“We do not have any access to their student information system at all,” she said. “It is only them pushing (data) to us.”

“I do think those districts who have gotten on (KEDS) have embraced it by being able to see how it works,” Cook added. “They’re getting to see it and allay their fears.”

Chris Fletcher, a KSDE information systems manager, said districts have the ability to review their data through a validation portal as part of being connected to KEDS. KSDE offers training to review the portal as a whole with districts.

“It’s been a huge benefit for us,” he said. “We can document all the errors we find in our system. In order to test the system, you have to have data with errors. Those get back to our development team and they go through and figure out the errors and we’re getting those solved.”

Districts also have provided feedback on how user-friendly KEDS is and what training gaps need to be filled, especially for the district staff submitting the data who have varying levels of technical expertise.

Shaffer said the goal is to transition away from the current KIDS system as soon as it is responsibly feasible for the districts and KSDE.

“We want to make sure everyone is comfortable, and everything is good and accurate and right before we say this one’s (KIDS) gone,” she said. “We are aware this is new to them and a learning process for them. We’ll help each other through it.”

For more information, go to https://kedx.ksde.gov/keds or email keds@ksde.gov.