Hawaii is receiving a federal grant of more than $927,000 to develop a statewide data system to track the performance of individual students over time with the goal of improving their achievement in the classroom, U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie's office said today in a news release.

The grant covering the period of March 3, 2009 through February, 28, 2010 will enable the state Department of Education's Office of Information and Telecommunications Services to produce detailed data and analyses for decision-making and to meet requirements of the "No Child Left Behind Act of 2001." The grant will fund development of the system's software, provide necessary technology, address any needs in staff resources, and deploy training and support for users of the data system.

"The ultimate goal of this grant is to improve the academic achievement of our students," Abercrombie said in a statement. "The grant will enable state educators to improve their ability to capture and to analyze test scores and other data over time and track student performance from year to year. This will help educators to have better information and better data to make their decisions and to increase the efficiency of transferring educational data among schools, districts and states in order to improve student achievement."