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There's a "revolutionary innovation" in education that could make it a lot easier for parents to track their kids' progress, according to a post at Education Week.
Permanent Education Numbers, or PENs, are unique IDs that can be used throughout a child's life.
In India, for example, every child is assigned a PEN, which is linked to his or her personal and educational information in a centralized database, the post notes.
If a child drops out of school or doesn't enroll in any school, authorities can use PEN to track them and figure out what can be done about it.
"By assigning PEN to every child and integrating it with various government databases, officials can pinpoint gaps in education coverage and take targeted action to reach out to millions of out-of-school children," writes an education expert at a think tank in India.
The idea is to make it easier for parents to track their kids' progress, as well as to prevent dropouts, the post notes.
According to another post at Education Week, PENs can also be used for scholarships and financial assistance.
"By analyzing academic performance and attendance data linked to PEN's student IDs, educators and policymakers can identify at-risk students and trace out-of-school children
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